The Optimistic Angel

 


Even though I am pretty good with words, I am at a loss here. I cannot seem to find the words to describe the joy I feel holding this book in my hands. Two young parents put their trust in me to publish this story and only my husband knows how many tears I shed and how many nights I went without sleep through the process.

I started the crying as I read through the manuscript. There were moments I had to take a small break and come back to it. Through every word written by this young mom and dad, I felt like I was completely immersed in their life. They only lost their precious four-year-old months ago to the thief known as childhood cancer. Is there anything more tragic than the loss of a child? No!

As I poured through the manuscript trying to proofread and do layout and design, I felt a sense of urgency. I wanted this family to have the book in their hands as quickly as possible. I knew they had an event in January and I wasn't sure how long it would take me to do layout and get it to the printer. When it became apparent that I would finish in time to get it released by the end of October, I felt excited, yet anxious too.

Suddenly, unforeseen problems struck with the processing of the hardcover version. I was having to completely re-do the cover and then there was a system crash! It didn't last long, but I found myself down on my knees asking God to resolve this and let this book be a blessing to Hayley and Justin and to their toddler Kora and to anyone and everyone who loves and misses Kallie.

I felt like I got to know Kallie over the past couple of months and I wanted her to smile down on this book and love it. My mom helped me correct some formatting errors and my husband helped me deal with the system that crashed and God, along with Kallie looked down and smiled.

"The Optimistic Angel" will always be one of my most cherished books. It is beautiful and I feel so honored to have been the one to publish it for this precious family. I absolutely wish they never had to suffer the loss of this darling child and I pray for God to always comfort them and to let His light and Kallie's shine down upon them til they are reunited in Heaven above.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mustard Seed

Image
While at CureFest last month in Washington D.C., I finally got to meet Mariah Forster Olson face-to-face. She and I have talked many times over the phone or video conferencing. She was one of the first Bell Asteri authors to sign a contract with me and she has already touched my heart and my life so much. Because Mariah is such a kind and generous young woman who never seems to complain, it's almost easy to forget when you're with her that she is in constant, excruciating, debilitating pain. I almost forget she's in a wheel chair or using a cane because her personality takes over and you hardly notice she's physically bound to the aftermath of childhood cancer. You will learn more about this amazing woman when her book is released and you'll see what I mean. Bill and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her in D.C., seeing firsthand how much strength and courage she has. Bill pushed that wheelchair all over town and Mariah fiercely advocated for children with c
Read more

Preparing to Die?

Image
  Years ago, I had a friend whose 18-year-old daughter was killed in a car accident as she drove back to college. She was instantly killed when her car struck a barrier in the median. It was unbelievably painful attending that young lady's funeral. She was a strong athlete with a seemingly bright future ahead of her. About a month after her death, another friend's 11-year-old son died following a four-year battle against bone cancer. Since the age of seven, this precious boy had been in a mountain of pain and had endured treatments that seemed like a cruel scientific experiment. Not long after both of these young people died, I was talking to the dad of the 18-year-old girl as he told me about the conversation he had just had with the mom of the 11-year-old boy. In that conversation, she told him that she knew it must be harder for him to lose his child than for her because it happened so suddenly, without warning. He replied to her that he thought it was worse for her because
Read more

About Me

Image
  My name is Dana-Susan Crews. Most of my friends call me "DS" or "Dana-Sue". Throughout my life, I have loved telling stories. Even as a toddler, I would tell elaborate stories and then create my own little books with pictures until I learned to write. My books were paper that I stapled together and I still have  some of them today. When I was seven years old, my baby brother was diagnosed with cancer. This was a journey that was filled with darkness, but also with great miracles from God. Luke was not given a good prognosis, but he is a survivor today and a great man. Over the years, I have heard many stories from siblings of childhood cancer survivors and from the survivors themselves about how they made the decision to enter the medical profession because of their experience with childhood cancer. Interestingly, I never wanted to do this. Even as a child, I would always say I wanted to write my brother's story and to write to cure cancer. I didn't even k
Read more