One Of The Most Important Writing Lessons I Ever Got

When my mom got engaged to my stepfather, Don McNay, he wrote an article about it on the huffington post. You can read the original article right here.  Don & Karen McNay: The Saga of Our Engagement. It is one of the funniest and heartwarming pieces of writing I have ever read.

One night, Don, my mom, my brothers, and my grandparents were all eating out at the Cracker Barrel. We ended up talking to the waitress about weddings since she and my mom both just got engaged. I told her about Don’s article that he wrote, and my Memaw was actually carrying a printed copy in her purse at the time. She gave it to the waitress, who loved reading it so much that she passed it to another couple that she was waiting on.

In that moment, I learned what kind of power writing could have. To create something so moving and so touching that people felt the desire to pass it to someone so that they can feel the same thing. In a world that is often so cynical to the point that many people feel the need to question if joy is even truly possible to feel, there can be no greater power or responsibility as a writer then to create stories that not only fuel people with happiness, but can also cause a desire for other to spread that happiness to even more people

It is one of the greatest lessons I ever learned on my journey to be a writer, and one of many things I will miss about my stepfather, who lived the way he wrote stories. Always trying to help others and ready to laugh with joy.  I shall never forget him.