#inspiration — Public Fediverse posts

ashRISE: Fall Session Sign-up

The Need to Know

ashRISE is a six-week virtual, free workshop that provides:

• education on defense mechanisms and how to recognize them in action
• grounding tools
• somatic exercises
• breathwork
• visualization techniques with Parts work
• free 90 page companion book that allows you to revisit and practice on your own time.
• You can also view an article on WomensInsider about the program here.

ashRISE  blends nervous-system education, grounding and somatic tools with creative reflection, helping participants recognize the “smoke signals” of survival and shape what they have carried into something visible, useful and entirely their own. Here is a FAQ that gives more specific details.

Information on next session and how to sign up here.

Of the hundreds of    characters    I’ve written, the one that’s been the most impactful is likely Ash. A friend to ten-year-old Anna as she goes through abuse, on a personal level, Ash represents so much for me. He represents hope. He also represents the ability to completely redefine experiences from something traumatic to something into something manageable.

When I was nineteen, I volunteered to be a hotline specialist for the local rape and sexual abuse center in Nashville. The training for this was very hard. One of the most meaningful, and personally helpful, topics was neuropsychology – specifically the role your amygdala and hypothalamus play in stress and flashbacks. I created a story in which my hijacked amygdala was my very own “bodyguard” and the ‘diminished’ hypothalamus, its assistant. I redefined what was harmful into something that allowed me to feel just a little less broken.

The goal of this workshop series is to help others redefine the “ashes” of their lives into something empowering and hopeful by offering concrete, practical and unique coping strategies to help de-escalate anxiety, training on the brain and defense mechanisms, personal narratives, and the completion of a creative project. We identify the “smoke signals” and then shape them into something useful, allowing them to become flames of transformation and renewal.

Participants will receive a 90 page PDF toolkit with additional opportunities for reflection, helpful charts for identifying smoke signals and resource options to help ease the discomfort. Fire destroys… and renews. The key is in the recognition that, within us, exists a phoenix who cannot be broken or destroyed but will rise from within the flames.    

What is ashRISE?

There are years of my life I only remember in fragments. A glance. The smell of his breath.     The way I learned to make myself small enough to survive it.

Abuse doesn’t just end when the leaving happens. It lingers — in the way I hold my shoulders, in how I scan a room for danger, in the breath I forget to take. No one knew that my smile was just a well-dressed panic attack. My calm was a costume stitched from fear.

The turning point came quietly — not a breakthrough, just a slow, stubborn decision to stop hiding. I started learning how the nervous system stores survival. Polyvagal theory gave me words for what I’d lived: how we fight, flee, freeze — and how safety isn’t a thought, it’s a felt thing. I made up stories about my amygdala being my bodyguard that helped me understand how hard my body and my brain were working just to keep me safe. Understanding the science helped, but it wasn’t enough. I needed heart. I needed creativity. What I really needed was permission to be me.    

So, I started—and then kept— writing — not for publication, just to have somewhere honest to go. It was a space where it was okay to let the screams take up space, to not hide anymore.    

That’s where ashRise was born.

In the midst of the darkest storm, in the middle of our greatest pain, we can

R: Remember

what was lost; remember what the trauma cost; grieve for that.

I: Imagine

what it might feel like to step forward into the unchartered territory of tomorrow — a blank canvas for you to define. Like stained glass, you are beautiful and    able    as you are today.

S: Shape

and mold your steps forward – not by losing or forgetting the past but by bringing it with you, knowing you are    supported    and encouraged.

E: Empower

yourself with practical tools and techniques designed to help you feel present and capable of moving forward and achieving your dreams and goals not because of or in spite of your trauma but with it.

ashRISE    is a six-week workshop I built for people like me — people who’ve endured and adapted and now want to transform. It’s part neuroscience, part creative rebellion. We start each session with practical techniques designed to help us feel safe and truly present, then move to learning the science of defense mechanisms. From there, we make something: what I call a Personal Transformation Project — a work of art, writing, or creation that turns your survival story into something visible.    

The first time I ran it, a woman told me, “This workshop is life-changing. The sessions feel like a sanctuary from the real world.” I cried at that because a sanctuary exactly what I had been trying to build — a place where survivors could be seen, heard and truly accepted without having to explain.

Every cohort teaches me something new. One man wrote music out of his anxiety patterns. Another woman stitched her divorce papers into a quilt. Each act, in its own strange beauty, said the same thing: I’m still here. People often mistake resilience for toughness. It’s not. It’s tenderness that’s lived through trauma. It’s knowing the fire nearly took you and lighting another match anyway.

I used to be afraid that healing meant diminishing the impact of the trauma. It doesn’t. Nothing replaces or makes up for the loss.    Healing    is simply recognizing that    you are still as valuable    as the you before the trauma was. That person you grieve for, the one you miss? Healing recognizes she’s still with you.    

For me, ashRise is the aftermath of survival turned inside out — the alchemy of turning pain into art, shame into story, memory into motion.

I still have hard days. I still flinch sometimes. But when I see the faces in that final session — people holding up what they’ve made from their own ash — I know this much:

We can’t rewrite what happened, but we can re-author what it means. And that’s what rising looks like.

Limited to 10 for an intimate & personal connection.    

Virtual.    

Free.    

NEXT COHORT :

September 18, 2026 – October 30 (join anytime, come to as many or as few as you like)

virtual every Friday for 6 weeks: 9pm-10:30pm EST / 8-9:30pm CST

Sign up here

When signing up, you do not have to sign up for all 6 sessions.
Signing up for the first available session will give you the link through which you can access all 6 sessions

Woof: Playful Pet Care Branding by Arina Terez https://theinspirationgrid.com/woof-playful-pet-care-branding-by-arina-terez/ #branding #GraphicDesign #DesignInspiration #DesignInspo #inspiration #InspirationGrid

Woof: Playful Pet Care Branding by Arina Terez https://theinspirationgrid.com/woof-playful-pet-care-branding-by-arina-terez/ #branding #GraphicDesign #DesignInspiration #DesignInspo #inspiration #InspirationGrid

Woof: Playful Pet Care Branding by Arina Terez https://theinspirationgrid.com/woof-playful-pet-care-branding-by-arina-terez/ #branding #GraphicDesign #DesignInspiration #DesignInspo #inspiration #InspirationGrid

Woof: Playful Pet Care Branding by Arina Terez https://theinspirationgrid.com/woof-playful-pet-care-branding-by-arina-terez/ #branding #GraphicDesign #DesignInspiration #DesignInspo #inspiration #InspirationGrid

Woof: Playful Pet Care Branding by Arina Terez https://theinspirationgrid.com/woof-playful-pet-care-branding-by-arina-terez/ #branding #GraphicDesign #DesignInspiration #DesignInspo #inspiration #InspirationGrid

#quoteoftheday #writingquote #writerquote #writinginspiration #inspiration #writingtips #writingtricks #writers #booksky #writersofinstagram #writesky #beverlylanderson

Take the risk or lose the chance.

