Another Reason to Write

Our Linda

For the last year and a half my family has borne the sadness of a sister diagnosed with cancer. We’ve all hoped and prayed only to have our best wishes come to a crushing end last week. You can imagine the sadness; it seems not one family can escape this dread disease.

Linda Garner VanWinden fought long and hard from the first diagnosis to the second news that the cancer was back and from the realization that this would be the fight of her life to the final bad news.  Pain was her constant companion, none of the multitude of drugs being enough to free her. But she held her head high, rarely stopped working on her next amazing project, and thoroughly enjoyed every moment she could with the many friends and family who loved her.

Such an outpouring of love, gratitude, and sadness has filled all of our lives over the past week that we all realize just how appreciated Linda was. A gifted soprano who could have had a stunning professional career, she chose instead a loving husband and family. She passed on her great musical knowledge to countless students and choirs and is treasured for all of those gifts and more.

So how does all of this relate to my writing?

Last week I spent as much time as I could pushing forward with revisions to The Loyalist’s Luck for one simple reason: I could lose myself there. I could escape from my wretched heart and work on my second book in the Loyalist trilogy: The Loyalist’s Luck. 

And hours before my sister passed, I had an epiphany. Linda was one who believed in my writing abilities early on. She stored my extra flash drive and swapped it out periodically as I revised. Her home was a safe haven for my backup. When The Loyalist’s Wife came out last summer, she read it and proclaimed far and wide her pride in me and my writing. And that was a very large audience. The church was full for her funeral. Five hundred people came to bid her farewell.

We left the sanctuary listening to a marvellous trio recorded only a year ago at a spontaneous concert for cancer research organized by one of Linda’s students. The trio? My brother, Keith on tenor, my famous sister, Donna, singing alto, and lovely Linda, whose soprano soared with hope and pure joy. Here is an admittedly imperfect video of the girls singing The Lord is My Shepherd a year ago. But listen, just listen.

The Lord is My Shepherd: Linda VanWinden and Donna Garner

Another reason to write? Well, actually, I’ve two: to keep my mind off my aching heart and to finish this novel that I’m so proud to be dedicating to my lovely sister.