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From the New York Times and WBUR Boston, this is Modern Love.

Stories of Love, loss and redemption.

I'm your host, Megna Chakrabardi.

I'm gonna guess that you've probably experienced heartbreak.

I know I've had my heart broken, and maybe you're in the thick of it right now.

If so, take heart.

Because this week's essay, written by renowned novelist Lily King,

offers a silver lining to heartbreak.

Zoe Lister Jones, writer, director, and star of the new film Band-Aid reads Lily King's essay,

an empty heart is one that can be filled.

I was 31 before I got my heart broken.

It was spring. I had quit my job and driven across country to an artist's colony in New England.

The kind of place that provides you with a cabin in the woods that is not within sight of any of the other cabins.

My residency was for eight weeks. I hoped to finish my first novel there.

The poet arrived a week after I did.

He was too skinny, but his eyes were very blue.

I think his first words to me were something about how his throat felt tight.

I was feeling the same thing. I told him.

Maybe he said it was a reaction to all the MSG they put in the food.

A rumor was circulating that the MSG came in by the cased, the back door of the kitchen.

This, I think, tells you all you need to know about how writers will,

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