
Forgiving Myself for Trying to Save My Marriage
"I'm glad you're working on forgiving your ex-husband," he began. "But have you considered forgiving yourself?"
Choosing Beta readers was an interesting process. Did I want only people who fit my target audience__Christians who are interested in the subject of Christian divorce? Did I want professional writers? Did I want only people interested in memoir? In the end I chose four people of different backgrounds: A Christian woman friend who chose to divorce several years ago, a woman writer friend who specializes in biographies, a neighbor woman friend who is a prolific reader, and a male friend who writes memoir.
The results were as varied as my readers. The Christian woman said she wanted to learn more about my faith. (quite the opposite of two of my critique members) and more background on my husband. The biographer suggested I expand the chapter on going to Iceland as part of my research for my book on Keiko the whale. She said it would give a more rounded view of who I was and would be a relief from the drama of my marriage. My neighbor was confused at the time frame of some of the backstory. (She was right...one chapter was a mess time-wise. I fixed it before sending it on to the fourth reader.) All three women said they thought it was a good story.
My male memorist (not a Christian) didn't like much of it! He felt the story lacked structure and the tone was too much the same throughout. My heart sank.
So how did I respond?
Stay tuned.
"I'm glad you're working on forgiving your ex-husband," he began. "But have you considered forgiving yourself?"
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"I'm glad you're working on forgiving your ex-husband," he began. "But have you considered forgiving yourself?"
"No one teaches us how to support a friend in peril. Whether it’s after a divorce, a miscarriage, a job loss, or the death of a child, people mean well, but the wrong words can come burbling...
“It was my own personal 9/11. A beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, birds chirping, children playing—when out of nowhere disaster struck with six words uttered by my husband: “I...
An email I recently received: Hi. My name is Sara. I'm in a lot of emotional and physical pain. My story is a warning—I don't want other women to go through the same kind of abuse I'm now...