Can death teach the most valuable lessons about life? - White Night by Kathi Morehead

"White Night is unlike any book I've ever read. The premise is unusual to say the least, but I found myself thoroughly enmeshed in the lives of the characters and feeling their ups and downs. At the end of each chapter, I couldn't wait to turn the page and see what the next chapter brought. The characters are real, and their emotions are easily identifiable in each of us. It is a beautiful love story but also makes one think about the afterlife. If stars were given for a rating, this would definitely get 5 stars from me! I recommend it highly!" --Frances Monard (from Amazon)

Description:

Joanna Anderson Campbell lived the perfect life ... loving daughter and sister, loyal friend, faithful wife, and devoted mother. She was happy and content. What more could she have asked for? Life could not have been better. At least ... that's what she believed. Until she died. Can death teach the most valuable lessons about life? Jo Campbell is about to find out. 

GUEST POST

What was most difficult in writing in White Night?

The first chapter may well have been the most difficult for me, but I found that when I sat down and wrote, it flowed and flowed. The final published chapter is not even close to the original. Good reason for that. I drew on the experiences of sitting next to my own parents’ deathbeds, and living through the process of their dying. I am not certain that, except for the death of one’s own child, there is anything more emotionally wrenching.

Writing Jo’s death was cathartic for me. Believe me. I cried harder when I wrote it, and even now when I read it again, than anyone else in the world. That experience is more real to me than my own life sometimes, and the memory of it is enough to gut me. So why use it? Because that’s where Jo’s real story begins. Knowing what she went through in dying is what gives the story its traction.

This is where the process of editing comes in, and where I can’t recommend more highly the benefits of a good editor. Can you imagine being an objective outsider trying to edit an author’s feelings about her parents’ deaths? I can’t. But mine did, and I am really proud of the finished product. It may seem dire, but it’s necessary to ground the story. And I promise, the ending is worth the beginning!

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About the author: 

Kathi Haacke Morehead makes her fiction debut with WHITE NIGHT. She is the author of HEART BLEED: Letting go and stanching the flow, and THE BEST FROM THE CHEAP SEATS. She has also written numerous articles for Mind Body Green, and Boomeon. She also blogs daily at A View From the Cheap Seats Today. Kathi lives in Brunswick with her husband Dave and their four finicky felines. Her motto is "love and laugh!"

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