Completely Off-Topic. Or, Is It...?

I got good news today - the best possible news. My blood test results came in (they'd been looking for lupus) and the tests were NORMAL. Wow. Amazing.

Now, I don't talk much about my faith on this blog, but today, I will for a moment. I'm a Christian, and had dozens of people praying for me about this lupus thing. I truly believe prayers were answered in this process. Here's a verse that rang true for me today - just wanted to share: "I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well" (Ps. 139:14).

So, back to the blog -- I first labeled this entry, "Off-Topic." But then, I thought about it. Isn't this actually completely ON topic? I mean, real life is full of tragedy, disappointment, joy, heartache, and drama. And as writers, don't we try to capture that real-life "stuff" on the page? I think anything that happens to us in our real life - good or bad - can be used in our writing. Nay, should be used in our writing.

Case in point: Just last night (not knowing my test results and fearing the worst), I wrote the most crucial last chapter of my book. It was a moment when the main character was despondent - when he'd lost all hope - and another character was giving him comfort, trying to tell him all the right words. Absolutely, I was using many of my own fears, anxiety, and emotion in that dialogue. And hopefully, it rang true because of it.

And isn't that half the point anyway? Capturing our own observations about life, about the world, about our own experiences, and putting them onto the page - through characters and storylines?

So, in hindsight, I think this blog entry is quite ON-topic. *changes title and smiles*