The Evil Within, The Screaming Season
Here is the important lesson I learned while I was writing the Possessions series:
I hadn’t really known until that very moment that you could really, truly just let go of something. Whatever it was—bad memories, wounds, tragedies—you didn’t have to spend your whole life dealing with it and endlessly processing it. Until then, I’d always thought of myself as Lindsay Anne Cavanaugh, plus my baggage.
Like I had to add some kind of explanation for why I wasn’t…more.
I had pictured myself as a vine—maybe a geranium—pushing up through the dirt, searching for the sun. Then I had hit a rock and grown up and around it, needing light, forever changed. Then another rock fell from the sky, and another, and I’d bent myself like a pretzel to bathe in light.
I had thought the rocks would always be there. But they could just disappear. That could happen. And it had just happened to me. And you didn’t stay bent. You stretched out, all the kinks gone. Because the light that made you grow wasn’t out there; it was inside you. It was life.
My life.
Even in the darkest place, there is light. I’d like to run a contest now. The prize will be the three books of the Possessions series—Possessions; The Evil Within; and The Screaming Season. To enter, I would love to hear how you yourself have been a beacon of light—if you’ve comforted a friend; adopted a rescue animal; volunteered at a food bank—something that you’ve done to bring a little more light into this world. Write a paragraph or two. Please don’t make it too personal and keep it rated “G.” If you are under 14, you must include this statement: “I have my parent or guardian’s permission to participate in this contest.” And of course, this contest is void where prohibited.
Send your entry to: mailfornancyholder@gmail.com, marked I AM A BEACON CONTEST. I will pick a winner and you will be contacted by email. We will ask you for a good snail mail address to send your books.
I want to thank you all for this wonderful week together. I hope you enjoy the Possessions series, as well as my other books. You can find more information about me on my website, www.nancyholder.com. You can also sign up for my newsletter here.
