My editor at The Gazette, Steve Buttry, loaned me the book "Obit" by Jim Sheeler. A most interesting, intriguing book of stories about people who are no longer living among us, but are, yet, in a sense. I wonder if I could write like that. I have not tried. I would like to meet this man Sheeler. He makes each person's life fascinating. I have not seen any local writer - well, maybe one - Tom Fruehling wrote features that were compelling and heartwarming before he left the newspaper.
Too many of us don't try things because of fear. Our age doesn't really matter - young or old, we can be "stick-in-the-muds" or blossoming peonies.
A lot has to do with our relationship with the Lord. Satan impresses me with the desire for things I really don't need. To rise above the ashes of death, which is really what Satan offers, we must look to the Lord, and I can do all things through Him, with Him. Look to Him, not elsewhere.
My husband works with hospice, caring for the physical needs of men who are on their last journey. Sometimes he also cares for their spiritual needs - it depends - the patient/client must request him to read a Scripture passage or pray with them. Jim does this willingly. He is one of God's servants.
I write the obituaries at The Gazette, but it's not feature writing. It's following style, putting together the pieces/facts in an orderly fashion or merely editing what a funeral home or individual has sent in. I've been doing this for 21 years here, and years before at other newspapers - dailies and weeklies.
When I was a child I used to write stories. My mother enjoyed writing, so we shared that common ground. I wrote fiction and poetry (which I still do occasionally) for a long time - through college anyway, before I stopped. I have always kept a journal.
Feature writing is not fiction. It's not mundane or boring either. Could I practice writing on someone's life...
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