Wow, this was one of our most emotional live chats to date. If you’ve read “A Missing Child of the 1980s, All Grown Up” you’re probably not surprised. As reader
recently commented:This story opened my heart not only for Scott but for humans in general. May I have more compassion and patience when someone doesn’t behave the way I think they should. We never know what they’ve been through.
The journey Scott Rankin has been on is truly an incredible one—from being kidnapped by his father as a child to silently suffering through the effects of trauma for years, then finally addressing it head on and rebuilding his life. It was so special to hear directly from Scott and from the author of this piece, “Mr. Robb,” aka writer Paul C. Robb, who also happened to be Scott’s 4th grade teacher. (And yes, we had so many questions this one ended up going beyond the advertised 28 minutes!)
If you haven’t had a chance to read this story yet, give it a whirl this weekend, then dive into the chat with Scott and Paul above. We’re going to keep both the story and the video free for now, so that all readers have a chance to experience this story.
By the way, this story resulted from a Narratively Critique that I completed with Paul, helping him shape his original draft into a story he could submit for publication.
If you’re interested in booking a critique of your own, head over to our sister site, NarrativelyAcademy.com, a creative community for writers to hone their craft and pursue their publishing dreams. We have classes starting this week on:
31 Days, 31 Revision Prompts: A Month of Self-Editing Your Essays
Writing Personal Statements and Applying for Grants & Residencies
