“How was it for you…writing JoyRide?” A reader recently asked.
I stumbled around, trying to put into words the vast array of emotions that I felt during that three year season of writing.
How was it for me…writing JoyRide? Sometimes sadness overwhelmed me, especially as I wrote about my baby brother, and as I considered that my beautiful mother lived most of her life with something stronger than regret. These realities have always saddened me.
But I was surprised and grateful that, while writing the dramatic scenes of escape and related elements, my heart wasn’t re-traumatized, and I was delighted to find that where pain used to be, peace now reigned.
How was it to write JoyRide? The answer is as many sided as a prism. It was difficult to write the scenes involving the grave mistakes of those whom I had anchored my world to.
It was very difficult. At times, I talked with my husband about my feelings. Was I betraying my mother? Did I dishonor her or any of my family? I knew that he would be truthful with me. What I found in my husband was reassurance and encouragement to keep writing.
I felt passionately that my story would inspire others to forgive, to love, and to have hope for their own situations. I knew that my mother would want this to be the outcome of our years of heartache. I believed, and still do, that beautiful things can come out of ashes and loss.
How was it for me while I wrote JoyRide? It was a beautiful thing.
Pamela Koefoed, Author Joyride: Life, Death and Forgiveness is my personal story. I wrote it from a child’s perspective. It depicts the bonds between a little girl, her mother and sister, and how that bond enabled her to remain hopeful, resilient, and to overcome her mother’s haphazard parenting and dangerous behaviors. JoyRide points the way to succeeding in life, even when we’re dealt a half missing deck of cards, and it demonstrates that circumstances do not define who we are or what we can achieve.
Please request JoyRide at your local bookstore, or write to us for a list of independent bookstores carrying my book. Thank you!