When I took English 101, my professor told me at the end of the semester that I will be published one day. I laughed in her face. I did not like reading. I definitely did not like writing. I explained to her it was just for a grade.
Now, several years later, I am sitting here reflecting on my book. I vented so many thoughts onto my laptop that night. I had 60 pages of thoughts after 7 hours. Part of me was impressed with the speed at which the thoughts flowed through my fingers onto the Word document. I had this thing. It was a very long journal entry. Part of me wanted to delete it. I got all my thoughts out, so nothing left to do. I played around for a few days adding stories and elaborating on some of the thoughts. Before I knew it, I had a lot of content. I sent it off to an editor to help me organize. She told me that she read the whole thing and needs to know what virtual bookshelf I want to see my book on. She listed off so many genres that my book covers.
When I finally released The Double-Edged Sword, I was not expecting anything. Perhaps if a reader picked it up and told somebody else about it, I could prevent one suicide. I was overwhelmed when I saw how many people were buying my book, mostly people I knew at first. They sent me screenshots of their Amazon order. But there were other people buying it as well. The response has been phenomenal.
The book is written in a tone to speak to colleagues in EMS, but the message seems to have transcended genres. I have heard from a lot of people telling me how a particular piece spoke to them. I have made a lot of people cry. My original goal still stands, prevent another suicide. After some of the people who have reached out to me, I have decided that I want to speak about my book whenever the opportunity arises. I have never despised public speaking when it’s something that interests me. Imagine how amazing it would be to connect personally with my readers. I could listen to their stories, share more of mine, pray over them, cry with them, laugh with them.
If I ever get the chance, I want to seek out my English 101 professor and give her the opportunity to have the last laugh… right in my face as deserved. And then with all the humility I possess, I want to come to you. I want to present my story to you and share with you that while it is my story, there is something so much bigger at play in all of this.
Christopher Turnbull 