Your Healing Story – Joy of Writing. “If one writes about oneself, the real motivation must be, I think, to give reassurance to other people.” Christopher Isherwood.
I Reassure You that Writing Can Heal. The first time I used writing to heal was after I lost my children. I was so deeply devastated that I believed I would never rise from the rubble of my life. I was certain I would never be able to heal what had broken inside me.
The Bad News Arrived when I was at Work. My job was to conduct intake interviews with mentally and otherwise challenged adults. It was my responsibility to determine whether or not those adults could fit safely into our facility which included a program for vulnerable children.
I was Good at My Job. I had a talent for reading people. I listened past their words to their motives and intentions. I noted every telling quirk and gesture. It was meaningful work. Children’s lives were at stake. Sweet and trusting and vulnerable children. Caseworkers are instructed not to get personally involved. My heart was never good at obeying that instruction.
I Loved Them All. Even Anthony. Especially Anthony who was nine years old. Anthony regularly bounded sideways full force into me or anybody else nearby and shouted “No like you ever.” I took my job seriously and did it well for Anthony and everyone. Yet I was unable to prevent what happened to myself and my own sweet and trusting and vulnerable children.
The Message Arrived by Special Delivery from the Court. It pronounced doom to my little family. My caseworker self would have risen with clenched fist and launched into battle. My loving mother self only managed to grip the edges of my desk and pray I would not to fly apart into a thousand pieces against the off-white walls. I had lost custody of both my children.
Flash Forward Please. I will spare you the details though I suspect you can imagine them. Miserable months of mental and physical deterioration. One of the most agonized periods of my life. Mercy stepped up in the form of a yoga ashram. It was the 1970s and such places were in vogue then as they are again now. Places to tell Your Healing Story – Joy of Writing.
At the Ashram I Began to Write. I found words to tell my own healing story. I learned to write those words in a way that breached my darkness and ushered in some healing light. The Guru taught me the secret. “Open your heart. Open your heart. Open your heart.”
My Frozen Psyche Listened. I opened my heart and spilled its sorrow onto the page. Healing came one word at a time through heartache and shadows toward light. Half a century later I am here telling you my story publicly for the first time. My heart is in my throat but open and comforted.
I Invite You to Tell Your Own Healing Story. We all have one. Open your heart. A liberating voice is there to carry you through your own shadows to your own bright light. Write your story. Make fiction of it if you wish. The hero will still be you. The miracle will still happen. Your Healing Story – Joy of Writing.
You possess storytelling magic. Keep on writing whatever may occur. Alice Orr. https://www.aliceorrbooks.com
Alice Orr. Teacher. Storyteller. Former Editor and Literary Agent. Author of 15 novels, 2 novellas, a memoir, and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells. Alice blogs for writers and readers at https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.
Alice’s Novel. A Time of Fear & Loving. Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 5. Experience the joy of reading. Available HERE.
Praise for A Time of Fear & Loving. “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “Budding romance sizzles in the background until it ignites with passion.” “The best one yet!”
Alice’s Suspense Novel Series. Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series. Five intense stories of love and death and intrigue. Available HERE.
Praise for Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series. “Romance and suspense at its best.” “I highly recommend this page-turner series.” “Twists and turns, strong characters, suspense and passionate love.” “The writing is exquisite.”
Ask Alice Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know? About your writer experience. About telling your stories. Ask your question as a comment following this post.
http://facebook.com/aliceorrwriter/
http://twitter.com/AliceOrrBooks/
http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
http://pinterest.com/aliceorrwriter/