"I am who I am because the person I loved most in one moment in time was alive and then he died."
Author: Lynn Haraldson
For more than 25 years, I've been writing about love, change, grief, and (occasionally) politics, trusting that there is more that unites than divides us. When I address weight-ish issues these days, it’s through a different lens than when I wrote my Lynn’s Weigh blog (2005-2015). May it–and my scale–rest in peace. I was 33 and blond when I started my writing career. Now, 58 and gray, I feel like (with apologies to The Carpenters) I’ve only just begun to live…and write.
Grieving the White House
This is full blown grief, my friends; the inability to comprehend what’s being said and done in the moment.
Meet Mathias
In this excerpt, Mathias and the family have returned to Minnesota after two years in Norway. Mathias still plans to leave (abandon) his family, but he hasn’t worked out the details yet.
Meet Erling
Erling was always nice to me the few times I saw him, but I didn’t grow up with him, so I can’t fault my family for their feelings. It’s why I changed the Erling character in my novel so drastically from the one my family disregarded in real life.
Meet Alexandra (plus, an excerpt)
Today, meet Alexandra Amalie Johanson Anderson Peterson, my great-grandmother and the protagonist of my novel.
Another day, another earworm
I woke up this morning with the 1975 Austin Robert’s song “Rocky” playing in my head. It’s been decades since I’ve heard it, but there it was, in my ears, and I remembered every single sad word.
And now for something not so different… Fiction v nonfiction
To paraphrase the Beatles, there’s nothing we can know that isn’t already known.
Grief is a wild child…
“Grief is a wild child. You’ll never tame it, but it’s ok to let it flow through you. Better through than around. Be good to yourself, and don’t take shortcuts.”
Fifty First Everythings All the Time
I still expected him to “snap out of it,” come to his senses, want to improve, remember who he used to be. Remember who he used to be to me.
Gobsmacked (but I’m back…)
I suppose it’s possible to “fake it ‘til I make it,” but make it to where? Oblivion?
Lynn Haraldson, Author and Writing Mentor 