STRANGER THAN FICTION BUT NOT AS MUCH FUN

Hello all! Dana Corbit here.

Here is my question for the day: Is truth stranger than fiction? Okay, it’s not a terribly original question, but I’m at least going to try to give an answer.

Well, sure…if we’re talking about realistic fiction, anyway.

Who would ever think to write a novel where the heroine gave birth to octuplets? Or even consider a story about a pregnant man? Even my own great-great grandfather wouldn’t make the cut. He’s the one who Grandma tells me was shot as a horse thief after he took his neighbor’s horse out of the barn as part of a Halloween prank. Too odd to be a fictional character.

But whether truth is stranger than fiction or not, I can tell you that writing fiction can be a lot more fun, particularly when we put ordinary characters in extraordinary circumstances. I already knew this because I come from a newspaper background where the facts are the facts, ma’am, but I am even more convinced of it after writing my most recent trilogy, Wedding Bell Blessings. (The first book in the mini-series, An Unexpected Match, is an August Love Inspired release.)

The trilogy started with a true story: My best friend, Melissa, and I really did joke about arranging marriages between her three sons and my three daughters. We were pregnant together three times, and we did produce matched sets, so it only seemed right. Though our kids are years from marrying age - Melissa and I are still babies ourselves - we get the feeling our idea is doomed. Whoever said the kids should get to pick their own partners? Free will doesn’t have to extend to our kids’ wedding plans, does it?

On the other hand, in fiction the possibilities were endless. I had a wonderful time creating matchmaking matriarchs Amy Warren and Trina Scott and their brood of kids. Sure, their stories are fantastical, but it could happen, couldn’t it? And because God does have a sense of humor, the stories don’t turn out as even the mothers envision.

As for the true story part, my friend and I have given up on our own matchmaking plans. Really. Not that we haven’t mentioned the idea a time or two or three.
Is truth stranger than fiction? Check back with me in a decade or so, and I’ll let you know…

The Mommy Balancing Act

My name is Dana Corbit, and my life is out of balance. Wow, that feels so good to get that off my chest. Does anyone else in the room want to share? Oh, you want me to go first? Fine, I discovered this week that I’m struggling with Mommy Balancing Act. Am I addicted to my lack of balance? Er, well, maybe, but for the sake of today’s discussion, we’ll just say I’m struggling with it.

I preface my statement with the reality that I am reaching crunch time on a deadline. Those of you who share my joy and misery of book writing might be able to commiserate directly, but any of you who balance your lives as wives, mothers, daughters and employees might be able to relate as well. I feel as if I’m holding this huge balance scale with only two sides and then trying to throw one hundred-percent effort in each direction without knocking either of the balance plates on the ground. Let’s just say my scale is on the fritz.

My failure was clearest this week while my daughters were home from school on this parent-torture event called the “Mid-Winter Break.” Now did I mention I’m on deadline? So each moment when the scene for my characters was snapping with attraction was also a moment when I wasn’t playing Apples-to-Apples with the girls. And each moment when I was shopping for cool hair accessories or watching delicious chick flicks with the girls, I wasn’t giving my heroine the chance to find the person who will fill the empty place in her heart.

Oh, and did I tell you I’m on deadline? The result was guilt and plenty of it. You know guilt, that special gift God gives all moms.

Well, I probably should begin my Ten-Step Program soon, but I have other priorities right now. I need to get the girls ready to go back to school tomorrow and I have a book to finish.

An award-winning author and an award-winning journalist, Dana Corbit has written ten books for Steeple Hill Love Inspired. The busy wife and mother of three adolescent daughters enjoys doting on her recently adopted cats, Leonardo and Annabelle Lee.