On being a writer-farmer in May

May is planting time on the prairies! Writing has been on pause for a few weeks while I planted hundreds of tomatoes and peppers, and thousands of strawberries, plus flowers and melons and squash and carrots and potatoes and beets and onions... I picked up part time work at a fruit and veggie U-pick close by our little town and am grateful for the additional income. Above is a pic of me in my little garden carved out of a backyard full of dandelions haha.

I am so grateful for everyone who has come on board as a patron of my writing at patreon.com/rachelrunnalls! We're almost at $100/mo on the Patreon page, and every little bit makes a real difference to our family. It costs a lot of energy for me to juggle two jobs, plus a family, plus writing like I do, and I am hoping for the day that writing and youth pastoring become my full time work. If my writing has impacted you, please check out that Patreon page and share with others! I am posting chapters of the HIDING sequel as I write it, plus amazing illustrations by a young woman who serves in my youth ministry.

Here's a little inside scoop on the HIDING sequel!

The backbone of this novel is Cary's inward journey. The big question for me at the end of HIDING was, how does Cary pick himself up and move on after the things that have happened to him? What does the healing journey of an abuse survivor look like, up close and over an extended period of time?

So I enlisted the help of a friend of mine who has a Masters in counselling and works as a counselor for at-risk youth. There's a few scenes throughout the novel of Cary in the counselling office, and my friend and I basically play these scenes out live over the phone. I give her Cary's line and describe the scene and she gives a couple options of things she might say to try and open up a conversation with Cary. I write the scenes based on these collaborative conversations, and it is very satisfying to include the work of another ordinary person who is showing up day in and day out to help young people heal and grow.

I'm posting the first of these scenes as a free teaser next week, along with the next chapter of the sequel for subscribers - watch for that!

Thanks to each one of you who have encouraged me in this writing project along the way. The HIDING story is reaching people to plant new hope that love and healing are possible, and you are a part of that. Grace to each of you,

Rachel