Pewter Angels

Writing a series of novels
, I have learned, requires a lengthy commitment, a withdrawal from the usual routines of daily living, a time to be alone, to reflect, to write. My wife Joan has given me this gift of freedom to realize what was in my heart, to put down on paper what was only a dream for so many, many years. I thank my lovely wife for this time, her understanding and patience. For reading and rereading the story at each stage of development, being a sounding board and her assistance in editing.

I also thank my family and friends for reading parts of the series and their input and support.

The goal for any author is to see their manuscript shape into the best it can be. I am very fortunate to have gathered together an editing team that have not only strengthened, tightened and clarified the language and the story, but for each bringing their own special skills and judicious input. To the editors: Darlene Oakley, Jody Ripplinger and Heather Nickel, my heartfelt thanks for realizing my goal and your commitment to this huge undertaking.

I am grateful to the numerous writers of books I have read over the years that have shaped my life and thinking. The most influential and everlasting of course is the Bible. I thank the Lord for all the trials, joys and life’s experiences that have helped me grasp some of the wisdom and truths of His Word and their application to my life and writing.

It is said that within each
of us is a story to tell. For years, I must admit, it has been my heart’s desire to write a novel. For the longest time I thought it was just wishful thinking, an illusion or fantasy I was nurturing. Over the years, I started several stories that never went anywhere except into my drawer and then fizzled away in the recesses of my mind. And yet, I have long known that if one has a dream, a burning passion in his heart, that someday it will come to pass. Never would I have envisioned, however, the wonderfully creative way it would come about. How, one day, an unbelievable occurrence would eventually transform a fantasy into reality.

The “occurrence” tugged away at me for days, months and then years, begging my attention. Seeking understanding, I spoke of it to family and friends but I was so focused on the event itself that I missed the underlying significance of it all. It wasn’t until I found myself in the sun-room of our farmhouse one sleepless morning in June 2005, watching the sun near the edge of the earth, that the deeper meaning of the occurrence came to me. As the rising sun brightened the room in which I sat, it also seemed to illuminate my mind. Insight, previously obscured in the shadows of my psyche, bloomed and intensified as dawn spread out across the prairie sky. As I traced the occurrence back to its beginning, I finally realized how it was a testament to the enduring miracle of love. Immediately, an overwhelming, almost feverish rush to write my story welled up inside me, and I began.

Without any outline or any knowledge of how to write a novel, I picked up a pen and scribbler on the end table and simply began to write. For two weeks, I wrote almost nonstop until my wrist and hand gave out. Then I purchased a laptop computer—the best investment of my life—and continued to write as fast as my fingers could type. Corrections could be made in an instant. Paragraphs moved here and there with incredible ease. The thoughts began to flow. It was as if during all the years I had been thinking about the occurrence, ideas had been incubating in my mind, stored, packed, imprisoned inside, until the writing process released them like a gusher, exploding and spilling onto the pages.

Sentence followed after sentence almost effortlessly as the scenes unfolded in my mind’s eye. I relied not so much on my intellect as I wrote but rather on my imagination, ablaze as it was with imagery and thoughts. I began to write an outline, a list of chapters that would take me from beginning to end. It was like going on a journey, and I was tracing out the map where I wanted and needed to go to reach my destination.

Characters came alive and I followed them and their lives; we talked and laughed and cried together. They took me in directions I never would have thought of on my own … they led and I followed. This resulted in more chapters. My map expanded as twists and turns in the road came from nowhere and everywhere and from deep within. As the weeks of writing progressed, the vision before me became clearer and richer. It was like watching a movie. All I had to do was write down what I saw before me on the screen of my mind.

Incredibly, three years to the date I started writing, when all was said and done, a huge book of over 1000 pages was in my hands. Once the editing process began, even more pages were added, strengthening the story and dividing it into five parts and time-frames. The result is a chronicle of love and adventure in the lives of two people, whose story shows us how angels and the heavens are intricately involved in our lives and that miracles happen when we follow our hearts.

As I look back on this experience, I am still amazed by the effortlessness with which the story emerged, as if the chapters, their order and all the key elements were guided, predetermined—or perhaps more accurately—inspired.

The writing of this book also answered another prayer long held in my heart. As a teacher and then a high school guidance counsellor, it was always my aspiration to write a self-development book. From an early age, insights and understanding of human behaviour came naturally to me, and my study of psychology and counselling in university further added to my empathetic abilities.

Writing this novel utilized those aptitudes. Through the lives of the characters, I could infuse values and principles to live by and show how the choices we make determine our happiness. I wanted to demonstrate the importance of living our lives in the now so as to carry out our life mission to love and serve our Lord and others. These teaching and counselling skills were indirectly at work while I also reexamined my own life and the direction I was going. Ultimately, I realized that lessons are more effectively absorbed intellectually and emotionally when revealed through a story; my novel had simultaneously become my self-development book.

The story begins in Regina, Saskatchewan in the 1950s—the place and time of my own coming of age—though I have taken liberties with the details of its places and events. But though this book is a work of fiction, the occurrence that motivated it was something I experienced personally. My initial intention was to simply write about the occurrence; what resulted was a work of fiction that took on a life of its own. As I’m sure must be the case for many writers, my own life experiences provided the ideal backdrop for the story and moulded the development of the main character to the extent that it was inextricably woven into the fictional narrative.

I firmly believe that God has a plan for each one of us. The desire to write was planted in my heart long before the Lord had me experience the occurrence. Fortunately, I finally listened to His calling to do so, to carry out His plan. I think the Lord knew that as I began to realize the underlying love associated with that event, the power of that love would draw me into the wonderful world of writing and give witness to love’s beauty and ever-enduring wonder. And, just like the warm prairie summer sun eventually ripens a crop of golden wheat for the harvest, so too, as the seed of this story took root, warmed and nourished by the timeless love of two people, “The Angelic Letters” series grew and blossomed. You and I are its reapers.

Henry K. Ripplinger

December 2009

“He hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways . . . in their hands they shall bear thee up:

lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

PSALM 91:1112