Writing as Therapy + How many #freewritehouse members have published books?
This week, a daily freewrite was so moving, I had to hear more. Mind Over Matter by @redheadpei revisits the sudden loss of her only child.
"It’s difficult to talk about it as it does bring everything back as if time has stood still,"
she adds in the comment section, which is as rich as the original freewrite.
Thank you for talking about it, @redheadpei!
And thank you for sharing more details in the comment section of this #must-read post. As one commenter said, you are one of the most helpful and positive people on Steemit. While "some people never get past their grief," writing is one of the primary ways we can come though (scroll down to see which commenter said that).
One of @redheadpei's comments seized my atttention:
Being a parent who lost a child is part of who I am now. It has changed me and I don’t like to bring it up but sometimes it just comes out.
I did ask for help from spiritual realms after Kevin passed as I wondered if he knew he was dead since it happened suddenly in a car accident on Christmas Day in 1998.
It may seem unbelievable but, 5 mos after his death, at his gravesite, a portal opened and he appeared briefly with a smile. This helped me so much and I thank the Tuatha De Danaan for making this possible.
I had to know more --
and she happens to have written a whole book with the "more" that I was looking for!
A true story of a mother's spiritual journey
to find if her son's spirit had survived the death of his physical body. The ghost stories told in Joanne's childhood by her grandmother and the legends remembered from her Irish ancestry of the Tuatha De Danaan (Gaelic for Children/People of the Goddess Danu) helped decipher the signs along the way. This book will hold a special fascination for readers interested in Celtic Irish history and mythology. Dreams, water scrying, druids, spirit companion animals and the photographs at the cemetery are all part of this mystical journey. A contact is made when a "Child" opens a portal from another dimension.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Page 46
What I did worry about was whether or not he knew he was released from his physical body since the accident was so unexpected. I had read of sudden deaths where the person did not realize they were dead and kept trying to live their earthly life. He had hit black ice and the car had rolled several times killing him instantly.
When Kevin was a child I had often talked of the spirit or soul leaving the physical body after death and going through a gateway or portal to enter the realm of our next level of existence. That knowledge gave me some solace as I knew he would remember our talks. Since we had often talked of the spiritual life, I wondered if he would contact me, or if he could contact me! He knew I was open to this sort of thing and I would love to have a sign from him that he had completed the transition from the physical body.
Where was he now? The question of his transition to the next plane of existence was weighing heavy on my mind. Having prayed to Michael the archangel to protect him from any evil, I also prayed to Mary, the mother of Jesus, to bring my son's spirit safely through to the next cosmic realm. I thought that Mary, having lost her own child, would understand. To cover all bases, I also tried, through my thoughts, to contact the Children of Danaan. I asked them to find my son and take him to Tir na nOg.
Comments! I love the comments!
and the queen of comments has to be @crescendoofpeace, whose replies to a post are often worthy of being entire posts. Here's a wee snippet of her response to the post:
As you say, losing a child is not the natural order, and is one of the hardest things we can possibly go through. And some people never get past their grief.
But we are human and we persevere, as you have done, and wonderfully so. You have long been one of the most helpful and positive people on Steemit, for the two plus years I've been here, and I am thankful you are still here.
Speaking for myself, writing is one of the primary ways I managed to come through my own grief, though outside of my meditation group, it took me a while to want to share those writings. I ultimately did so on the chance that it might help someone going through something similar.
Freewritehouse: more than a writing community!
Today I am focusing on just one freewrite, one author, but I will do more in the future.
Help me out if you would with this question (using the comment section would be great):
How many #freewritehouse members have published books?
Post links to yours in the comment section if you would, please and thanks! @deeanndmathews, you have so many links, I'm overwhelmed: where to begin and where to collect a list of all these publications.
@redheadpei has also written a guide to dream analysis:
Druids, shamans and prophets have sought meanings in dreams
for hundreds of years. Now you can interpret your own dreams with this guide to unlocking the secret language of your subconscious.
