It’s less than a week before The Burning Light of Two Stars will officially be released into the world, and just a few days ago, I was digging through some old files and I found the prayer I wrote for the book in my writing class with Carolyn Brigit Flynn. This invocation, this prayer, this blessing is just as relevant now as it was two years ago when I first wrote it:
“May you savor the depth you have brought to the page.
May you savor the fruits of your labors and the rewards of your persistence.
May you release this story into the world, whether it be applauded, decried, or ignored.
May you release its words, its stories, its message into the hearts of those who are ready to hear.
May you develop a thick skin and humor for the criticism and attacks that will inevitably come your way.
May you stretch your open heart to accept the love and praise that will follow.
May you hold steady in your life letting all of it swirl around you, never pulling your feet from their rooted spot in the ground of your good life.
As you move through these days and weeks and months of finishing this story, listen deeply to those who are touched, moved, angered, offended, hurt, or blessed and offer your compassionate heart with no taint of defensiveness. Know that your story can bless and hurt simultaneously and that is not something you can control.
May you find a way to release this path to its inevitable destinations. May you open your arms to embrace the emptiness that will follow its release.
May you comb through the manuscript again and again, letting go of every word, phrase or story that does not belong.
May you edit with a light heart and an incisive mind. May you surrender control over where this book will go or what it will do, even as you take conscious steps to help it be known in the world.
Trust that this next phase, the phase of completion and details and negotiation and finding a publisher will go well because it is obvious that this book, this story, needs to be in the world.
Trust that when this is all over, and the book has found its wings that there will be a new seed, a new story, a new kernel to germinate, plant, and explore. You are not a one-trick pony and there is more for you to say, to write, to create.
I pray that the right people, the right resources, the right pathway will open for this book to find its way from my laptop into the world. Nay, I do not need to pray it because it is already so.
Know that you are on the precipice of birth and as you move through your world, full of new life bursting to be free, that you are an experienced mother and know how to let the things you create, human and literary, make their way into the world, surprising you, always surprising you.
Trust that you will find the right words to say to those in your family who will hate this book, not to pacify them or to change their minds, but to have the integrity of presence and honest communication.
Know that you are on the denouement, heading toward completion, not more exploration, and that you can joyfully embrace all the steps and stages that are still before you.
Bless this book, The Burning Light of Two Stars. Bless its characters and its arc and the stories it tells. Bless its journey from conception to finish, from idea to manifestation, from felt experience to deep and wise sharing. Accept that this is mature work, the work of your lifetime, and that your will and heart and stamina—and a great team of support—have brought you to this threshold of new life.
Bless its 119,000 words, its 393 manuscript pages. Bless the letters that remain, the stories on the cutting room floor, the segues and the mysteries. Bless its message of healing, reconciliation, honesty, and hope. May it touch the hearts of many.
The Burning Light of Two Stars is now available for presale. When you buy the book before its release date, you help me by generating interest with reviewers, librarians, and bookstores. To read about the great presale bonuses you can get, hop over here.
YES! I CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE BOOK
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