#DailyMotivation #inspiration #motivation #bestadvice #lifelessons #changeyourmindset

travel on a budget

https://mylittlehawk.com/2026/09/12/travel-on-a-budget/

travel on a budget

https://mylittlehawk.com/2026/09/12/travel-on-a-budget/

travel on a budget

https://mylittlehawk.com/2026/09/12/travel-on-a-budget/

travel on a budget

https://mylittlehawk.com/2026/09/12/travel-on-a-budget/

travel on a budget

https://mylittlehawk.com/2026/09/12/travel-on-a-budget/

„Deshalb sage ich euch: Macht euch keine Sorgen um das, was ihr an Essen und Trinken zum Leben und an Kleidung für euren Körper braucht. Ist das Leben nicht wichtiger als die Nahrung, und ist der Körper nicht wichtiger als die Kleidung?“
Matthäus 6,25 (NGÜ)

https://www.bibeltv.de/bibelthek/NG%C3%9C/mt-6-25

#bibeltv #bibelthek #bibel #bibelvers #gotteswort #glaube #gott #jesus #hoffnung #liebe #instadaily #motivation #lifestyle #inspiration #bible #god

„Deshalb sage ich euch: Macht euch keine Sorgen um das, was ihr an Essen und Trinken zum Leben und an Kleidung für euren Körper braucht. Ist das Leben nicht wichtiger als die Nahrung, und ist der Körper nicht wichtiger als die Kleidung?“
Matthäus 6,25 (NGÜ)

https://www.bibeltv.de/bibelthek/NG%C3%9C/mt-6-25

#bibeltv #bibelthek #bibel #bibelvers #gotteswort #glaube #gott #jesus #hoffnung #liebe #instadaily #motivation #lifestyle #inspiration #bible #god

„Deshalb sage ich euch: Macht euch keine Sorgen um das, was ihr an Essen und Trinken zum Leben und an Kleidung für euren Körper braucht. Ist das Leben nicht wichtiger als die Nahrung, und ist der Körper nicht wichtiger als die Kleidung?“
Matthäus 6,25 (NGÜ)

https://www.bibeltv.de/bibelthek/NG%C3%9C/mt-6-25

#bibeltv #bibelthek #bibel #bibelvers #gotteswort #glaube #gott #jesus #hoffnung #liebe #instadaily #motivation #lifestyle #inspiration #bible #god

„Deshalb sage ich euch: Macht euch keine Sorgen um das, was ihr an Essen und Trinken zum Leben und an Kleidung für euren Körper braucht. Ist das Leben nicht wichtiger als die Nahrung, und ist der Körper nicht wichtiger als die Kleidung?“
Matthäus 6,25 (NGÜ)

https://www.bibeltv.de/bibelthek/NG%C3%9C/mt-6-25

#bibeltv #bibelthek #bibel #bibelvers #gotteswort #glaube #gott #jesus #hoffnung #liebe #instadaily #motivation #lifestyle #inspiration #bible #god

„Deshalb sage ich euch: Macht euch keine Sorgen um das, was ihr an Essen und Trinken zum Leben und an Kleidung für euren Körper braucht. Ist das Leben nicht wichtiger als die Nahrung, und ist der Körper nicht wichtiger als die Kleidung?“
Matthäus 6,25 (NGÜ)

https://www.bibeltv.de/bibelthek/NG%C3%9C/mt-6-25

#bibeltv #bibelthek #bibel #bibelvers #gotteswort #glaube #gott #jesus #hoffnung #liebe #instadaily #motivation #lifestyle #inspiration #bible #god

"The hardest part of acting is not being guaranteed work. Every job could be your last."

—Henry Cavill

#acting #coaching #inspiration #ActingCoach #ActingCoaching #actorslife

Got to help lead an outdoor program this week and one of my students said they want to either become a doctor or a forestry worker to help protect the trees. Always feeling hopeful to hear how the next generation wants to help make life better. Never give up on your dreams.

#footpathfriday #SunsetPhotography #hope #inspiration #nevergiveup #dreams

Got to help lead an outdoor program this week and one of my students said they want to either become a doctor or a forestry worker to help protect the trees. Always feeling hopeful to hear how the next generation wants to help make life better. Never give up on your dreams.

#footpathfriday #SunsetPhotography #hope #inspiration #nevergiveup #dreams

Got to help lead an outdoor program this week and one of my students said they want to either become a doctor or a forestry worker to help protect the trees. Always feeling hopeful to hear how the next generation wants to help make life better. Never give up on your dreams.

#footpathfriday #SunsetPhotography #hope #inspiration #nevergiveup #dreams

Got to help lead an outdoor program this week and one of my students said they want to either become a doctor or a forestry worker to help protect the trees. Always feeling hopeful to hear how the next generation wants to help make life better. Never give up on your dreams.

#footpathfriday #SunsetPhotography #hope #inspiration #nevergiveup #dreams

Got to help lead an outdoor program this week and one of my students said they want to either become a doctor or a forestry worker to help protect the trees. Always feeling hopeful to hear how the next generation wants to help make life better. Never give up on your dreams.

#footpathfriday #SunsetPhotography #hope #inspiration #nevergiveup #dreams

A New Way to Gamble

Inkblot pictures, like the one above, fascinate me. Because kind of like the what-color-IS-it-dress from 2015, you can ask a dozen people what they see and hear a dozen unique responses. Each with a one-of-a-kind fingerprint, we each have a special lens through which we view the world: our own. I am a firm believer that I have something profound to learn from every single human I come into contact with – if I am open to the discovery. Throughout my life, the thing I’ve sought the most, the thing I’ve longed for the most, the thing I’ve treasured the most, the thing that gives me great pleasure is building connections. Because connections – whether they last five seconds or a lifetime – offer tangible hope.

Throughout the blog, there are stories of Joey, a homeless man who showed me what joy looked like, teachers whose smile convinced me I mattered, strangers changing my life by holding a random door open for me, miracles being discovered in the most asinine circumstances, and how the inheritance of kindness helps define who I am.

Meaningful connections stock my
survival toolkit and saved my life more than once.

Providing as many different avenues for connection as possible helps me reach people I might not otherwise have known because not everyone can connect in the same way. Just as we learn differently, we connect differently. After sending emails to several people who live in completely different parts of the world from me, after scheduling time to chat with people who live in the countries I’m writing about and after talking with survivors wo don’t feel comfortable using a hotline because they aren’t sure whether they’ll have to speak with a male or a female, I thought this might be a fun way to interact.

Let’s try a wild thing, shall we?

Clicking this link will take you to my booking page where you can schedule thirty minutes or an hour with me. We can chat by phone or by video – it costs you nothing.

Maybe you’re…

The Adventurous /

Spontaneous Type

You don’t know me.

You’ve never read a single book I’ve written and likely never will.

You’ve never read my blog until you found it completely by accident and something kept you on the page for longer than five point two seconds.

You see this and think, Ha! What a ridiculous idea… wonder what perfect strangers might talk about for thirty minutes?

That’s fine. Contrary to popular belief, I can hold a normal conversation. I’ve been to 9 countries, 24 states; we can talk about travel. I love horses, dogs, mountains and I’m a little bit of a Dr. Pepper addict. I’m sure we can find something to chat about. And a one-on-one with a perfect stranger will add to your collection of wild tales and reputation as a go-getter.

Also – did you hear about the story of the woman who continually dialed the wrong number until eventually the man asked her name? They built a friendship built of sporadic telephone calls lasting all of a few minutes that went on for twenty years.

The Storytimer

You have read what I’ve written – either a book or this blog. Maybe for years.

Maybe you love everything and just haven’t known what to say to reach out.

Maybe you’re in a book club and you think it would be great if I could call in to take questions or say something about the story.

Or you’ve wanted to. You’ve bought the book and it has sat somewhere within sight collecting dust because you’re afraid of what you might lie between the pages. I’ve had people tell me they buy the book with every intention of reading it – and they get pulled in during chapter one and keep turning the sheets – until they encounter the first sensitive scene and then they put it down (that’s okay, by the way. You don’t have to read it; the first page of every book I have has this line: your emotional, spiritual, physical and mental well-being is more important to the author than your reading this story.)

