A Higher Voice

I believe the best stories aren’t about perfect people. The best stories are about what happens when you back a flawed person into a corner. I like to squish a character until he pops and see what pours out. Or more specifically, what pours back in. I like to unravel a character until I get at the story he really wants to tell me. The story might leave us a little grimy in the telling, but we’ll find out just what he’ll risk everything for. We’ll find out whether he’s willing to let the story transform him. Because I believe God’s story is evident even in the grimiest of tales. As for me, I’m as flawed as anyone. I can scruff along my daily walk not much different than the next person. And yet... and yet, by God’s grace, I stand perfect. Amazing truth. Perfectly flawed; that’s me. Pretty much like my characters, when you get down to it. Sheri grew up in Mt. Airy, NC, and lives thereabouts with her husband. Together they run a couple of small businesses and plan their next vacation. A graduate of High Point University, her first job was writer at a marketing firm, and she’s been scribbling ever since. Anytime I would tell someone I was writing a story about a rock star, I could see their eyes start to glaze over. Almost as if a cartoon balloon floated up, I could just about see them thinking, ＂Why?＂ As if I had a choice! As soon as these two characters plopped down in my brain and took up housekeeping, they demanded that I tell their story. There was Britt Jordan: quirky, restless, determined, forgetful, genius. Losing his voice and lugging a weight of guilt. Skeptical in matters of faith. It required a peculiar insanity on my part to house him inside my head. And Dena: self-assured, calm, a mother, fearless, imaginative. Rooted in her faith; positive in her trust in Britt. Her melodious voice still lilts through my thoughts at times.