I Run is heading back to my editor for a bit more tweaking. I have been working really hard on drawing richer characterizations of the supporting characters. Unlike Ripple, I Run is written from a first person perspective. The main character is Sally Lane Brookman. What follows is an introduction to her sidekick, Little Sally, or her inner child. I dream of Little Sally a lot. Most of the time, she’s running free and young again on the green fields [...]
My name is Sally Lane Brookman. If you met me on the street, you’d probably wonder if you knew me from somewhere else, from another city or another time in your life. But unless you have lived or do live within an hour’s drive of Washington D.C., or maybe met me half a lifetime ago down in Williamsburg, Virginia, or just happened to catch a glimpse of my unruly blonde hair flowing behind me as I ran past you on [...]
I’ve been quiet since Friday. The Connecticut tragedy incited a PTSD reactive response, and to keep myself safe, I pretty much shut down my online presence. Everything I read, whether it was pleas for better gun control or essays on the prevalence of mental illness in the psyche of your typical mass murderer, sent me spiraling into a place I find difficult to describe. Even worse, I’m having a manic episode, or I was having it right up until yesterday. [...]
I grab my jacket and my wallet and my cell phone and my room keycard and my Sportsband and I head out of the Clarion Hotel, down a hill or two, and walk for about a mile until I spot an old white building which is almost blocking traffic. It’s the old library here in Shepherdstown, West Virginia and as crazy as it sounds, the damn building was not so much built around the street as the street was built [...]