About Me
 |
I began writing at the young age of seven, with my first poem titled "Getting High", although the subject matter was beyond my years of knowledge it exhibits the world I grew up in.
When my youngest son was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, I focused on my writing career in 1998, where I could balance being a stay-at-home mother and having a career. Giving me the opportunity to learn the writing and publishing industry.
Since that time I have have been published in array of magazines and periodicals on a variety of topics including, patenting, short stories, interview pieces and opinion editorials. I have also had three business books published: 101 Business ideas you can start at for under $1,000 for stay-at-home moms and dads, students and retirees. Sharing my knowledge with readers in regards to the success of two stay-at-home businesses I created and maintain to this day.
I have also had the ability to volunteer my time to causes that share my vision for a better community and more productive and healthy citizens. I have volunteered with Volunteers of America and YMCA Battered woman's shelter. Where I have won awards for my dedication to those causes as well.
Within the last few years I have dedicated my time to the art of screenplays, my new love, which has been the most rewarding to me. I have completed four screenplays and outlines for five other ideas I am working through. I am also working on my memoir, "Look back, but Don't stare."
My first screenplay, Life Sentence, won an Honorable mention from the 73rd annual Writer's Digest writing competition. In which I have collaborated with an incredibly talented writer, Roger Aylward, who took me under his wings and taught me the ropes. Together we completed an entirely new and better version of Life Sentence.
My second screenplay, Ballad of the Fireflies, is the story inspired by my grandfather’s legacy he left me. The short story of my grandfather’s legacy can be read on page 208 of Chicken Soup for the Veteran’s soul or here at Grandpa's Apple Pie
I have enjoyed greatly the challenges of being an inspirational speaker, freelance writer, author, and most important a mother. My work ethics include dedication, passion, creative vision, concise dialect, and enthusiasm.
My Family:
I am the proud mother of seven beautiful children, eight if you'd like to include my younger brother who has lived with me most of his life. I have been married to a wonderful husband for 12 years, who has proven to be an exceptional father to my children and supporter of my career. It has been a joy and a challenge to be the mother of such a large family. It was absolutely the way I was raised that made me yearn for a big family.
I was raised in an abusive family home, so the thought of caring for children became my vision early on. It was more like "I'm going to be a mother to show how it should be done." I have even won an award in this category, which has been my proudest accomplishment.
My Mission:
My mission is to help survivors of childhood trauma, domestic violence, and rape to believe in themselves and understand the abuse was not their fault, so that they can move beyond bad times to a happy, productive and successful life.
To help impose tougher laws on pedophiles and child abuse cases. To create laws that will not allow the cities to place children back into a home with abuse.
To create content that will not only inspire readers and viewers alike, but also to motivate them to see the world in a different light and be apart of the world and community they live in. I hope to entertain as well as hearten others. One person can inspire others to create a chain of events that can change the world.
For Survivors:
If
you are a survivor, understanding that being a victim is not forever, that today
you can be a conqueror by overcoming the situation and winning the war against
your assailant. Believing in yourself and forgiving your assailant, not for them
but for you, will help you to a path of sanity.
Turning Tragedy
to Triumph:
I
recall the moment, as though it was yesterday, when I sat on a tan plaid couch,
writing in my torn-up spiral notebook. I was allowing myself to be a prisoner to
my pedophiles. Everything they said about me was right; not only did I allow
them to have their evil moments with me - I was also giving them my future, my
spirit, my sanity.
It
was like a slap in the face as I realized what I had become. I was allowing
myself to believe that my abusers were telling the truth. I was nothing, I had
nothing, and I'd never amount to anything. It was in that moment that I jumped
off the couch and ran to the mirror. I was a teen mom, I didn't have a job, and
at that moment, I had no self-esteem. It was as though the mirror was my enemy,
the reflection that stared back to me was a horrible double of the girl I use to
be, the happy, positive, loving, ambitious young lady who once believed in
herself.
I was nineteen and that was the moment I left that young girl behind. I said my
apologies to her and told her it was time for the truth to be told. I, too,
could be somebody. I could raise my children in a healthy, positive atmosphere.
I could learn, go to school and get an education. I was worth having good
things; I deserved something better than I was allowing for myself.
Through journal writing, I was able to turn my tragedy into triumph. That was
the moment my life changed for good and I gained a certainty that no one was
going to take away. I finally saw the beauty in life, finally saw the beauty in
me, and I believed that I too was worth being accepted by this great world.
I hope you, too, can find that moment, believe in yourself and break free from
the prison of insanity. My best wishes to you and yours.
These are the steps I used to find sanity, as hard as it was to find, I lost too much time and energy on not believing it was possible. I pray that you will find it sooner, without the loss of energy or time, and harness it with that trust in yourself that will take you to your dreams and beyond.
1.
Journaling
2.
Forgiveness
3. Moving on
Journal
writing became my daily exercise. There was a time, before I found peace, that
night terrors took over my nightly ritual. For three years straight I couldn't
sleep, the only thing I could do was write. I swear I thought Satan himself was
after me, night after night I dreamed about hell sucking me in, or his presence
under my bed.
I
was seventeen when night terrors took over my rest, I would wake up in the
middle of the night and write until I would fall asleep again. Throughout those
years I would write in a journal, I began writing my life story, or I'd journal
my dreams.
My
thoughts, fears, anger, and tears filled those spirals, seven to be exact, to
the rim. It felt almost as though the negativity flowed through my body and out
my fingers, leaving room only for positive thoughts, feelings and a new
beginning.
It was the Journey that began with journaling, that lead me to forgiveness and finally to move on, above and beyond poverty and abuse.
It's
true what they say about forgiveness, you can move on without forgiveness. It
was during my journaling years that I began to acknowledge that there was more
to life then I had been subjected to. But the only way to fully see that was to
forgive, but I not only had to forgive all those who have been an assailant in
my life, I also had to forgive myself.
After
I went through journal writing for three years I had a dream that I had died. I
was in between the earth and heaven, but I couldn't reach heaven. As much as I
tried to push myself up to heaven I was stuck where I sat. There were three
beautiful angels floating near me.
"What's
the matter?" One angel asked me.
"As
much as I try," I said, "I just can't get to heaven. Why can't I reach
heaven."
The
angel looked over at the other two, then back at me and with the most
sympathetic look she wrapped her wing around me and with a kind voice she
answered me. "You have forgiven all those who have hurt you, yet you can't
see it fit to forgive yourself."
"You're
right," I answered, "I never did."
And
I shouted as loud as I could "I forgive myself!"
At
that moment I shot up to heaven. There sitting in a lounge chair was Jesus, he
stood up and said "I have a surprise for you."
I
followed him to a log cabin house made out of writing books. He walked me inside
this writing book cabin and said "I made this just for you."
It was then that I knew that if I was to move on, there was more to forgiveness then I had ever heard. Because when we go through abuse, we also begin to make bad choices. I also made a few, but thankfully that was at a time I felt I was worth forgiving.
There's a gut feeling that I get when I hear, or read those words. Moving on means so much more to me then the simplicity it looks to be. The feeling is filled with hope, for others who have dealt with the same things I have, and regret that I did not allow this for myself sooner. I wish for you the blessing of the journey, as you do move on. I hope you find the strength to heal, the compassion to forgive (true compassion for yourself) and the hope to look toward the future.
Many blessings to you my friend.