Joanne Collicott McGuigan
was born in Hammersmith, England. Joanne's parents met during the 2nd World War in England. Her mother was a nurse from Kiltane, Co. Mayo, Ireland and her father a Canadian soldier from Canterbury, New Brunswick. The oldest of five children, Joanne spend her childhood surrounded by her father's people, the Collicott and McFarlane families, in the tiny village of Canterbury, New Brunswick, Canada.
Although working in the banking field was her primary profession, Joanne also wrote a dream analysis column for a local paper. The information compiled from writing this column is the basis for the book, The Dream Mechanism.
The author's deep faith and spiritual beliefs are evident in Child of Danaan. This book is based on the mystical journey after the sudden death of her only child.
Joanne is working on two books; one about her mother, an Irish war bride, and the pioneer lifestyle she experienced in coming to Canada; the other, about life on Prince Edward Island.
No "Problem with Freewrites" here!
I love this warm, welcoming community where freewriting unleashes ideas, emotions, plots, and characters that would remain locked up inside our subconscious without the #dailyprompt and the 5-minute timer reminding us to write nonstop no matter what's coming out.
Whole books on the subject already exist, so I won't freewrite one now, but I will go off hunting... TTYL!
#nonfiction #selfhelp #psychology #subconscious, Sun Signs, #astrology, #dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Analysis #Religion # Spirituality #grief
@alliedforces curate 2
Keep up the great work and join us in The Castle sometime!
The #spreadlovenotwar curation campaign is under the guidance of witnesses @enginewitty and @untersatz.
Thank you!!!!
@redheadpei is the one who merits your attention, but I'll take all the love that comes my way (and give love to whoever will accept it). Thank you @enginewitty!!
Been following her and Cori for awhile now. I love that you shining a light on them🥰
@katrina-ariel has two books for sale:
At Twitter I found @KatrinaAriel tetweetingliterary agent @annmrose:
Thank you for mentioning my books here, Carol! There are so many talented people writing in different ways. I'm glad to see this call out for links to people's published books!
I've followed @redheadpei for a while now, but this freewrite took me by surprise. I've always enjoyed her posts, they are brimming with joy and beauty, so heavy with wonderment of the world I thought she lived a life of utter bliss. Through this freewrite I learned just what kind of human I was reading after all - one who had known the worst torment and was still able to not only feel joy herself, but to devote herself to spreading joy everywhere she went. Even learning of her son's death was a curiously joyous experience. Without the freewrite, I would never have known. A simple prompt, enjoy your day, and my world turned a little upside down, in a very good way. Thank you so much for putting this together Carol. Both writing and reading freewrites have been a source of enormous growth for me, and my life has been made better by them. xo
@felt.buzz and @kaelci have published books.
Yes - and I was hoping they'd post the links here so I don't have to hunt them down. :) I'm still thinking there should be a Grand Central Station URL where we can list our publications, but that's a bit ambitious for me. @mariannewest already has so many links in all the @freewritehouse and Daily Prompt posts!
steempeak is bugging out right now; I will look for those links when it comes back to its senses. I have one of the books somewhere in this mess - a book of short stories by freewriters.
Oh, I can hunt down links... I've posted links to these books before. It was just...which key words to search under.... also, the authors should post their own links, I think, rather than have you or me track 'em down. :) Some of them have drifted away - blueyebethley, and the gal with the anthology (her name eludes me), and...
@byn has published too. So many of us! Maybe if we can round them all up and have them write a little sumthin', one big post would be good. I was hoping for that in the comments of this one. I'm sure they would like the extra exposure. It's that post we need to put somewhere special. hm.
Where to put it... @mariannewest (and others) include links and logos in every post. We could have one that links to a post listing Freewriters who are published outside of Steemit. But I would like to give them time to post their links rather than have me hunt everyone down. I haven't written freewrites for a long time (like, one a month!). I use busy-work as an excuse to put off the harder work of writing.
It's funny you said it that way. I think of freewriting as the most difficult writing, not because I have to work hard in a wrack my brain kind of way, but because getting into a productive freewrite head is an especially hard thing for me to do. If I'm thinking, I'm not doing it. I likened it on pypt as a state of being one (well me at least) goes to in order to perform well on a stage, an augmented reality, an extension of the now. It's not easy to do sitting alone at my computer, no audience to feed me, only the hope of a readership who would naturally be infected by my augmented reality as they read. On stage, the performer and the audience experience that magic at the same time. In writing, it's at different times, but it's the same magic. I really wish I could explain this better, but then if it weren't ineffable, it wouldn't be special.
