As a writer, I devote time to reading, both for the sheer pleasure of absorbing the written word and as my own version of research. For the last week, I’ve been binge re-reading my way through my collection of Susan Wiggs books. I didn’t have any particular reason for choosing her over any number of other authors I have in profusion in my massive collection of books. All I can say is, it felt like the right choice. Little did I know it would lead to a life-changing epiphany!
Tonight, I learned why I was guided to choose her while reading Lakeside Cottage. Though I won’t go into detail about the story (you’ll just have to read it yourself!) I learned something about myself while reading about a single mother and freelance writer.
At Long Last, My Purpose is Clear
Yesterday I wrote about Universal guidance and how it becomes increasingly insistent when you fail to act upon it. I think this is my pre-headslap warning.
Not only is the main character a freelance writer, but she decides to write about a young girl’s struggles including discovering she has insulin resistance. It chronicles her lifestyle changes to keep the disease from becoming Type 2 diabetes. But that wasn’t my epiphany. The epiphany came when this writer realized her true calling: to write about women and the challenges they face. (insert fireworks, screeching alarms and waving flags here)
Women Helping Women, Humans Helping Humans
A recent coaching session has had me developing a pitch to send to psychology websites and publications, offering my story of being one of suicide’s unacknowledged victims. I was told that my raw, unedited emotion was the best of my writing. If so, then maybe that’s what I should be doing. Not just telling the story I, myself lived, but telling the raw, emotional, triumphant stories of other women. I know there are a few out there, just within my meager reach who have triumphed over adversity in an area that others can relate to.
I also know how cathartic it is to pick the feelings apart like a piece of string cheese to see that all feelings and circumstances, both the good and the bad, are put together with the same basic components. That those feelings and the lessons we learn are intricately woven into the fabric of our lives, making us the unique, interesting, amazing women we are.
Even more important, there are people out there who need to hear those stories. To see what you’ve overcome. To see how you triumphed over adversity. To borrow the hope and determination you felt until they can manifest some of their own.
Seeking Women to Tell Their Stories of Struggle and Triumph
Over the next weeks (and hopefully it won’t take long to do this) I intend to find women with a story to tell and publications with whom to share those stories. I know I’ll have to turn my listening skills up, but will also be reading a lot of publications aimed towards women to get an idea of the stories they publish.
You’d have to have been there when I read the words in the book and thought to myself That’s exactly what I should be writing! to fully understand my excitement right now. Words just aren’t adequate to describe the feeling of elation; the feeling of finally just knowing my purpose.
Share Your Story. You’ll be Glad You Did!
Please, if you have a story which could help someone else, I implore you to share it with me that I might share it with a wider audience. From my own experiences I know it’s human nature to want someone to understand the tough times we go through, and to offer us some hope that we’ll reach the other side, perhaps not unscathed, but stronger for the experience. I urge you to contact me at sheri@shericonaway.com. I really want to talk to you!
I’m looking for how you struggled with something; how you triumphed and how you failed. What worked and what didn’t. Who helped you get past it, and who did not! It’s all important.
Thank you so much. I know sharing is difficult at first, but when you do open up and talk about it, supportive people come out of the woodwork. Even if you choose to remain anonymous (and I will gladly honor that as well) that support will still come through comments and responses to the story.
Photo credit: Celestine Chua via Flickr