Maybe you’re thinking of buying a book, but:

• you don’t where to start and wonder – which one would be the best to start with?
• you kind of want to read one in particular but you wish you had more information about specifically what kind of material that book contains.
• you’d love to, but you can’t afford it because gasoline these days can make a woman broke. Money should never be the barrier to communication and connection; I’m happy to give you a free version if this is you.

Or maybe you haven’t read a book but you’ve followed the ramblings of this blog for years.

Either way, you kind of feel like you know me.

Or maybe you’re a writer and you wonder things like:

• What’s her publishing story?
• How does she make the videos / trailers?
• What’s the nitty gritty behind her process? Outline or fly by the seat of her pants – which hill does she die on?
• How does she get ARC / beta readers?
• How does she find 160K words to write for one story??

Listen. The amount of pure joy that crashes through my body when I get a monthly update of how many books sold or how many unique visitors came to the blog has sustained me through many a dark day. You are quite literally part of the realization of a dream come true. You’re proof in my life that they do.

We’ll have plenty to talk about.

A Trauma Survivor

Maybe you came to an event. You were part of a workshop I offered. You sat through a speech I gave as part of my work with RAINN’s Speaker Bureau. Maybe you happened to be in a library or a bookstore when I was talking and hung out on the sidelines, listening. Maybe you have read a book or a blog post I’ve written and it made you feel exposed, vulnerable, scared — and seen. Maybe my blog popped up on your feed and you have no idea why but the post that you read was an excerpt from a book that made you think, I’ve never heard anyone say it like that and then you clicked around until the Meet the Storykeeper page told you I am a hotline specialist and certified in medical accompaniment and trained in trauma-informed coaching… and a survivor.

Maybe the only connection you have to me is that someone printed or received my disclosure and / or safety guide and gave it to you. The booklet has left you hopeful… confused… nervous and you don’t have someone to say that to.

You’ve thought of going to a hotline. Maybe you’ve even tried but there was a long wait and the wait made you nervous and so you left before anyone answered. Or you’re nervous because you don’t know who you’re talking to and that’s not comforting; it’s scary.

I am not a counselor – and I do not ever think that a conversation with me would replace therapy. And if you’re really hurting and need someone right now, please visit The Holding Room where there are details for how to connect with crisis lines and other resources right now. There are people waiting for you to reach out.

I am not anything except a mother to beautiful girls and a writer who has felt so isolated and alone most of her life that the only friends I’ve known are imaginary ones I created. I’m not more anything than anyone else. I still sometimes find myself subconsciously rubbing the inside of my wrist to remember I’m alive and I still sometimes wake up gasping in the middle of the night from night terrors absolutely no one on earth will ever know anything about.

But one of the defining moments for me came just a few years after I disclosed my abuse. I was working as a trainer at a very large company where you really only interacted with the department you were in. I went to the breakroom one day. A woman I’d never seen, never met, watched me. There was an air of anger near her. Suddenly, she said, “You wrote The Character?” The clipped tone sounded angry and anger scares the bejesus out of me. Warily, I nodded. She threw a napkin in the trash hard, nodded and said, “Yeah.” Then, “You couldn’t have written that if it hadn’t happened to you.” A hint of a question hung at the end of the sentence. Shame washed over me. It was the first time a stranger had seen me. I nodded, saying nothing. She shook her head. “Yeah.” And then she walked out. I had no idea how she knew who I was or that I wrote books. But what she taught me was something different a counselor or therapist. What she taught me was that I wasn’t alone. Someone else understood what that book was really about and got it.

Maybe you don’t want counseling. Maybe you already have counseling. But you’re…

• not interested in a hotline for whatever reason (I do recommend them, though).
• have questions about The Storynlight Circle
• have questions about the disclosure or safety guide(s) / wish you had someone to walk you through them.
• have never believed your story matters and now you read it on just about every page I write and it’s made you .. a little curious, a healthy mix of skepticism and hope.
• just want to talk to another survivor – maybe not to disclose a single thing but to say, you know, I read this and I was wondering how you’ve gotten where you are or I need to practice telling someone face to face because I really want to tell XYZ
• have questions about what a SAFE kit actually is or practical needs like – I want to report and I don’t know how or what to expect.

I’m a nobody really… but I am willing to listen.

Also – ten years ago, my books were very different than they are today. They focused on one narrator and the point was to say this is what trauma feels like and, more importantly, trying to convince myself that the awful pain I felt was valid because I wasn’t sure it was. I’d spent so many years comparing my pain to that of the Holocaust survivor’s or the Rwanda genocide survivor’s or Elizabeth Smart’s and believing that since mine wasn’t “as bad as” theirs, it wasn’t real pain. That was not true. Today, while I still struggle with both of those things sometimes still, my writing has shifted to broader and deeper questions like what role does mental illness play in abuse? does healing mean forgetting? what does it look like to reclaim your voice?

The stories we tell – the ones we tell ourselves, the ones we tell others, and the ones we never share – shape our lives.

Healing is not imaginary; it is real.

Maybe yours falls in one of those buckets. And maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s completely different.

Whatever the case may be — I would love the opportunity to say hello.

What can it hurt?

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

―Helen Keller, The Open Door

And so – here it is again – a link where you can do something weird and book a (completely free) chat with me.

A New Way to Gamble

Inkblot pictures, like the one above, fascinate me. Because kind of like the what-color-IS-it-dress from 2015, you can ask a dozen people what they see and hear a dozen unique responses. Each with a one-of-a-kind fingerprint, we each have a special lens through which we view the world: our own. I am a firm believer that I have something profound to learn from every single human I come into contact with – if I am open to the discovery. Throughout my life, the thing I’ve sought the most, the thing I’ve longed for the most, the thing I’ve treasured the most, the thing that gives me great pleasure is building connections. Because connections – whether they last five seconds or a lifetime – offer tangible hope.

Throughout the blog, there are stories of Joey, a homeless man who showed me what joy looked like, teachers whose smile convinced me I mattered, strangers changing my life by holding a random door open for me, miracles being discovered in the most asinine circumstances, and how the inheritance of kindness helps define who I am.

Meaningful connections stock my
survival toolkit and saved my life more than once.

Providing as many different avenues for connection as possible helps me reach people I might not otherwise have known because not everyone can connect in the same way. Just as we learn differently, we connect differently. After sending emails to several people who live in completely different parts of the world from me, after scheduling time to chat with people who live in the countries I’m writing about and after talking with survivors wo don’t feel comfortable using a hotline because they aren’t sure whether they’ll have to speak with a male or a female, I thought this might be a fun way to interact.

Let’s try a wild thing, shall we?

Clicking this link will take you to my booking page where you can schedule thirty minutes or an hour with me. We can chat by phone or by video – it costs you nothing.

Maybe you’re…

The Adventurous /

Spontaneous Type

You don’t know me.

You’ve never read a single book I’ve written and likely never will.

You’ve never read my blog until you found it completely by accident and something kept you on the page for longer than five point two seconds.

You see this and think, Ha! What a ridiculous idea… wonder what perfect strangers might talk about for thirty minutes?

That’s fine. Contrary to popular belief, I can hold a normal conversation. I’ve been to 9 countries, 24 states; we can talk about travel. I love horses, dogs, mountains and I’m a little bit of a Dr. Pepper addict. I’m sure we can find something to chat about. And a one-on-one with a perfect stranger will add to your collection of wild tales and reputation as a go-getter.

