Vocations, they don't come easy

I had this brief exchange with a customer at work the other day. It wasn't the first time I've had a conversation like this, and it will not be the last:

Customer: So what grade are you in?
Me (grinning mischievously): I'm in grad school, sir.
Customer (clearly stunned!): No kidding? Where at and what for?
Me: Denver Seminary. Divinity.
Customer: Damn! (Backtracks) I mean, uh, dang, that's intense (I think it's hilarious when people instantly clean themselves up around me when they find out I'm in seminary!). Whatya wanna do with that?
Me (trying to keep the line moving so I don't get in trouble): Chaplaincy.
Customer: Military?
Me: Rape crisis center.
Customer (clearly blown away): Wow. You've got quite a future ahead of you, kid.

I am a unique force to reckon with, that is for sure. Poor guy, he probably thought nothing of making a little small talk with the broke ex-college student who is ringing up his sandwich. Boy did he get a surprise!

I love how brief exchanges with strangers like this can teach you a lot about the inaccuracy of first impressions. I remember feeling similar shock when a blonde, peppy acquaintance whom I honestly wrote off as vapid and ditzy told me she wanted to be a biochemist. That lead me to think about how people are not always what they seem...the private battles we fight behind publicly projected images of calm, cool, and collected...the battles that may or may not lead to occupational callings. And that, friends, is what lead me to the idea for my next book:

Two teenage girls, two experiences with sexual assault: one committed by a stranger, the other by a boyfriend. Neither girl quite believes the other when she shares her story: wasn’t she ‘asking for it’ by walking home alone so late at night? Why didn’t she just end the relationship if he really treated her that way?

Insert Title Here is a raw, emotional book that explores the impact of rape culture on modern society. Told in alternating perspectives from two survivors, it unpacks the common myths of sexual assault, revealing important truths that every woman needs to know.

Yes, barely six months after the publication of the first one, I've gone and started another. I'm already 90 pages into the manuscript, and I imagine this one will appeal to a much wider audience than the first. But this isn't a "fun" book to write; rather, I think it's a necessary one. I toyed with the idea of writing from the perspective of both the victim and the perpetrator, but decided against it because really, I have no idea what goes on in the heads of the kind of men who prey on women. I can only write about what I know...but even that is one-sided. There are so many ways to address this complex, controversial, multifaceted issue.

So, a great deal of research and maybe some imagination is required for this piece...but I'm eager to do it. No, I haven't signed up for an "easy life" (whatever that is) with lots of cushioning and lots of cash. It's been said that I tend to make things harder for myself than is necessary. This is only because my experiences of searing private pain have driven me to want to help others with theirs.

Here's the thing about me and writing: if it's important to me, it has to go on paper. Otherwise, it's like the experience (whatever it may be) never happened. Or that the person who confided in me about something doesn't matter to me. Therefore, I have a feeling that most of my books (yes, I plan on writing for as long as my hands work!) will be, in the words of that customer, "intense." There's a time and a place for "vacation literature," the kind you can enjoy without having to think too much, but there's waaaay too much chaos in my head to produce any of that, at least for the time being. I'll keep my light, airy ideas to my blog for now :)

Also, should anyone have an idea for a title for this new book, PLEASE let me know!

SB