London St. Charles
Authors, be warned. Short stories take just as much
time and attention as a full blown novel. When initially
approached about being part of the Sugar anthology
project, I was elated. I had great story ideas, many which
I’d already started for future novels, so I picked the best
fit and dove in fingers first. Halfway through, a stop sign
slapped me in the face. The material was more fitting for
a full-length novel. The anthology was a composite of
short stories. No matter how I tried to condense the work
in progress, change from three points of view to one main
character, a big chunk of the story would be missing. So
I saved and dropped it back into the “manuscripts in
progress” folder on my desktop. That scenario happened
five times. Five.
The pressure was on and not in a good way. Sitting at the
computer and staring at a blank screen was killing me,
not to mention this came between the time for my oldest
daughter’s senior year activities; prom, graduation, and
getting finances in order to send my child to the college
of her choice. On top of that, weighing the pros and cons
of transferring my youngest daughter into a new school.
Let’s not forget extracurricular activities that keep me
running like an elite track star in her prime. Oh yeah,
and let’s not forget my day job. Racking my brain for
the anthology was no longer a top priority, and I took a
short leave of absence … a month and a few weeks or so.
Shrugs.
I was close to chucking the opportunity (this is my first
time admitting that to anyone), but inspiration has a way
of revealing itself in the unlikeliness of forms. A friend
of mine was going through something devastating. We
talked. We cried. We ate the pain away temporarily,
talked and cried some more.
Prom and graduation came and went, there was a plan
in place to cover college expenses, and we registered
the youngest at the new school we’d been courting.
Check. Check. My mental palette could breathe,
allowing the inner voice that grieved for my friend’s
emotional state to speak to me. Write her story. Give
her a voice.
Fingertips to the keyboard, I loosely wrote something
similar, but not too close, to her story. Every
emotion she felt, I felt. The look in her eyes and
facial expressions when we conversed, I was able to
convey in the story. This was the first time I’d written
something so personal. Now, I know what it feels
like to truly be connected to a story. Sugarcoated
Deception was the easiest body of work I’d ever
penned.
The story fell into my heart, and I wrote it from there.
Completed in eighteen days. The prior months of
storyline struggle all seem like a blur.
The stress of life can sometimes be a deterrent, but
as a writer, this can’t be the defeating factor. I believe
that’s why I never voiced my concerns to anyone
about wanting to quit. In my core, I knew everything
would come to fruition. Given this major opportunity,
pushing past my personal challenges became part of
the process. No way did I want to miss out on this
magnificent project.
The saying goes “fake it ‘til you make it.” Dagnabbit,
I made it.
#GettingItDone
London St. Charles is a Chicago native who has always had a passion for the pen, paper,
and books. She wrote and published her debut novel, The Husband We Share in 2017,
then followed with a short story, Sugarcoated Deception, in an anthology with New
York Times and national bestselling authors and is currently working on her next novel.
www.londonstcharles.com
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