All my life I’ve been a dreamer. My mother told me over and over to get my head out of the clouds, so I’m grateful to Readers’ Magnet and the Authors’ Lounge for giving me this opportunity to see one of my dreams manifested! My greatest and longest dream has been to be a writer. I’ve written and kept journals since I was in elementary school. I took creative writing classes in college and was encouraged by my professors to send articles to publishers. Unfortunately my skin wasn’t thick enough to take rejection, so after several tries, I quit.
However, in 1999 self-publishing was coming into vogue, so I wrote and self-published my book, Grief Passages, and now, thanks to the Authors’ Lounge, there is a way to mass market my book. My dream of writing has long been fulfilled because I couldn’t stop writing. Even though my mother told me to get my head out of the clouds, I kept dreaming and writing. I believe in dreaming big, so big my dreams often shake the ground and people around me shudder. They think I should be content to sit in a rocker all day with my cat in my lap (she does, too!). But I dream on. I’m a dreamer who dreams that what she writes will touch someone’s heart, their life. I write what I know: my life, my experiences, and how I respond to them. It is only fitting that my first book would be about my oldest daughter, Vickie, and her illness and subsequent death, because those have informed everything I’ve endeavored, every thought I’ve had, how I’ve lived ever since her illness was first diagnosed.
My book, Grief Passages, is about my journey through grief, after the death of my oldest daughter, Vickie. She had been ill for many years, which I discuss in my book. Though I offer some guidelines to navigate the often overpowering waves of the grieving process, I don’t tell how to grieve, how long a person should grieve, or what is the appropriate length of time. I tell you about my grief and how it affected me and my life. And I recount how I began to recover, though a person never fully recovers from the loss of a loved one, but especially the loss of a child, even when that child is 32 years old. When I began writing the book, I wasn’t thinking about publishing it, though I felt Vickie’s story needed to be told. Vickie had two kidney transplants, the first when she was only 15 years old. She nearly died twice, once before the first transplant and again when she lost that kidney. Against all odds and her doctor’s recommendation, she married and gave birth. Through years of dialysis, two kidney transplants and innumerable surgeries, Vickie retained her faith in God. Writing her story and my reaction to it was a catalyst for my being able to mourn both her illness and her death and to take up my life again, without guilt. During the dual processes, grieving and writing, my faith was renewed. I discovered a spiritual philosophy that brought me peace. I talk about that in Grief Passages, also. At least half the book is taken from my journals.
I’m a dreamer, a writer and author. Grief Passages is my first; It’s Still New! How a 19th Century Spiritual Revolution Transformed My Life, How It Can Transform the World, and View From My Window, 365 Days of Inspiration, are my second and third. I’m a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. I’ve been married three times and am recently widowed. I’m a painter who loves to paint beautiful places. I’m a gardener who loves the feel of dark, rich dirt. I love to dance in the rain with my youngest daughter. I’ve played small most of my life but not any more. My goal is to live large and loud and write, paint, garden and dance in the rain as much as possible the rest of my life. Do you hear that rumble? That’s the sound of my dreams shaking the ground! Many thanks to the Authors’ Lounge for this opportunity!
Grief Passages can be found on Amazon.com
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