I'm emailing you about the other.
Oooh, a live audience for the storyteller - and they ask questions, or they gasp, or they yawn, and you adapt according to their response. Writers, with the invisible or nonexistent audience, create without the feedback, the interactions, the inspiration and the connections. Long ago, oral storytellers preceded writing, and passed stories down the generations that way. What did we gain, what did we lose, with writing? You're onto a hot topic here, worth exploring! If I searched the web I might find others have researched or discussed this, but offhand I recall no such premise. You're in a unique position with your stage experience preceding your writing. On stage, the performer and the audience experience that magic at the same time. In writing, it's at different times, but it's the same magic. You explain it beautifully! I'm just thinking writers get short-changed here. :) But performers might argue otherwise.
Thank you Carol @carolkean for your kindness and wonderful generosity in bringing writers forward and featuring my book. You are a wonderful writer and reviewer.
Freewriting has been a great exercise in opening up.
It gave me great comfort to know others care and shared their stories. I wanted to thank you Carol and all the others for the inspiring and uplifting comments on the post. 💗
I did publish three more small eBooks on Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/redheadpei?fbclid=IwAR2SE-J7aGW-bEG5Xym5xma4Ri65f9z03zO43ljQ-5w5fnxS7ykqk9cftbg
-The Tragedy of Minnie McGee
A portrait of the first woman sentenced to the death penalty on Prince Edward Island. The author delves into the mindset of Minnie McGee , the terrible consequences and her life after incarceration.
-Guardian of the Skiff Lake Shrine
A true story of a teenager's mysterious encounter at the historic Saint Francis of Assisi Skiff Lake Shrine, Upper Skiff lake Road, New Brunswick, Canada.
-Saint Francis of Assisi Skiff Lake Shrine by Joanne Collicott McGuigan
Free to download: Words: 3,050.
A true story of Joanne's wondrous memories of Shrine Sundays at the historic Saint Francis of Assisi Skiff Lake Shrine, New Brunswick, Canada. The author will take you on her spiritual journey there as a child in the nineteen fifties and into the present day.
Thanks for the update - I've added it to the Friday Favorites post as well, where your freewrite was nominated three times!
Thanks Carol @carolkean! I appreciate the nominations. 💞
And I would have nominated it too if only it didn't come and go so quickly every week!
It's not too late - I can EDIT in any additions Friday morning!
I am not going to make you do that! She's been nominated three times already. I don't need my name in there too!
Your name is in there, for your comment to @redheadpei's post. :)
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You got my witness vote a long time ago. Now I wonder if it needs to be re-cast every year or so.
I read @redheadpei's Mind Over Matter too. It's interesting how much pain a soul -a mother's soul to be precise- can take and turn it to such power. A positive outlook on something so disheartening and difficult to even imagine. She is a powerhouse 💙
I'm not a member of freewrite house, but I think I told you I went through a book writing phase. So much so, that it was contagious. I published two books for friends (helped create one, formatted and published another) At the moment, I'm editing and formatting a book for another friend. Right now, I'm planning on putting together another book for myself. Get an itch, from time to time, and just want to publish. Odd hobby, no?
Fantastic hobby!!! I've wanted to do that: edit and format my own book (hyperlink chapters: eep!) and publish for others. I can think of several authors who just don't want to be bothered with the busy work of editing/formatting/publishing. I'd love to publish and promote writers I love who haven't hit the best seller lists or anything but self-pub with low sales. It's not a sign they lack the talent. You're awesome! Let us know when your book is up for sale.
Hi Carol,
You are kind. I'm good at putting a book together, and formatting. Dreadful at marketing. I've written and published a lot of books...not all of them great, but some of them good. One is even listed as a reference in The Lupus Encyclopedia (Johns Hopkins).
I've given up on e-books. Don't like the way they look...most of mine have pictures and they never look their best in an ebook (not the way I format it, anyway 😂)
Been busy lately...have to catch up.
Peace and health,
AG