Also – did you hear about the story of the woman who continually dialed the wrong number until eventually the man asked her name? They built a friendship built of sporadic telephone calls lasting all of a few minutes that went on for twenty years.

The Storytimer

You have read what I’ve written – either a book or this blog. Maybe for years.

Maybe you love everything and just haven’t known what to say to reach out.

Maybe you’re in a book club and you think it would be great if I could call in to take questions or say something about the story.

Or you’ve wanted to. You’ve bought the book and it has sat somewhere within sight collecting dust because you’re afraid of what you might lie between the pages. I’ve had people tell me they buy the book with every intention of reading it – and they get pulled in during chapter one and keep turning the sheets – until they encounter the first sensitive scene and then they put it down (that’s okay, by the way. You don’t have to read it; the first page of every book I have has this line: your emotional, spiritual, physical and mental well-being is more important to the author than your reading this story.)

Maybe you’re thinking of buying a book, but:

• you don’t where to start and wonder – which one would be the best to start with?
• you kind of want to read one in particular but you wish you had more information about specifically what kind of material that book contains.
• you’d love to, but you can’t afford it because gasoline these days can make a woman broke. Money should never be the barrier to communication and connection; I’m happy to give you a free version if this is you.

Or maybe you haven’t read a book but you’ve followed the ramblings of this blog for years.

Either way, you kind of feel like you know me.

Or maybe you’re a writer and you wonder things like:

• What’s her publishing story?
• How does she make the videos / trailers?
• What’s the nitty gritty behind her process? Outline or fly by the seat of her pants – which hill does she die on?
• How does she get ARC / beta readers?
• How does she find 160K words to write for one story??

Listen. The amount of pure joy that crashes through my body when I get a monthly update of how many books sold or how many unique visitors came to the blog has sustained me through many a dark day. You are quite literally part of the realization of a dream come true. You’re proof in my life that they do.

We’ll have plenty to talk about.

A Trauma Survivor

Maybe you came to an event. You were part of a workshop I offered. You sat through a speech I gave as part of my work with RAINN’s Speaker Bureau. Maybe you happened to be in a library or a bookstore when I was talking and hung out on the sidelines, listening. Maybe you have read a book or a blog post I’ve written and it made you feel exposed, vulnerable, scared — and seen. Maybe my blog popped up on your feed and you have no idea why but the post that you read was an excerpt from a book that made you think, I’ve never heard anyone say it like that and then you clicked around until the Meet the Storykeeper page told you I am a hotline specialist and certified in medical accompaniment and trained in trauma-informed coaching… and a survivor.

Maybe the only connection you have to me is that someone printed or received my disclosure and / or safety guide and gave it to you. The booklet has left you hopeful… confused… nervous and you don’t have someone to say that to.

You’ve thought of going to a hotline. Maybe you’ve even tried but there was a long wait and the wait made you nervous and so you left before anyone answered. Or you’re nervous because you don’t know who you’re talking to and that’s not comforting; it’s scary.

I am not a counselor – and I do not ever think that a conversation with me would replace therapy. And if you’re really hurting and need someone right now, please visit The Holding Room where there are details for how to connect with crisis lines and other resources right now. There are people waiting for you to reach out.

I am not anything except a mother to beautiful girls and a writer who has felt so isolated and alone most of her life that the only friends I’ve known are imaginary ones I created. I’m not more anything than anyone else. I still sometimes find myself subconsciously rubbing the inside of my wrist to remember I’m alive and I still sometimes wake up gasping in the middle of the night from night terrors absolutely no one on earth will ever know anything about.

But one of the defining moments for me came just a few years after I disclosed my abuse. I was working as a trainer at a very large company where you really only interacted with the department you were in. I went to the breakroom one day. A woman I’d never seen, never met, watched me. There was an air of anger near her. Suddenly, she said, “You wrote The Character?” The clipped tone sounded angry and anger scares the bejesus out of me. Warily, I nodded. She threw a napkin in the trash hard, nodded and said, “Yeah.” Then, “You couldn’t have written that if it hadn’t happened to you.” A hint of a question hung at the end of the sentence. Shame washed over me. It was the first time a stranger had seen me. I nodded, saying nothing. She shook her head. “Yeah.” And then she walked out. I had no idea how she knew who I was or that I wrote books. But what she taught me was something different a counselor or therapist. What she taught me was that I wasn’t alone. Someone else understood what that book was really about and got it.

Maybe you don’t want counseling. Maybe you already have counseling. But you’re…

• not interested in a hotline for whatever reason (I do recommend them, though).
• have questions about The Storynlight Circle
• have questions about the disclosure or safety guide(s) / wish you had someone to walk you through them.
• have never believed your story matters and now you read it on just about every page I write and it’s made you .. a little curious, a healthy mix of skepticism and hope.
• just want to talk to another survivor – maybe not to disclose a single thing but to say, you know, I read this and I was wondering how you’ve gotten where you are or I need to practice telling someone face to face because I really want to tell XYZ
• have questions about what a SAFE kit actually is or practical needs like – I want to report and I don’t know how or what to expect.

I’m a nobody really… but I am willing to listen.

Also – ten years ago, my books were very different than they are today. They focused on one narrator and the point was to say this is what trauma feels like and, more importantly, trying to convince myself that the awful pain I felt was valid because I wasn’t sure it was. I’d spent so many years comparing my pain to that of the Holocaust survivor’s or the Rwanda genocide survivor’s or Elizabeth Smart’s and believing that since mine wasn’t “as bad as” theirs, it wasn’t real pain. That was not true. Today, while I still struggle with both of those things sometimes still, my writing has shifted to broader and deeper questions like what role does mental illness play in abuse? does healing mean forgetting? what does it look like to reclaim your voice?

The stories we tell – the ones we tell ourselves, the ones we tell others, and the ones we never share – shape our lives.

Healing is not imaginary; it is real.

Maybe yours falls in one of those buckets. And maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s completely different.

Whatever the case may be — I would love the opportunity to say hello.

What can it hurt?

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

―Helen Keller, The Open Door

And so – here it is again – a link where you can do something weird and book a (completely free) chat with me.

A New Way to Gamble

Inkblot pictures, like the one above, fascinate me. Because kind of like the what-color-IS-it-dress from 2015, you can ask a dozen people what they see and hear a dozen unique responses. Each with a one-of-a-kind fingerprint, we each have a special lens through which we view the world: our own. I am a firm believer that I have something profound to learn from every single human I come into contact with – if I am open to the discovery. Throughout my life, the thing I’ve sought the most, the thing I’ve longed for the most, the thing I’ve treasured the most, the thing that gives me great pleasure is building connections. Because connections – whether they last five seconds or a lifetime – offer tangible hope.

Throughout the blog, there are stories of Joey, a homeless man who showed me what joy looked like, teachers whose smile convinced me I mattered, strangers changing my life by holding a random door open for me, miracles being discovered in the most asinine circumstances, and how the inheritance of kindness helps define who I am.

Meaningful connections have stocked my survival toolkit and saved my life more than once.

Providing as many different avenues for connection helps me reach people I might not otherwise have known because not everyone can connect in the same way. Just as we learn differently, we connect differently. After sending emails to several people who live in completely different parts of the world from me, after scheduling time to chat with people who live in the countries I’m writing about and after talking with survivors wo don’t feel comfortable using a hotline because they aren’t sure whether they’ll have to speak with a male or a female, I thought this might be a fun way to interact.

Let’s try a wild experiment, shall we?

