A Journey Towards Healing: New Poetry Book, A Tiny Light, Sheds Light on a Difficult Path

 

I don’t dwell on the past, but sometimes it seeps into my writing. Then there are other times I can look back at my past, see the difficult experiences I had to go through to find my way, and realize that they all tell a story.

 

In some ways, poetry can tell stories, too – in the poems written during difficult times that eventually came to an end.

 

I have been through a lot of difficult situations in life (who hasn’t, right??) and, sadly, a lot of them contributed to my addiction to alcohol. I did eventually get sober, but it was in getting sober that I found my inner strength. The “tiny light” within myself that has kept me strong for over five years since I stopped drinking.

 

But I had to go through a lot of hard stuff first to get there!

 

The poems in this little book share those difficult moments – the rejection I felt in society, among people and even with family because of some reason or another; the VERY uncomfortable awkwardness I experienced after reconciling with my husband and trying to regain his trust and acceptance; the heartbreak and anger over lost love; the discomfort I endured with a former job as a burn survivor with burn scars on my face; experiencing rejection and loneliness in my marriage; and coming to terms with certain lingering issues in my life until, finally, recognizing the importance of letting go of everything that caused pain and weighed me down and finding my inner strength to stand alone on my own two feet.

 

Instead of looking back on these painful events of my past, I now see them as stepping stones to finding my own strength and learning to love myself no matter what happens. Kicking the drinking habit helped, yes, but I knew I had to go deeper than deal with my drinking problem. I had to resolve and make peace with these painful past experiences. So now I can look at this small collection of poems as a victory in overcoming my battle with drinking and shedding the baggage that weighed me down.

 

The poems in this book may be personal poems (confessional poems may be the better term), but hopefully they may resonate with readers and empower them at the end.

 

Here is the book’s blurb:

 

There are hardships in life that can drive people over the edge -- and, in the author's case, it drove her to alcoholism.

The poems in this book capture just some of the things that kept the author trapped in her addiction. She eventually broke free of addiction, made peace with her past and present, and found a tiny light within herself that gave her the strength to carry on as a stronger person free of the chains of alcoholism.

 

 

A Tiny Light is available as a free download on Smashwords

From Horrifying Experience to Shattered Story: Lost Soul is the AU of a Painful Past

 

Writing helps us to heal. In some cases, it can help us to catch a glimpse of what life would have been like if we had taken an alternative path while enduring a harsh experience. In my case, my new novelette is a look into what my life would have likely turned out to be like if I had taken that path.

 

Several years ago, I started writing a story. What I didn’t know at the time was that I was writing an AU story about a painful experience from my past. In the story, my character ran away from home to escape an abusive father and a brother that was molesting her. What happened to my character while she was out on the streets was much worse. Unfortunately, I never finished writing the story; I got stuck and stayed stuck for a long time. Then all thirty-one chapters I wrote vanished when a virus wiped out all of my files.

 

But the story never left me, and the character has always lingered in my mind ever since.

 

I eventually decided to try writing this story again – except with major changes. The friend in the new story is female, not male. And a couple of siblings were added, in addition to a mother. In the old story, I wrote many chapters of how my character was sexually abused. In the new story, it is not so broadly written about.

 

Another change is that the new story is A LOT shorter. In the old story, I wrote about the hardships my character endured while she was out on the streets. In the new story, I included only one thing – how she is abducted and kept in a sex trafficking ring – and the rest of what happened to her later is implied at the end.

 

It was difficult for me to write the new story. I had endured the same home life situation as my character, except I was not the only one responsible for meals and chores. I also changed things about the mother, since I did not want this fictional mother to be based on my real mother. (My real mother treated me better than the fictional mother, although she unfortunately did not interfere when my dad was violent or physically abusive.) I used to have nightmares about the abuse, and especially about my dad and my younger brother being so aggressive and threatening. I also had panic attacks. However, I did eventually make peace with that part of my past. I forgave my dad and I eventually found the strength and the courage to forgive my younger brother as well.

 

Even so, putting those past events into words was not easy. And as a mother, I was screaming in protest over the horrible things that happened to my 16-year-old character.

 

But, I told myself, this story is fiction. And, there was something bigger at work here. I had to write this story, because doing so was my way to change the impact the past had on me. This was not just a story based on something terrible from my past; it was a reminder that I had made the right decision to not attempt for the third time to run away from home to escape from it. I endured it, although the coping mechanism I used was a little questionable. But I endured it. And I survived it.

 

This story is a reminder that I survived it.

 

Yes, I will write about my own experiences in my memoir, but this ebook is a reminder that I made it out of that hell alive. I did not do what my character did; I decided to stay and just put up with it. Thankfully, it all ended at some point.

