Writer Unblocked

Julie ignored the tears coursing down her cheeks and logged on to Facebook, forcing a smile as though there was anyone to see. The cancer diagnosis had been a mere two days ago, its invincible verdict sitting in her heart like a curse. Late stage cancer, the prognosis not good.

Julie still smiled as she checked on the Jane Austen Appreciation group. It always sucked several smiles in to her bloodstream, joy coursing through her veins like the words from her favourite Jane Austen novels. Words that were so more powerful and enduring than cancer.

A member called Jim Miles had posted: “Emma is the best novel ever. Discuss.”

Julie smiled, this was also her favourite novel. Of all time.

Furiously she began to type. Jim replied quickly. Half an hour later, they were still typing their virtual conversation. “Shall we take this to private messenger?” suggested Jim. “Yes,” agreed Julie.

And so began a formidable online friendship. As the days progressed, they analysed together every single Jane Austen novel. Julie forgot her illness as the online world claimed her brain.

Jim’s mind was a maze of literary appreciation, each path weaving to a centre of book treasure. She could chat to him for hours, unconscious of the time passing, immune to her internal clock counting down. Time stood still for Julie, the pain of cancer defeated by Jane Austen … and by Jim.

Facebook had delivered an online angel.

As Julie laughed at Jim’s latest literary joke, an idea itched in her brain. Was it a stupid thought … or could it be worth something?

Slowly, she typed her thoughts in to Messenger.

Why don’t we write a modern day Jane Austen novel.

She clicked send, then watched her blinking screen. The answer came with prompt enthusiasm.

That is a great idea.

So began a messenger brainstorm, ideas flung backwards and forwards like a literary tennis ball. A skeleton novel began to form limbs and brandish a brain.

Facebook Flirtation featured a modern day Emma who matched potential suitors through a Facebook group, asking tailored questions and then finding perfect partners, a romantic detective of the social media era.

Julie and Jim grew closer as they collaborated on the book, a romance budding like a rose in Julie’s chest. However as the rose bloomed, the cancer also spread, a malign flower spreading its leaves throughout her body. Pain pulsed inside, a nectar feeding the invasive plant within.

When she eventually met Jim in person, she could hardly walk anymore. A mere few weeks later, she was confined to bed. And it was there, as the days counted down to her curtain call that the finished novel arrived, published and packaged like a flower from heaven. Julie held Jim’s hand, as tears of regret stroked her cheeks. She held the novel, and tried to smile. She had gifted something to the world, final words that would soon be from beyond the grave.

Julie continued to hold Jim’s hand, as her eyes fluttered and she fell in to her final slumber. A rose in her heart pricked her soul, then wilted and died as she breathed no more.

Jim held her hand tighter. Their book was all he had left. He would treasure it.

And Emma logged in to Facebook, eager to find her new messages. It was time to give love a helping hand; it was time to water the roses of romance. The online garden of her mind bloomed with vibrant colour, caught in a cyberspace of hope, flowers of the future flirting under a sun that knew no night. Love would last forever, the perfume of paradise uttering its gentle hello to heaven.