Clicking this link will take you to my booking page where you can schedule thirty minutes or an hour with me. We can chat by phone or by video – it costs you nothing.

Maybe you’re…

The Adventurous Type / Spontaneous One

You don’t know me.

You’ve never read a single book I’ve written and likely never will.

You’ve never read my blog until you found it completely by accident and something kept you on the page for longer than five point two seconds.

You see this and think, Ha! What a ridiculous idea… wonder what perfect strangers might talk about for thirty minutes?

That’s fine. Contrary to popular belief, I can hold a normal conversation. I’ve been to 9 countries, 24 states; we can talk about travel. I love horses, dogs, mountains and I’m a little bit of a Dr. Pepper addict. I’m sure we can find something to chat about. And a one-on-one with a perfect stranger will add to your collection of wild tales and reputation as a go-getter.

Also – did you hear about the story of the woman who continually dialed the wrong number until eventually the man asked her name? They built a friendship built of sporadic telephone calls lasting all of a few minutes that went on for twenty years.

The Storytimer

You have read what I’ve written – either a book or this blog. Maybe for years.

Maybe you love everything and just haven’t known what to say to reach out.

Maybe you’re in a book club and you think it would be great if I could call in to take questions or say something about the story.

Or you’ve wanted to. You’ve bought the book and it has sat somewhere within sight collecting dust because you’re afraid of what you might lie between the pages. I’ve had people tell me they buy the book with every intention of reading it – and they get pulled in during chapter one and keep turning the sheets – until they encounter the first sensitive scene and then they put it down (that’s okay, by the way. You don’t have to read it; the first page of every book I have has this line: your emotional, spiritual, physical and mental well-being is more important to the author than your reading this story.)

Maybe you’re thinking of buying a book, but:

• you don’t where to start and wonder – which one would be the best to start with?
• you kind of want to read one in particular but you wish you had more information about specifically what kind of material that book contains.
• you’d love to, but you can’t afford it because gasoline these days can make a woman broke. Money should never be the barrier to communication and connection; I’m happy to give you a free version if this is you.

Or maybe you haven’t read a book but you’ve followed the ramblings of this blog for years.

Either way, you kind of feel like you know me.

Or maybe you’re writer and you wonder things like:

• What’s her publishing story?
• How does she make the videos / trailers?
• What’s the nitty gritty behind her process? Outline or fly by the seat of her pants – which hill does she die on?
• How does she get ARC / beta readers?
• How does she find 160K words to write for one story??

Listen. The amount of pure joy that crashes through my body when I get a monthly update of how many books sold or how many unique visitors came to the blog has sustained me through many a dark day. You are quite literally part of the realization of a dream come true. You’re proof in my life that they do.

We’ll have plenty to talk about.

A Trauma Survivor

Maybe you came to an event. You were part of a workshop I offered. You sat through a speech I gave as part of my work with RAINN’s Speaker Bureau. Maybe you happened to be in a library or a bookstore when I was talking and hung out on the sidelines, listening. Maybe you have read a book or a blog post I’ve written and it made you feel exposed, vulnerable, scared — and seen. Maybe my blog popped up on your feed and you have no idea why but the post that you read was an excerpt from a book that made you think, I’ve never heard anyone say it like that and then you clicked around until the Meet the Storykeeper page told you I am a hotline specialist and certified in medical accompaniment and trained in trauma-informed coaching… and a survivor.

Maybe the only connection you have to me is that someone printed or received my disclosure and / or safety guide and gave it to you. The booklet has left you hopeful… confused… nervous and you don’t have someone to say that to.

You’ve thought of going to a hotline. Maybe you’ve even tried but there was a long wait and the wait made you nervous and so you left before anyone answered. Or you’re nervous because you don’t know who you’re talking to and that’s not comforting; it’s scary.

I am not a counselor – and I do not ever think that a conversation with me would replace therapy.

I am not anything except a mother to beautiful girls and a writer who has felt so isolated and alone most of her life that the only friends I’ve known are imaginary ones I created. I’m not more anything than anyone else. I still sometimes find myself subconsciously rubbing the inside of my wrist to remember I’m alive and I still sometimes wake up gasping in the middle of the night from night terrors absolutely no one on earth will ever know anything about.

But one of the defining moments for me came just a few years after I disclosed my abuse. I was working as a trainer at a very large company where you really only interacted with the department you were in. I went to the breakroom one day. A woman I’d never seen, never met, watched me. There was an air of anger near her. Suddenly, she said, “You wrote The Character?” The clipped tone sounded angry and anger scares the bejesus out of me. Warily, I nodded. She threw a napkin in the trash hard, nodded and said, “Yeah.” Then, “You couldn’t have written that if it hadn’t happened to you.” A hint of a question hung at the end of the sentence. Shame washed over me. It was the first time a stranger had seen me. I nodded, saying nothing. She shook her head. “Yeah.” And then she walked out. I had no idea how she knew who I was or that I wrote books. But what she taught me was something different a counselor or therapist. What she taught me was that I wasn’t alone. Someone else understood what that book was really about and got it.

Maybe you don’t want counseling. Maybe you already have counseling. But you’re…

• not interested in a hotline for whatever reason (I do recommend them, though).
• have questions about The Storynlight Circle
• have questions about the disclosure or safety guide(s) / wish you had someone to walk you through them.
• have never believed your story matters and now you read it on just about every page I write and it’s made you .. a little curious, a healthy mix of skepticism and hope.
• just want to talk to another survivor – maybe not to disclose a single thing but to say, you know, I read this and I was wondering how you’ve gotten where you are or I need to practice telling someone face to face because I really want to tell XYZ
• have questions about what a SAFE kit actually is or practical needs like – I want to report and I don’t know how or what to expect.

I’m a nobody really… but I am willing to listen.

Also – ten years ago, my books were very different than they are today. They focused on one narrator and the point was to say this is what trauma feels like and, more importantly, trying to convince myself that the awful pain I felt was valid because I wasn’t sure it was. I’d spent so many years comparing my pain to that of the Holocaust survivor’s or the Rwanda genocide survivor’s or Elizabeth Smart’s and believing that since mine wasn’t “as bad as” theirs, it wasn’t real pain. That was not true. Today, while I still struggle with both of those things sometimes still, my writing has shifted to broader and deeper questions like what role does mental illness play in abuse? does healing mean forgetting? what does it look like to reclaim your voice?

Healing is not imaginary. It is real.

The stories we tell – the ones we tell ourselves, the ones we tell others, and the ones we never share – shape our lives.

Maybe yours falls in one of those buckets. And maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s completely different.

Whatever the case may be — I would love the opportunity to say hello.

What can it hurt?

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

―Helen Keller, The Open Door

And so – here it is again – a link where you can do something weird and book a (completely free) chat with me.

A New Way to Gamble

Inkblot pictures, like the one above, fascinate me. Because kind of like the what-color-IS-it-dress from 2015, you can ask a dozen people what they see and hear a dozen unique responses. Each with a one-of-a-kind fingerprint, we each have a special lens through which we view the world: our own. I am a firm believer that I have something profound to learn from every single human I come into contact with – if I am open to the discovery. Throughout my life, the thing I’ve sought the most, the thing I’ve longed for the most, the thing I’ve treasured the most, the thing that gives me great pleasure is building connections. Because connections – whether they last five seconds or a lifetime – offer tangible hope.

Throughout the blog, there are stories of Joey, a homeless man who showed me what joy looked like, teachers whose smile convinced me I mattered, strangers changing my life by holding a random door open for me, miracles being discovered in the most asinine circumstances, and how the inheritance of kindness helps define who I am.

