Books Are Magic: The Inspiration Behind "The Point of No Return"

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

The Inspiration Behind "The Point of No Return"

- Guest Post by JD Combs

There were so many factors that caused me to write this book. The most important factor is that I’m a hopeless romantic. I’ll go on to tell you, I’m in my mid-forties. It’s the time of life where, I think, many of us start to get smacked in the face by the infamous mid-life crisis. I’ve been married for almost 20 years, that’s time enough to live through the ups and the downs of married life multiple times over. While the up times are more than fantastic, the down times can truly suck the life out of each spouse. In all the years I’ve been married, I’ve seen couples who I thought were infallible go down in flames, and I’ve seen marriages that I thought were doomed from the start learn to grow and thrive with each other. So I started wondering why the happily ever after was doable for some but not for others, and in wondering about happily ever after I had to let my mind travel down the path of infidelity. Some of this was beyond hard to write about, but my mind wouldn’t shut down and stop thinking about everything that goes into a marriage from both spouses.

Do you or don’t you? That was the question I had to ask myself over and over as I wrote The Point of No Return. Do you cross the line and head into infidelity or do you stay true to your spouse? Can there truly be a happily ever after or is that just a made up fallacy? These were two other questions I had to ask myself repeatedly as I wrote my book. Neither question was good or fun to answer, but in looking around at real life I had to accept the fact that both deserved to be answered.

Facebook and social media make the ability to cheat so much easier. Who would know if you carried on a little something on the side? How easy would it be to fall into a flirtation when life in your marriage is not so good? I’d venture to guess, it would be fairly easy. I’ve heard the stories of some of my friends who have something extra on the side. I’ve interviewed people who have carried on affairs for years. I’ve seen the devastation of a family due to multiple lovers on the side. Holly The Home-wrecker came to life in many instances. So, for me, this book was my way of showing the seedy side of life on the other side of fidelity.

My desire for a happily ever after of my own made it hard for me to write some of the scenes in the middle, but my wish for a fairy tale ending made writing the whole book a true necessity. I hope that makes sense to you. I so desperately want everyone to have the fairy tale ending I think most of us want. I thought maybe if I wrote about the down side of marriage and infidelity, it would be easier to appreciate the up side when we have it. I wish you all the happily ever after of your dreams.