Historical Connections

My writing journey has taken me to two different places this week, places that are closely connected.

First, preparing for publication of my first novel, I wrote book club questions. Second, I started research for my planned third novel in the series (the second is in the rewriting stage). In both tasks, I couldn’t help but see connections between the historical periods of Korea I was writing about, and current happenings in the United States.

The book club questions reminded me of how much our beliefs, culture, and gender shape our lives and how they can bring us together, give us strength, or tear us apart.

The research for the third in the series is on May of 1980 in Gwangju, Korea. As I read, I couldn’t help but see parallels between that period in Korean history and Operation Metro Surge that we experience this last winter in Minnesota.

As I write, and prepare to write, I am constantly reminded that we humans are both beautiful and tragic. We can live in the light of love and hope or we can fall into the depths of depravity and how history is repetitive in nature.