I DID A THING

Guys, I did a thing. What started as mass catharsis has turned into its own complete entity with a life all its own. And it’s here now, about to make its way into the world.

When my parents died, so did a part of me. Everything changed. I am different now than I was when they were alive. It’s a growing, an aching, a slog at times. And it’s important. As I’ve spent the last half of my 30s trying to recover from the first half of my 30s, I realized that when I turn 40 this coming year, it will have been a decade of beautiful, growing slogdom. A decade!

Somewhere in there, the weight of it all was too crushing. My mental health tanked. I wasn’t ok. And on a whim, I entered a writing contest. It was a workshop at first, then a competition. Then countless conversations with others about writing, then, conversations about MY writing. As the story poured out of my head and onto the page, I felt it. My insides suddenly had just slightly more space to breathe. And when I finally hit the end, something inside clicked, moved, altered. There was a place for it that wasn’t just my head. A place I could trust it to live on without carrying all of its baggage 24/7. A mass catharsis that changed me through the power of writing. I was reminded why it was my first love.

And a few days ago, all of my swirling tears, late nights, angsty moments, relived awful memories and 487 boxes of Kleenex all converged onto my doorstep in a neat package that looked so simple. A tidy representation of my last decade, all bound together with glue. As a sign that even in chaos, there exists a rhythm. A rhythm that led me to “get it out” so that it could become something more, something transformative. In this case, a real, live book. May we all find a rhythm that propels us forward and creates space for healing and transformation.

I couldn’t have done it without the amazing people at When Words Count and Woodhall Press, and am so grateful for their leading me to Ben Tanzer! What gifts you all are, and your encouragement has meant the world to me.

It goes live officially on October 5th, 2021, and is available HERE

This is for you, Mom and Dad. You are forever loved and missed.