Meaningful connections stock my
survival toolkit and saved my life more than once.

Providing as many different avenues for connection as possible helps me reach people I might not otherwise have known because not everyone can connect in the same way. Just as we learn differently, we connect differently. After sending emails to several people who live in completely different parts of the world from me, after scheduling time to chat with people who live in the countries I’m writing about and after talking with survivors wo don’t feel comfortable using a hotline because they aren’t sure whether they’ll have to speak with a male or a female, I thought this might be a fun way to interact.

Let’s try a wild thing, shall we?

Clicking this link will take you to my booking page where you can schedule thirty minutes or an hour with me. We can chat by phone or by video – it costs you nothing.

Maybe you’re…

The Adventurous /

Spontaneous Type

You don’t know me.

You’ve never read a single book I’ve written and likely never will.

You’ve never read my blog until you found it completely by accident and something kept you on the page for longer than five point two seconds.

You see this and think, Ha! What a ridiculous idea… wonder what perfect strangers might talk about for thirty minutes?

That’s fine. Contrary to popular belief, I can hold a normal conversation. I’ve been to 9 countries, 24 states; we can talk about travel. I love horses, dogs, mountains and I’m a little bit of a Dr. Pepper addict. I’m sure we can find something to chat about. And a one-on-one with a perfect stranger will add to your collection of wild tales and reputation as a go-getter.

Also – did you hear about the story of the woman who continually dialed the wrong number until eventually the man asked her name? They built a friendship built of sporadic telephone calls lasting all of a few minutes that went on for twenty years.

The Storytimer

You have read what I’ve written – either a book or this blog. Maybe for years.

Maybe you love everything and just haven’t known what to say to reach out.

Maybe you’re in a book club and you think it would be great if I could call in to take questions or say something about the story.

Or you’ve wanted to. You’ve bought the book and it has sat somewhere within sight collecting dust because you’re afraid of what you might lie between the pages. I’ve had people tell me they buy the book with every intention of reading it – and they get pulled in during chapter one and keep turning the sheets – until they encounter the first sensitive scene and then they put it down (that’s okay, by the way. You don’t have to read it; the first page of every book I have has this line: your emotional, spiritual, physical and mental well-being is more important to the author than your reading this story.)

Maybe you’re thinking of buying a book, but:

• you don’t where to start and wonder – which one would be the best to start with?
• you kind of want to read one in particular but you wish you had more information about specifically what kind of material that book contains.
• you’d love to, but you can’t afford it because gasoline these days can make a woman broke. Money should never be the barrier to communication and connection; I’m happy to give you a free version if this is you.

Or maybe you haven’t read a book but you’ve followed the ramblings of this blog for years.

Either way, you kind of feel like you know me.

Or maybe you’re a writer and you wonder things like:

• What’s her publishing story?
• How does she make the videos / trailers?
• What’s the nitty gritty behind her process? Outline or fly by the seat of her pants – which hill does she die on?
• How does she get ARC / beta readers?
• How does she find 160K words to write for one story??

Listen. The amount of pure joy that crashes through my body when I get a monthly update of how many books sold or how many unique visitors came to the blog has sustained me through many a dark day. You are quite literally part of the realization of a dream come true. You’re proof in my life that they do.

We’ll have plenty to talk about.

A Trauma Survivor

Maybe you came to an event. You were part of a workshop I offered. You sat through a speech I gave as part of my work with RAINN’s Speaker Bureau. Maybe you happened to be in a library or a bookstore when I was talking and hung out on the sidelines, listening. Maybe you have read a book or a blog post I’ve written and it made you feel exposed, vulnerable, scared — and seen. Maybe my blog popped up on your feed and you have no idea why but the post that you read was an excerpt from a book that made you think, I’ve never heard anyone say it like that and then you clicked around until the Meet the Storykeeper page told you I am a hotline specialist and certified in medical accompaniment and trained in trauma-informed coaching… and a survivor.

Maybe the only connection you have to me is that someone printed or received my disclosure and / or safety guide and gave it to you. The booklet has left you hopeful… confused… nervous and you don’t have someone to say that to.

You’ve thought of going to a hotline. Maybe you’ve even tried but there was a long wait and the wait made you nervous and so you left before anyone answered. Or you’re nervous because you don’t know who you’re talking to and that’s not comforting; it’s scary.

I am not a counselor – and I do not ever think that a conversation with me would replace therapy. And if you’re really hurting and need someone right now, please visit The Holding Room where there are details for how to connect with crisis lines and other resources right now. There are people waiting for you to reach out.

I am not anything except a mother to beautiful girls and a writer who has felt so isolated and alone most of her life that the only friends I’ve known are imaginary ones I created. I’m not more anything than anyone else. I still sometimes find myself subconsciously rubbing the inside of my wrist to remember I’m alive and I still sometimes wake up gasping in the middle of the night from night terrors absolutely no one on earth will ever know anything about.

But one of the defining moments for me came just a few years after I disclosed my abuse. I was working as a trainer at a very large company where you really only interacted with the department you were in. I went to the breakroom one day. A woman I’d never seen, never met, watched me. There was an air of anger near her. Suddenly, she said, “You wrote The Character?” The clipped tone sounded angry and anger scares the bejesus out of me. Warily, I nodded. She threw a napkin in the trash hard, nodded and said, “Yeah.” Then, “You couldn’t have written that if it hadn’t happened to you.” A hint of a question hung at the end of the sentence. Shame washed over me. It was the first time a stranger had seen me. I nodded, saying nothing. She shook her head. “Yeah.” And then she walked out. I had no idea how she knew who I was or that I wrote books. But what she taught me was something different a counselor or therapist. What she taught me was that I wasn’t alone. Someone else understood what that book was really about and got it.

Maybe you don’t want counseling. Maybe you already have counseling. But you’re…

• not interested in a hotline for whatever reason (I do recommend them, though).
• have questions about The Storynlight Circle
• have questions about the disclosure or safety guide(s) / wish you had someone to walk you through them.
• have never believed your story matters and now you read it on just about every page I write and it’s made you .. a little curious, a healthy mix of skepticism and hope.
• just want to talk to another survivor – maybe not to disclose a single thing but to say, you know, I read this and I was wondering how you’ve gotten where you are or I need to practice telling someone face to face because I really want to tell XYZ
• have questions about what a SAFE kit actually is or practical needs like – I want to report and I don’t know how or what to expect.

I’m a nobody really… but I am willing to listen.

Also – ten years ago, my books were very different than they are today. They focused on one narrator and the point was to say this is what trauma feels like and, more importantly, trying to convince myself that the awful pain I felt was valid because I wasn’t sure it was. I’d spent so many years comparing my pain to that of the Holocaust survivor’s or the Rwanda genocide survivor’s or Elizabeth Smart’s and believing that since mine wasn’t “as bad as” theirs, it wasn’t real pain. That was not true. Today, while I still struggle with both of those things sometimes still, my writing has shifted to broader and deeper questions like what role does mental illness play in abuse? does healing mean forgetting? what does it look like to reclaim your voice?

The stories we tell – the ones we tell ourselves, the ones we tell others, and the ones we never share – shape our lives.

Healing is not imaginary; it is real.

Maybe yours falls in one of those buckets. And maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s completely different.

Whatever the case may be — I would love the opportunity to say hello.

What can it hurt?

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

―Helen Keller, The Open Door

And so – here it is again – a link where you can do something weird and book a (completely free) chat with me.

