From the second I cut my hand on Big Round Top, in February of 2009, not once have I ever doubted this book series, needed to be made into a film series. It is why I have not given up. I know the films will be made. I am not going to say it has been easy. In fact, it has been very hard. But, we feel the messages within the storylines are far to important to walk away from. The funding will come, from where ever it is at now as Carole Dean says. It will come. We will be fully funded. I believe we have an excellent story that the world will be blessed by. This is a universal film. It isn’t limited to a selected few. It has something for everyone, simply because we are all human beings. That is the one thing we have in commom, we are all human. It doesn’t matter if we are white, black, green, blue or purple, or if we are straight, Gay, bi-sexual or trans. The emphasis is not on our color, or our sexual preference. But rather on our real human struggles, which is universal.
Summer has to deal with sudden life changes that totally transforms who she is…but never wanted to be. It is in these darkest hours that suicide seems like the only option. It was easier for her to die, then it was for her live. Unfortunately, many have felt that and are no longer on planet Earth. Yet, with God’s intervention, Summer chose to live. But, I think that is a major point. It was a choice that she made, knowing how hard living was going to be. Yet, through the pain and the suffering and the need to find herself again, she began a new journey that leads her on incredible adventures with her best friend Kat.
I think anyone who is searching for the light at the end of the tunnel, and who is desperately wanting to believe that light really does exist, will find great hope and inspiration by reading this book series and seeing it on the big screen. It is shockingly real in some places, to the point of being reduced to tears. You will find yourself so immersed that the characters, the times and the places, become so real that you will feel as if you are a part of the story and that somehow, someway, you have jumped inside the book or will jump inside the screen. Because their story, has suddenly become your story. Their needs have become your mission to fulfill. Because as you get to know them, you will want to help them and save them too. And that my friends, is the truth of the human heart. It is the compassion we all share that links us together as humans. When we see someone hurting or who is in need, we are compelled to reach out and help them. There is good still left in this world. It is our mission to help, “Light the World” as we too, know what it is like to be abandoned, lost, down trodden, injured and hopeless. Yet, our capacity to love, lives on.
It is my sincere desire, as the author and screenplay writer, to bring a story as unpredictable as the weather. Because trust me, here in Gettysburg, it is ever changing and really never seems to be what it is supposed to be. Some of the characters are real life historical ones. While others, are simply fictional or they are based on somebody. Summer Ray is someone I know all too well, because she is me – the author. But, there are parts and I do not disclose which parts, but just know that some of it is (from what I am told,) just good fictional writing. But drawing on my own experience from being so injured and having to get up and try again, I know what it is like. My recovery has not been easy, nor has it been fast. It has been ongoing and I struggle with TBI and PTSD everyday. I get frustrated when I can type over a 100 words per minutes. But I cannot get my thoughts to come out of my mouth right, or they get stuck in my head when I am trying to speak. I can’t explain things verbally the way I can on paper. Not being able to feel my left leg, my hands or my feet have been tough to overcome, especially since I am an adult figure skater. I have crashed landed more times than I care to admit. But, I never stay down. I always get back up. Because I know if I don’t, what kind of life would I have? I could have chosen not to write, but someone out there needs to read my story or see it on the big screen, to help them through their own darkest hours. There really is a light at the end of the tunnel and His Name is Jesus! If we can help show Him to you, what greater thing can we do?
Juliana
THE MEMOIRS OF SUMMER RAY 