Book Spotlight - Sharing Strength

 The last book in the series is actually the first one I wrote. Back in 2014 I was watching a very long documentary about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. After watching for close to three hours the only thing I had learned from it was that the opinion of the writers and producers was that only military members could have such an affliction. As someone who was diagnosed at the age of 22 and has never served a day in the military, I was deeply frustrated with that portrayal. Those who are or have served by far make up the largest and best known group but there are so many other ways to end up dealing with the issues and anxiety of this particular ailment.

Following the documentary I retaliated in the only way I know how, I started to write. I created a number of characters that were members of a support group. In the end there were six people in the group including the man who moderated but they each had their own personalities, background issues, and side effects of their diagnosis. When I first created the storyline I had no idea where it was going or how the characters would interact with each other. I wrote the first draft but it felt stiff and like a lot of things were missing. I just couldn't figure out what those things were. That was when I started writing the novellas.

I knew Jasmine's story since it was based on what happened to me as a teenager but the rest were complete fiction and I had to get to know the characters on a deeper level. I had no idea how difficult that would end up being for me. As I shared when spotlighting each of the other books, the research and / or connection to the characters was an emotional journey each time. It wasn't until I knew their stories and felt their feelings better that I realized just how much was missing in the original manuscript. There was so much more background I got to understand when writing the novellas. It was through that comprehension that I realized the original ending was wrong, the focus on one character as the main one was wrong, and my understanding of all the interactions was so far off it was like they were happening in a different book. It took over a month to go through the first draft and make notes and figure out the changes, then another two weeks to write out what became a 34 page detailed outline I used to write the final version.

My heart and soul is written across the pages of this book and, even though Survivor is based on my personal story, I feel more connected to Sharing Strength. This book ended up being so important to me that I even got a custom designed tattoo in honor of it and series. The colors of the awareness ribbon represent not only suicide prevention but PTSD awareness and domestic violence awareness as well. The name of the series is scrawled across the bottom and underlines the butterfly itself. The butterfly is a symbol of survivors as is the semicolon in the right wing. The lace design is meant to represent the delicate mental health of survivors as well as the fragility of life in general and the "rough and imperfect" look of the drawing demonstrates that life isn't pretty and perfect. 

I announced my bike ride at the launch for this book and cannot wait to bring further awareness to organizations that help people like the characters represented within the pages of Sharing Strength.