Why I Write

When I wrote The Second Crack I wanted to explore what drives us to help each other – to help our sister or nephew, to help our neighbor, to help a stranger on another continent. And some of the answer may be - because it makes us feel better, more noble. But even more fundamental is that it makes us feel that we are a necessary thread in this tapestry we call life.

That said, how far do we go, how much do we give up for that Afghan girl thirsty for an education or that hungry wounded boy in Syria? The nightly news breaks our hearts. Yet we have a mortgage to pay and a car payment to make, and then there’s groceries and the kids' swim lessons. And we also want to have a little fun. Nothing wrong with that. We can’t all be Mother Teresa or Mandela. So in order to sleep at night, we do what we can and hope that with everyone else doing the same, it’s enough. And sometimes it is.

But we still need the great ones like Nelson Mandela and that’s also what I wanted to explore. His reach was global, the reason Suz volunteered in South Africa. And that reach also penetrated deep into people’s daily lives like Estere’s imagination of what a real father might be like.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that all this writing, this novel, is part of my contribution and like you, I hope it’s enough.