Because writing this book was more than just fun. It was like a tonic for my weary soul.
There’s a quote I love about writing by Dwight V. Swain: “A story is something you do to a reader.” I’m so grateful for what this particular story did to me. It nourished me in profound ways that I’m not even sure I could’ve asked for.
I always want my stories to be about love, and light, and making sense of hard times, and getting back up after life has knocked us down. I always want them to make us all （me included） laugh and swoon … and give us something wise to hold on to.
That’s never been more true than with The Bodyguard. I thought about it so often during 2020: How much laughter matters. How much hope matters. How much joy matters.
How the right story at just the right time can lift you up in ways that feel like a rescue.
That’s all writers can really ever hope to do for readers: invent stories full of all the magic we’re longing for ourselves. I hope your time on the ranch with The Bodyguard did all the soul-nourishing things for you that it absolutely did for me.
Katherine Center