Guest post about Healing Hearts by Brian Thompson

I don't normally do this, but since I'm going to be at the Romantic Times Book Lovers convention the rest of this week, so I thought I'd feature a post from a great guy and brilliant novelist whose writing I enjoy reading. I haven't had a chance to review his current book yet, but I thought its message fit within the context of my blog theme...healing hearts, so I wanted to give him an opportunity to tell you why he writes to minister to people who are hurting and give him an opportunity to bless you all with his candid approach to real life. So Brian will take it from here...

Human beings are wonderfully flawed creations, and we have the audacity to have relationships with one another.

Sometimes, these unions begin beautifully and end badly - leaving emotional scars we’re left to deal with. The marks represent the pain of our pasts, and we must try to salve our wounds enough to heal our hearts and move on.

But how?

My pastor says the pain you experience is meant to help someone else. Even if that’s true, in the midst of dealing with a personal debt crisis, a broken marital trust, or an unexpected family death, it’s difficult to focus on someone else’s needs, don’t you think? 

Sometimes, I move on through my writing. Many of my life’s biggest heartaches have been worked out on paper. It’s part of why I believe my characters seem so real. They’re reading intimate things about me; they just don’t know what’s real and what’s not.

I drew from my life while writing Micah James and Harper Lowe – two protagonists from The Anarchists. Micah is an unemployed engineer, too educated to find a menial job, and not educated enough for a high-level position. Harper is a psychiatrist whose salary is not enough to meet the couple’s financial needs.

Any future in engineering was pretty much decided when I got low grades in mechanical drawing and high school math. My wife, Heather, is not a psychiatrist. But, like Micah and Harper, we had financial difficulties early on in our marriage when only one of us was working. Those parts were hard to write, as they are not distant memories.

Like Teanna Kirkwood, another main character, we lost a child. Heather’s miscarriage last year weighed on us both emotionally. My heart limps from the experience, like Jacob’s leg after he wrestled with God.

I won’t be the same again. It took me a while to see the blessing in that.

A former student (I used to teach in a public school) miscarried. She posted about her experience online, and I empathized with her loss. I reached out to her, and gave her the condolences and warmth only a parent who had been through a similar thing could do.

I said it was not her fault, that she could conceive again when the time was right. And she appreciated that. It brought a unique healing to us both.

The main characters in The Anarchists are faced with life-changing crises. Damario Coley is maimed in a crash after confronting his wife with her marital infidelity. Quinne Ruiz is arrested when her out-of-control drug habit becomes public knowledge, and Harper finds herself a single mother when an explosion kills Micah.

Like them, we have a choice. Either use our pain to help others, or lose ourselves in the sorrow. It’s up to us. 

About the Book:

After a failed coup, a revolutionary named Noor is exiled to earth and sentenced to death. Vowing to rule the inferior planet, but separated from his lieutenants, he is forced to use human beings instead.

In the year 2050, tragedy strikes. Harper Lowe loses her son's father to violence. A tipsy Damario Coley is maimed in a crash. High on drugs, Quinne Ruiz is arrested, and single mom Teanna Kirkwood witnesses the death of her daughter.

The alluring Kareza Noor, CEO of the Genesis Institute, pilots the "Begin Again Initiative.” Out of 300 million applicants from across the nation, Harper, Damario, Quinne and Teanna receive the chance to erase a past regret. One of them must be forced to go along.

When the project's true motives are revealed, the group is sent hurtling toward an uncertain future with unpredictable consequences.

The Anarchists poses the question "what if?" with high-stakes action inside of a page-turning, reality-twisting adventure.

About the Author:

Brian Thompson is a speaker, independent publisher, and author of The Lost Testament and The Revelation Gate. He continues his tradition of carving out complex storylines for an ensemble of textured characters. A graduate of Morehouse College and Temple University, Thompson is also a former educator and professional journalist. He and his family live outside of metro Atlanta, Georgia.

Purchase links (for autographed copies): www.authorbrianthompson.com

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_20?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+anarchists+brian+thompson&sprefix=the+anarchists+brian%2Caps%2C483

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-anarchists-brian-thompson/1109574493