SUSAN BURTON NARRATES HOW HER STORY CAME TO FRUITION

The Summer Queen was written because in July 2016 I had a stress induced heart attack. Three weeks later I had another one. Not unusual for a woman of my age (50+), but quite extraordinary in that either my higher self, or an outside agent, told me it was going to happen two weeks before in a dream – which I ignored. I had lost my Mum a few months earlier to a massive heart attack and so this was obviously on my mind. After a lot of soul searching and discussion with both my husband and employer, I decided to leave work and try to understand these events at a deeper level. More than that, I’d been given a second chance. I had stood looking at the light at the end of a tunnel. During those few seconds I was able to review the events of my life so far. I was able to see particular events that had set me down one road or another, but without the concept of ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘failure’, or, ‘success’. Although there was a sense of pleasure at being about to return home, I also realised that I wasn’t ready to pass the veil and I was pushed back into my body. As the healing and comprehension process started I was able to look back on my life. I had reached a crossroads. It was time to let go of the previous fifty odd years and embrace the birth of my new self. For most of my working life I’ve been writing stuff for organisations and others, be it management plans, funding plans, briefing reports, press releases, web and social media content. Perhaps it was time to write for myself. Early in 2017 I started writing The Summer Queen, although it didn’t have that title then. Like many before me, I was seeking to draw a line under one part of my experience in order to move on. The character of Muriel Samantha Grayson has a second chance at living a fully conscious life. By writing about her, and the difficulties she has in finding courage and fortitude, I’ve been able to make the most of my second chance too. I wanted to use the name Samantha as my character’s ‘rebirth’ name because that was the name my Dad originally picked out for me. My parents eventually settled on Susan, which is great, because it can be traced to the ancient city of Susa in the Near East.

 

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