When Seize the Fight released in July, I mentioned that there was a little bit of a story behind how it came about. (If you missed it, you can read about it HERE.) But I’ve never shared that here.

This past week, one of my subscribers requested that I give a behind-the-scenes glimpse into The Cause For Which We Fight. So without further ado, let’s dive into the short story that plunged me into the crazy world of authors.

The start of this year held a whole passel of surprises for my family and I. Not the least of which was the severe unexpected illness of my nephew. For privacy, I won’t go into much detail, but the first four months of the year were so incredibly dark that any light fighting to break through was barely a sliver.

I remember how hard it was to just keep living. He was dying before our eyes, and there was nothing any of us could do but pray.

The same week that he went into the hospital was the week that I was first introduced to the Seize the Fight anthology. The theme definitely caught my eye. After all, freedom is my thing. 😉

My mind was so incredibly overwhelmed at that point that I really didn’t know I would have the capability to try to submit a story. The creative well within me was so drastically drained, I couldn’t find it within me to write anything.

For my family and I, we couldn’t think of anything else except our sweet little one fighting for his life. It held our hearts and thoughts captive. Any normal activity in our lives no longer seemed important.

Eating and sleeping was impossible. Living a normal life day-in and day-out was not an option.

During that time, I was told several times by various people in my life that I really should consider submitting a story to Seize the Fight.

Deep within me, I wanted to. But how could I focus my energy and strength on something so temporal? It just didn’t seem important right then.

The days went by, and my nephew grew worse. We were all too scared to say it out loud, but we wondered if we would ever get to hold him again. Would we ever get to see him hit the little milestones that bring a smile?

On multiple occasions, he stopped breathing. Doctors had no answers for us.

Hope was so dark. I will never forget the emotions we were all consumed with.

I knew I had to have something to distract me, or I would go insane. Writing was my outlet. I couldn’t think about the possibility of losing my nephew. So instead I chose to write an uplifting story with the specific hope that someday he and my other little ones would read it for themselves.

I began praying that if God wanted me to submit a story to the anthology, He would give me the story and the energy to write it. I was so stressed and emotionally drained, I knew getting a story written and submitted would have to be God’s hand moving. I didn’t have it in myself to accomplish it.

Within a few hours of praying about it, the very first idea for The Cause For Which We Fight came to my mind. It was like a flood of puzzle pieces all coming together. Roughly four hours later I had finished the story.

A story of hope in the face of tribulation, because that was the lesson God was teaching me; a story about a little boy learning the value of fighting for freedom, because it’s what I want my little ones to grow up learning; mostly, a story of courage, because it was what we had to have in the face of an uncertain future.

The Cause For Which We Fight is, in some ways, very different from my other works of fiction. But I don’t think I would change it for anything. It has a special meaning to me that I won’t ever be able to alter—one that I wouldn’t ever want to alter.

The day after I wrote it, my nephew was life-flighted to receive the medical care that would ultimately save his life.

Looking back, I still don’t fully understand how it all came together. It was the quickest I have ever written a story. How did it manage to come about during one of the darkest moments of life? How did I manage to find strength to write when I was fully drained—emotionally, physically, and mentally?

The only way I know how to explain it is that God answered a prayer I cried out to Him in desperation for, in so many more ways than one.

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There you have it, folks. A small glimpse into my debut published work.

Hope you enjoyed getting to hear some of the history surrounding The Cause For Which We Fight! If you did, let me know in the comments!

A. M. Watson

Hebrews 13:8