A New Way to Gamble

Inkblot pictures, like the one above, fascinate me. Because kind of like the what-color-IS-it-dress from 2015, you can ask a dozen people what they see and hear a dozen unique responses. Each with a one-of-a-kind fingerprint, we each have a special lens through which we view the world: our own. I am a firm believer that I have something profound to learn from every single human I come into contact with – if I am open to the discovery. Throughout my life, the thing I’ve sought the most, the thing I’ve longed for the most, the thing I’ve treasured the most, the thing that gives me great pleasure is building connections. Because connections – whether they last five seconds or a lifetime – offer tangible hope.

Throughout the blog, there are stories of Joey, a homeless man who showed me what joy looked like, teachers whose smile convinced me I mattered, strangers changing my life by holding a random door open for me, miracles being discovered in the most asinine circumstances, and how the inheritance of kindness helps define who I am.

Meaningful connections stock my
survival toolkit and saved my life more than once.

Providing as many different avenues for connection as possible helps me reach people I might not otherwise have known because not everyone can connect in the same way. Just as we learn differently, we connect differently. After sending emails to several people who live in completely different parts of the world from me, after scheduling time to chat with people who live in the countries I’m writing about and after talking with survivors wo don’t feel comfortable using a hotline because they aren’t sure whether they’ll have to speak with a male or a female, I thought this might be a fun way to interact.

Let’s try a wild thing, shall we?

Clicking this link will take you to my booking page where you can schedule thirty minutes or an hour with me. We can chat by phone or by video – it costs you nothing.

Maybe you’re…

The Adventurous /

Spontaneous Type

You don’t know me.

You’ve never read a single book I’ve written and likely never will.

You’ve never read my blog until you found it completely by accident and something kept you on the page for longer than five point two seconds.

You see this and think, Ha! What a ridiculous idea… wonder what perfect strangers might talk about for thirty minutes?

That’s fine. Contrary to popular belief, I can hold a normal conversation. I’ve been to 9 countries, 24 states; we can talk about travel. I love horses, dogs, mountains and I’m a little bit of a Dr. Pepper addict. I’m sure we can find something to chat about. And a one-on-one with a perfect stranger will add to your collection of wild tales and reputation as a go-getter.

Also – did you hear about the story of the woman who continually dialed the wrong number until eventually the man asked her name? They built a friendship built of sporadic telephone calls lasting all of a few minutes that went on for twenty years.

The Storytimer

You have read what I’ve written – either a book or this blog. Maybe for years.

Maybe you love everything and just haven’t known what to say to reach out.

Maybe you’re in a book club and you think it would be great if I could call in to take questions or say something about the story.

Or you’ve wanted to. You’ve bought the book and it has sat somewhere within sight collecting dust because you’re afraid of what you might lie between the pages. I’ve had people tell me they buy the book with every intention of reading it – and they get pulled in during chapter one and keep turning the sheets – until they encounter the first sensitive scene and then they put it down (that’s okay, by the way. You don’t have to read it; the first page of every book I have has this line: your emotional, spiritual, physical and mental well-being is more important to the author than your reading this story.)

Maybe you’re thinking of buying a book, but:

• you don’t where to start and wonder – which one would be the best to start with?
• you kind of want to read one in particular but you wish you had more information about specifically what kind of material that book contains.
• you’d love to, but you can’t afford it because gasoline these days can make a woman broke. Money should never be the barrier to communication and connection; I’m happy to give you a free version if this is you.

Or maybe you haven’t read a book but you’ve followed the ramblings of this blog for years.

Either way, you kind of feel like you know me.

Or maybe you’re a writer and you wonder things like:

• What’s her publishing story?
• How does she make the videos / trailers?
• What’s the nitty gritty behind her process? Outline or fly by the seat of her pants – which hill does she die on?
• How does she get ARC / beta readers?
• How does she find 160K words to write for one story??

Listen. The amount of pure joy that crashes through my body when I get a monthly update of how many books sold or how many unique visitors came to the blog has sustained me through many a dark day. You are quite literally part of the realization of a dream come true. You’re proof in my life that they do.

We’ll have plenty to talk about.

A Trauma Survivor

Maybe you came to an event. You were part of a workshop I offered. You sat through a speech I gave as part of my work with RAINN’s Speaker Bureau. Maybe you happened to be in a library or a bookstore when I was talking and hung out on the sidelines, listening. Maybe you have read a book or a blog post I’ve written and it made you feel exposed, vulnerable, scared — and seen. Maybe my blog popped up on your feed and you have no idea why but the post that you read was an excerpt from a book that made you think, I’ve never heard anyone say it like that and then you clicked around until the Meet the Storykeeper page told you I am a hotline specialist and certified in medical accompaniment and trained in trauma-informed coaching… and a survivor.

Maybe the only connection you have to me is that someone printed or received my disclosure and / or safety guide and gave it to you. The booklet has left you hopeful… confused… nervous and you don’t have someone to say that to.

You’ve thought of going to a hotline. Maybe you’ve even tried but there was a long wait and the wait made you nervous and so you left before anyone answered. Or you’re nervous because you don’t know who you’re talking to and that’s not comforting; it’s scary.

I am not a counselor – and I do not ever think that a conversation with me would replace therapy. And if you’re really hurting and need someone right now, please visit The Holding Room where there are details for how to connect with crisis lines and other resources right now. There are people waiting for you to reach out.

I am not anything except a mother to beautiful girls and a writer who has felt so isolated and alone most of her life that the only friends I’ve known are imaginary ones I created. I’m not more anything than anyone else. I still sometimes find myself subconsciously rubbing the inside of my wrist to remember I’m alive and I still sometimes wake up gasping in the middle of the night from night terrors absolutely no one on earth will ever know anything about.

But one of the defining moments for me came just a few years after I disclosed my abuse. I was working as a trainer at a very large company where you really only interacted with the department you were in. I went to the breakroom one day. A woman I’d never seen, never met, watched me. There was an air of anger near her. Suddenly, she said, “You wrote The Character?” The clipped tone sounded angry and anger scares the bejesus out of me. Warily, I nodded. She threw a napkin in the trash hard, nodded and said, “Yeah.” Then, “You couldn’t have written that if it hadn’t happened to you.” A hint of a question hung at the end of the sentence. Shame washed over me. It was the first time a stranger had seen me. I nodded, saying nothing. She shook her head. “Yeah.” And then she walked out. I had no idea how she knew who I was or that I wrote books. But what she taught me was something different a counselor or therapist. What she taught me was that I wasn’t alone. Someone else understood what that book was really about and got it.

Maybe you don’t want counseling. Maybe you already have counseling. But you’re…

• not interested in a hotline for whatever reason (I do recommend them, though).
• have questions about The Storynlight Circle
• have questions about the disclosure or safety guide(s) / wish you had someone to walk you through them.
• have never believed your story matters and now you read it on just about every page I write and it’s made you .. a little curious, a healthy mix of skepticism and hope.
• just want to talk to another survivor – maybe not to disclose a single thing but to say, you know, I read this and I was wondering how you’ve gotten where you are or I need to practice telling someone face to face because I really want to tell XYZ
• have questions about what a SAFE kit actually is or practical needs like – I want to report and I don’t know how or what to expect.

I’m a nobody really… but I am willing to listen.

