by Tari Faris, @FarisTari
Don’t worry about the title – my husband and I are still happily married–eighteen years now.
But as the title states, I was dumped on Valentine’s Day twenty-six years ago.
That morning my boyfriend and I exchanged gifts and sweet words but by evening he was headed to a singles game show hoping to get a date with another girl. “What a jerk,” you might think. And yes, I was heartbroken at the time but now the memory truly makes me laugh.
I am thrilled with my life, my husband, and my family. I wouldn’t want it to turn out any different. But as I reflect on my past relationships almost all of them had quite unique break-ups. (Don’t worry I am going somewhere with this.)
Here are a few of my favorites. (I am not making these up)
- “All things are permissible but not all things are beneficial – I don’t think you are beneficial in my life.”
- “‘Jane Doe’ asked me out. . . At the beginning of the school year, I wanted to date you or ‘Jane Doe’. And well… I’ve dated you.”
- “Michelle asked me today if you and I were still dating – I told her no.”
There are more but I need to move on.
As I was trying to develop an idea for one of my books, Susan May Warren suggests finding something unique about you and make it a story. I know crazy breaks ups, and so that is where I began my story. In fact, my Heroin’s opening scene was her getting dumped on Valentine’s Day. Boy, did I have fun writing that scene.
As the book morphed through revisions, it ended up being dumped on their anniversary rather than Valentine’s Day but it is the opening scene of P.S. Goodbye. What felt like heartbreak at one point in my life, lead to the opening scene of my first Series. (You can get that book free on my website tarifaris.com)
You have probably heard the phrase, “Be careful or you could end up in my novel.” There is so much truth to that.
Romans 8:28 says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Not just the amusing dating disasters either. God has used my struggles with forgiveness, the anxiety of my uncertain future, and how I had to learn to feel comfortable in my own skin in my novels. And every time he does I too finds new truth right along with my characters.
What is there in your life story that God wants to use not just for your good but for the good in your writing as well?
Until I Met You
I invite you back to the small town with a big heart in this second book in the Restoring Heritage series.
When she hears that the small town of Heritage, Michigan, is looking for a new librarian, Libby Kingsley jumps at the opportunity. Little did she know the library is barely more than a storage closet stuffed with dusty, outdated books. What the community really needs is a new building. But the only funds available are those being channeled into the new town square, and the landscape architect in charge of the project wants nothing to do with her plans.
All Austin Williams wants to do is get the town square project finished so he can do right by the family business and then extricate himself from the town that reveres the brother who cost him so much. But the local media and the town’s new librarian seem to be conspiring against him at every turn. Will the determined bookworm find her way into his blueprints–and possibly even his heart?
Tari Faris has been writing fiction for fifteen years but has been creating fiction in her head as long as she can remember. She is represented by Wendy Lawton at Books & Such Literary Management and is a member of ACFW and My Book Therapy. She was the 2017 Genesis winner, 2016 Genesis finalist, and 2014 Genesis finalist. In addition to her writing, she also works for My Book Therapy as a special project manager and writes for LearnHowToWriteANovel.com . When she is not writing or working, she spends time with her amazing husband and kids. In her free time, she loves coffee, rockhounding with her husband and kids, and distracting herself from housework. You can connect with her at www.tarifaris.com