*EVERYONE WHO DONATES RECEIVES A FREE, SIGNED COPY OF THE BOOK**
I’d like to send out an important message,
Art Saves Lives!
Seven years ago, I was told by a social worker I would never work a full-time job and that my only real chance at success depended wholly on my qualifying for disability. She actually had the nerve to suggest I find a “rich man” to take care of me. On my walk home, I cried so hard I could hardly see the pavement. The devastation, the hurt and embarrassment gave me a surge of determination. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.
Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, living in transitional housing with my two sons—one diagnosed with autism—I struggled with an addiction to alcohol, to make a living and to recover from a divorce.
I was curled up into a little ball of smallness and rickety shame, terrified that I was nothing more than a statistic, an illness, a condition. Instead of crumbling I pulled myself up by pursuing literary and visual arts. In the end, the urge to create, to write, to paint and to nurture the beauty that I had in my life, allowed me to transcend my circumstances.
Years later I was able to return to the social worker’s office sober, employed and with a graduate degree. All the while creating a world that blended magic, pain and salvation while raising my children.
I want to share what art can do for anyone that feels marginalized. Recently I recieved formal training to teach poetry to at-risk youth through Pongo Teen Writing and I intend to use sales of my book to pursue an endeavor that will help others find their voices and to know that their ideas matter.
This is where you come in. Please help me publish my first book, “The Gift of an Imaginary Girl, Coco & Other Stories.” By donating to this project you’re not only helping to realize a personal dream, you’re supporting the message that art can save lives.
Thank you for your donations!
For additional information about the publishing of my book please visit my publisher’s website at: A Word With You Press