 

For this reason, I was able to come to the writing of this story as someone who had been there. Aside from the scene where there was a knife at my character’s neck and the torn notebook, the abusive events she went through and the things her parents said to her were all true for me. They came straight out of my past.

 

And at the end of this story, I leave a personal message to anyone else who is going through that same thing or has gone through it. I also list some resources they can turn to to SAFELY and DISCREETLY escape that kind of situation.

 

In the Epilogue, I introduce a character that makes an appearance in a teaser at the end of my book, Bad Girls: Five Tales of Twisted Teens (which are stories with female characters taking a more homicidal approach against their abusers). This was my character’s introduction and that first chapter in Bad Girls takes place after what happened at the end of Lost Soul. You will see more of this character when she gets her own series in the near future.

 

I had some serious misgivings about publishing this story. On one hand, it would likely receive a lot of backlash for portraying a character who is sexually abused, albeit one so young. The sad reality is that there are A LOT of 16-year-old girls in this world enduring sexual abuse – as well as girls a lot younger than that. This is reality. It’s a terrible thing that happens in this world. I also thought I might be perceived in a negative light by my fellow writers, many of whom are my friends, for writing such “garbage.” That remains to be seen.

 

But I did not publish this story to entertain lecherous or crude thoughts about certain things being done to teen girls. I published it because, by seeing themselves in this story, girls who are in such situations may know they are not alone and that this sort of horrible thing being done to them is a very bad and very wrong thing. It is not normal and it is NOT okay. I also hope the resources I included will help them find a way out.

 

In the end, I want to give my readers of this story hope that there are people out there willing to help them, just as there are in this story. They are there, and you can turn to them if you need to.

 

Here is the blurb of the ebook:

 

Dana Mitchells leads a shattered life – until the day she decides to fight back against her abusers. This choice leads her on a dark road that leads to homelessness and despair. Can she find her way out of the darkness before it’s too late?

 

Available free on Kindle Unlimited here

 

 

Hey, Writers! Want Some Freebies? Check Out This New Ebook!

 

Freebies for writers are all over the Internet. I always thought it would be nice to have a good chunk of them all in one place.

 

That’s when I realized, why not do that?

 

Not only did this idea strike, but it developed into an idea for a new free ebook for the month of August.

 

And I ran with it! I sort of needed a new idea for a free ebook, and since my audience for my newsletter, where I provide the link to my monthly free ebooks, are mostly writers (if not all of them), I realized this particular idea MUST happen!

 

And that’s how my idea for such a book was turned into Free Stuff For Writers. I tried to include all the essentials: Word processing tools, blogging tools, vocabulary tools, writing tools as well as free newsletters for writers. But as I did research for this book and explored the MANY free tools for writers that are out there on the World Wide Web, I discovered there was so much more freebies for writers this book could offer!

 

Some of the tools included in this ebook were also sent directly to me from app developers, staff at schools and universities, as well as students who found such tools to be useful. Mostly they hoped I would include them on my old dmcwriter site, but that site is no longer active. I cannot add anything to it anymore. I felt terrible having to break this news to them, but after I got the idea for this book, I was delighted by the prospect of sharing this wonderful creation of theirs with the world in this ebook. And when I informed one such person of this option, she replied with excitement as well. So I guess it's a good thing!

 

That said, I will likely get more emails from people sharing their favorite writing or research tools. And I welcome them! In fact, there’s an invitation at the end of the book requesting such emails. So, if you happen to have your own favorite writing or research tool, send it along! Or post it in the comments. It can be something with a limited free trial period, but I prefer mostly something that is completely free. It must be something which writers, all kinds of writers, can find helpful.

 

I will update the manuscript as needed, when I have more tools to add, and submit the updated version of the manuscript to replace the old one.

 

Meanwhile, please check out Free Stuff For Writers! Hopefully, you will find something helpful for you.

 

Here is the book’s blurb:

 

Free tools and resources for writers are all over the Internet. If you have been hoping to find them all in one place, then look no further! From editing to formatting, grammar and spelling, character names and world building, Free Stuff For Writers is a new ebook that will help writers find the free tools and resources they need. This ebook is full of lists of where to find free courses and workshops, where to score free word processing apps and how you can get your manuscript edited using a free online tool. You’ll also discover free newsletters for writers as well as where to find jobs. Free Stuff For Writers is your answer to “where can I find a GOOD free writing tool on the Internet?” and can help you make sure your work looks professional, edited, and just the way you want it to be!

 

Available free on Amazon through Kindle Unlimited! Go here