Funerals Suck

They do. It's a tried and true fact. Unless you're the Grim Reaper or something -- or Jason Priestley's character on Tru Calling... which was not unlike the Grim Reaper.

Anyhow.

What sucks worse than a funeral?

Writing about one.

There's an inherent tension, saddness, and ache that comes with funerals, and as an author, it's my job to get those all in the scene without crushing the readers' spirit so much s/he puts the book down. And you'd think, after attending countless funerals -- 3 grandparents, half a dozen great-aunts, three classmates, a handful of friends' parents and relatives, and my husband's uncle (which was less than a week ago, so I really should have it fresh in my mind) -- I would be able to get all these raw emotions on paper.

Riiiight. Because all those funeraly emotions come creeping in when you try to write a funeral scene, and while you'd think this is a good thing, it's not. Because they kind of block you from properly expressing any emotion.

So, funerals suck.

Writing about them sucks.

And they're both a part of life. Well, the real ones are a part of real life, and the fictional ones are a part of my novel. So, I'm going to have to figure out how to use my RL experience to create an authentic funeral scene for my readers.

Remind me again why I chose this hobby??