Also – ten years ago, my books were very different than they are today. They focused on one narrator and the point was to say this is what trauma feels like and, more importantly, trying to convince myself that the awful pain I felt was valid because I wasn’t sure it was. I’d spent so many years comparing my pain to that of the Holocaust survivor’s or the Rwanda genocide survivor’s or Elizabeth Smart’s and believing that since mine wasn’t “as bad as” theirs, it wasn’t real pain. That was not true. Today, while I still struggle with both of those things sometimes still, my writing has shifted to broader and deeper questions like what role does mental illness play in abuse? does healing mean forgetting? what does it look like to reclaim your voice?

The stories we tell – the ones we tell ourselves, the ones we tell others, and the ones we never share – shape our lives.

Healing is not imaginary; it is real.

Maybe yours falls in one of those buckets. And maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s completely different.

Whatever the case may be — I would love the opportunity to say hello.

What can it hurt?

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

―Helen Keller, The Open Door

And so – here it is again – a link where you can do something weird and book a (completely free) chat with me.

Waterfall of Sound, a poem of song

Waterfall of Sound

Chance the

Waterfall

Of sound.

Sparrows

Can bring the

Sun down.

Believe

In your power

To sing.

A song

Is worth more

Than kings.

R Meadow Highlights – Blog Special Edition 9/11

https://rmmeadow.com/2026/09/11/r-meadow-highlights-blog-special-edition-9-11/

R Meadow Highlights – Blog Special Edition 9/11

https://rmmeadow.com/2026/09/11/r-meadow-highlights-blog-special-edition-9-11/

R Meadow Highlights – Blog Special Edition 9/11

https://rmmeadow.com/2026/09/11/r-meadow-highlights-blog-special-edition-9-11/

R Meadow Highlights – Blog Special Edition 9/11

https://rmmeadow.com/2026/09/11/r-meadow-highlights-blog-special-edition-9-11/

R Meadow Highlights – Blog Special Edition 9/11

https://rmmeadow.com/2026/09/11/r-meadow-highlights-blog-special-edition-9-11/

How to Spend a Perfect Day in New York City: A Neighborhood Guide https://www.diningandcooking.com/us/1727/ #destinations #inspiration #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityFood #NYC #NYCFood #onecolumn #textbelowcentergridwidth #web

How to Spend a Perfect Day in New York City: A Neighborhood Guide https://www.diningandcooking.com/us/1727/ #destinations #inspiration #NewYorkCity #NewYorkCityFood #NYC #NYCFood #onecolumn #textbelowcentergridwidth #web

A quotation from Hemingway

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice, and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the sacrifices were like the stockyards in Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American writer
A Farewell to Arms, ch. 27 (1929)

More about this quote: wist.info/hemingway-ernest/859…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hemingway #farewelltoarms #cause #glory #hackneyed #inspiration #propaganda #sacredness #sacrifice #war #warishell #wartime #waste #worldwari #wwi #ww1

A quotation from Hemingway

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice, and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the sacrifices were like the stockyards in Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American writer
A Farewell to Arms, ch. 27 (1929)

More about this quote: wist.info/hemingway-ernest/859…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hemingway #farewelltoarms #cause #glory #hackneyed #inspiration #propaganda #sacredness #sacrifice #war #warishell #wartime #waste #worldwari #wwi #ww1

A quotation from Hemingway

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice, and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the sacrifices were like the stockyards in Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American writer
A Farewell to Arms, ch. 27 (1929)

More about this quote: wist.info/hemingway-ernest/859…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hemingway #farewelltoarms #cause #glory #hackneyed #inspiration #propaganda #sacredness #sacrifice #war #warishell #wartime #waste #worldwari #wwi #ww1

A quotation from Hemingway

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice, and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the sacrifices were like the stockyards in Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American writer
A Farewell to Arms, ch. 27 (1929)

More about this quote: wist.info/hemingway-ernest/859…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hemingway #farewelltoarms #cause #glory #hackneyed #inspiration #propaganda #sacredness #sacrifice #war #warishell #wartime #waste #worldwari #wwi #ww1

A quotation from Hemingway

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice, and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the sacrifices were like the stockyards in Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American writer
A Farewell to Arms, ch. 27 (1929)

More about this quote: wist.info/hemingway-ernest/859…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hemingway #farewelltoarms #cause #glory #hackneyed #inspiration #propaganda #sacredness #sacrifice #war #warishell #wartime #waste #worldwari #wwi #ww1

💣NBC, CBS, and other major stations are now showcasing individuals they formerly labeled as public enemies. A long way from the bottom. #Music #Inspiration #Artist #GlowUp #Reaction

https://youtu.be/ZAqe7coAzBw?is=AUQEWTQWy7_ZYuqj

💣NBC, CBS, and other major stations are now showcasing individuals they formerly labeled as public enemies. A long way from the bottom. #Music #Inspiration #Artist #GlowUp #Reaction

https://youtu.be/ZAqe7coAzBw?is=AUQEWTQWy7_ZYuqj

💣NBC, CBS, and other major stations are now showcasing individuals they formerly labeled as public enemies. A long way from the bottom. #Music #Inspiration #Artist #GlowUp #Reaction

https://youtu.be/ZAqe7coAzBw?is=AUQEWTQWy7_ZYuqj

💣NBC, CBS, and other major stations are now showcasing individuals they formerly labeled as public enemies. A long way from the bottom. #Music #Inspiration #Artist #GlowUp #Reaction

https://youtu.be/ZAqe7coAzBw?is=AUQEWTQWy7_ZYuqj

💣NBC, CBS, and other major stations are now showcasing individuals they formerly labeled as public enemies. A long way from the bottom. #Music #Inspiration #Artist #GlowUp #Reaction

https://youtu.be/ZAqe7coAzBw?is=AUQEWTQWy7_ZYuqj

Boldly Go!

This week marked the 60th anniversary of Star Trek (it was Tuesday, actually, but alas! I was distracted by the whole “return to work” thing). And the show almost didn’t make it at all.

How ‘Star Trek’ almost failed to launch

“The Cage” – a complicated story about alien mind-control – was an ambitious pilot. When Roddenberry presented it to NBC, the programming executives were blown away. But the sales and marketing department wasn’t convinced. Not enough action, they thought. It would be hard to promote. Pass.

“Star Trek,” it seemed, was dead.

Fortunately, there’s more to that story, and the show not only got off the ground but became the entertainment juggernaut it is today.

I wasn’t a Trek fan growing up, in large part, I think, because my parents had made the conscious decision not to have a television. Now that I’m all grown up and have a TV of my own, though, I appreciate the ideals and more behind the sometimes campy but always fun franchise. So inspiring, and not just for everyday fans. 

‘Star Trek’ and NASA have intertwined legacies – the show championed diversity and inspired generations of real space scientists

When it premiered in 1966, no one could have predicted that it would lead to more than a dozen spinoff shows, more than a dozen movies and one of the most enduring fandoms in popular culture.

“Star Trek” is also unusual for its close connections to NASA, both in its storylines and in the real world. Decades of “Star Trek” adventures have ignited a love of spaceflight across generations, inspiring many who now work as space professionals.

Let’s hear it for the real-world powers of fiction. And now, in life and the imagination, go boldly!

* * *

Photographer Serhii Fett Erases the Face to Sharpen the Idea https://theinspirationgrid.com/photographer-serhii-fett-erases-the-face-to-sharpen-the-idea/ #art #photography #PhotographyInspiration #PhotoInspo #inspiration #InspirationGrid

Photographer Serhii Fett Erases the Face to Sharpen the Idea https://theinspirationgrid.com/photographer-serhii-fett-erases-the-face-to-sharpen-the-idea/ #art #photography #PhotographyInspiration #PhotoInspo #inspiration #InspirationGrid