MY HANDPRINT

The Healing Project Book By Dennis Lantz CHAPTER 1        Begin with the Ending Once upon a time, two decades prior to publishing my first novel, I was involved in a fiction writer’s discussion group. We would meet at local libraries or diners to talk about various facets of character, plot, scene, or story development. The group didn’t last long, unfortunately, but I was able to gain some important storytelling concepts. At the very first meeting, the managing author asked us, “What is the most important thing to know before beginning a novel?” The answer, according to him… was the ending. If we think of life as the ultimate mystery novel, we already know how it is going to end. We are all going to die. Unless you are taken up like Elijah in the Bible, every person born, including you and me, is terminal. It is our destiny to expire from this mortal existence. You may think that is a morbid statement. Or perhaps you find it frightening. But honesty is ...

  By Dennis Lantz I had a dream, a few years back, when my physical health was in sudden decline, that I was standing in a long line of people waiting to see a healer. A stone castle stood in the distance, maybe two hundred yards away. Hundreds, maybe thousands of other people were ahead of me. All sought healing. Slowly, the mass of people disappeared inside the castle walls, mere specks from my perspective. I expected a long wait. The only person I recognized was my sister. We had made the journey together. She was the believer. I was more skeptical. All around us, fellow seekers discussed the healer. She was amazing, according to their pronouncements. She was real. She could cure all types of problems. I did not voice my skepticism out loud because it was not my place to discourage anyone from seeking health. But doubt lingered. Their faith, and even some of their stated beliefs seemed strange or even misguided. However, none struck me as potentially harmful. So, I remained si...

By Dennis Lantz I’m writing again. A few different projects… as usual. That is how my mind works. It isn’t that I lose interest in the original task… it’s just that other ideas suddenly seem more important to my brain.   A recent health struggle has made me take a closer look at all of the dreams I hope to accomplish. To be honest, the realization that we all have limited time causes me severe impatience. It makes me want to share everything immediately… even projects that aren’t finished. Especially writing projects. That isn’t my normal way of doing things. But I have an idea, a new approach that was inspired by great writers from the past.   Let me explain my serial endeavor. Charles Dickens published all of his novels as serial stories before they were sold as completed books. Newspapers and literary magazines, some of which he edited and published, would print parts of his tales in sequence. Writing serials kept costs low for the readers… and motivated the writer to p...

 By Dennis Lantz For the past few years, I honestly believed that I was going to do it all. I was going to accomplish every worthy dream I had ever imagined since I was a child. I was going to be fulfilled because my lofty dreams were going to be achieved. You see, I thought of these grand dreams and myself as one entity. I was my dreams. The dreams were becoming reality because I was becoming reality. We grasp for the stars like a wildfire of primitive longing. We fly like Icarus above the clouds… too high. Too high. Neither those dreams nor I are immortal. But both of us are born of good intention and desire. Both struggle when we doubt our worthiness. Reality came to visit. And we have wrestled. The problems confronting me are many. I’ve shared them before. Focus. Finances. Poor health. I vowed with the most earnest sincerity that I would overcome these obstacles. Obviously, I realized that it would be difficult. But my heart was true. And thus far, it has been a valiant bat...