I'd call it: Walk a Mile

someone else's boots

Growing up, my grandmother would often scold my sometimes quick and always uninformed judgements about other people by saying: 'Don't judge someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes'. 

When I write I immerse myself in my characters, hoping to 'portray the world through their eyes'.  There are times when I agonize over the right words, the right feelings, the right phrasing.  I'm expressing how someone else reacts in a situation where I know I'd act differently, and I want to do my best.

In PAINTED BOOTS I decided that because I was viewing the world through Aspen's eyes, she would be the one to experience the difficult stuff.  I chose this perspective for her because there is a huge difference between experiencing something as it happens to you and seeing that same something happen to someone else.  Seeing her world this way helped me understand where she was strong and why she was forgiving.  What I came to love most about her was her ability to move on and live, even when things seemed too heart-wrenching and difficult to move on from.  She surprised me--more than once.  That's when I knew I'd succeeded in making her real.