Tag: Pain

What She Didn’t Know Gets Big Review

On By dotluvs2writeIn Beauty, Fiction Writing, humanity, Inspirational, Life, Marketing, Nature, News Events, Publishing, Reviews, Writing Techniques2 Comments

My gritty novel, What She Didn’t Know, has been reviewed by BookLife that is a supplement to Publishers Weekly Magazine that is shown both online and will be in print form May 29 of this year. I’m excited to see the review made by someone at PW/BL that has never read my work! This is a huge moment for me! Thank you, IngramSpark, for this opportunity!

PS: When I get the print copy, I’ll post a picture of my review in it!

Here’s the review via BL online (along with the grades for my story):

Blending aspects of romance, family, trauma, escapism, and spirituality, this novel from Anna (author of Passage of Promise) finds the Barstone sisters—Michaela, Gloria, and Seraphima—reunited by personal will and tragedy in a story set amongst city life and immersed in the natural beauty of Colorado. Years before, as Michaela watched a 13-year-old Gloria disappear from their family’s home after a horrid night of beating and fear, there was no certainty they would ever all be together again. But an entreaty from their ailing mother to “find her” sets Michaela (and eventually the others) on a journey back towards each other—and a past that’s still hard to face. Watching a family return, discover, accept, and heal can be a most astounding step-by-step process.

Anna’s empathetic novel takes on many difficult topics, yet it is still written with an inviting ease—with a featherlike touch—capturing the essence of pain and hurt but not dwelling too much on the details. Readers can infer just how much abuse Gloria endured, what horrid drinking bouts Michaela’s husband has started on, and how not-involved Seraphima’s boyfriend was in their relationship. Anna doesn’t give all of this away to us. Instead, she sets us into small spaces with each sister and paints their individual versions of escapism. Michaela escapes through denial and self-righteous blame; Gloria’s escape is physical (running away); and Seraphima’s is through world-building, a fantasy of marriage.

Gloria’s relationship with discovering spirituality stands out, reflecting her youth and naivety, though she later expresses what she learns in clear, direct terms: “Reality will always return. If there’s anything I’ve learned lately is you’ve got to face your problems, not run from them.” Fitting Ana’s admirably light prose, What She Didn’t Know offers a warm, simple message of allowing oneself to accept and heal. Readers will feel comforted even amongst the chaos and come from it hoping for continued healing for the Barstone sisters.

Takeaway: Touching story of a family’s step-by-step process of healing.

Comparable Titles: Annie M. Ballard’s A Heart for the Homeless, Karen McKenna’s Just Last Year.

Production grades

Cover: B

Design and typography: A-

Illustrations: N/A

Editing: A

Marketing copy: A-

Down for the Count

On By dotluvs2writeIn blogging, humanity, Illness and Medical Treatments, Past Life ActivitiesLeave a comment

woman head on pillow

Sorry, friends. I’ve not been posting much. My right shoulder started hurting in mid-May and hasn’t gone away. The pain at times is excruciating.

I was referred to a sports medicine doctor this past Monday. He diagnosed my right shoulder with rotator cuff injury with tendonitis, as well as bursitis and trapezius strain.

I don’t know how long it will take me to get better. He gave me anti-inflammatory gel to rub on four spots of my shoulder twice a day, and directions on how to move my right arm to allow for healing of the tissue and muscles in my shoulder.

I had an x-ray and CAT scan of my shoulder and neck last week. It didn’t show anything torn or pinched.

The sports medicine doctor said he does have injections he could give me via ultrasound guidance and that they aren’t cortisone shots. He does numb the area before putting in the needles. My course of treatment, I think, will last at least six weeks. He has the shots as the last resort, but I’m getting tired of the pain and may request them earlier. I’ve already called his nurse just a little while ago because of the pain.

If I try and calculate how many hours I’m able to sit up (only when eating) and stand and walk (up to 10 minutes), that would probably be around 45 minutes the whole day. 😦

So, basically, I’ve been miserable. Praying healing comes sometime in the near future.

I’m not sure when I’ll get another post out. Thank you for sticking with me.

 

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Pick up your copy of Passage of Promise  via Amazon or Barnes & Noble!

Me with PofP final print copy April 27 2020

Sometimes It Hurts

On By dotluvs2writeIn blogging, humanity, Musings, Past Life Activities, Religious4 Comments

woman in sunset sad

 

She grew up happy-go-lucky, spoiled, shy. She had an imagination that was infinite, with a kaleidoscope of ideas and thoughts on creativity and just plain fun.

She was the youngest of two daughters of parents that were there for her. Her father helped her with her homework when he was home.

Her mother and her were very close.

Her family moved around a lot because of her father’s job, and making friends was more difficult than ever. Her shyness was painful. It would take her several months to make friends, the one that never spoke first.

A tomboy through grade school and into high school, she had a lot of confidence playing whatever sport was provided in PE, or in her neighborhood streets. The shyness she felt evaporated in those moments. But at school, it clung to her like a blood-sucking leech.

She hated school, and her grades began to plummet in junior high and continued through her senior year of high school.

The bond between her mother and her started to fray in junior high school and throughout her adult years. At the same time she was bullied in junior high, made fun of, with hurtful words that dug into her very being and stayed there for twenty-five years, her mother added to the hurt.

Teens and parents have their clashes, but this did not happen between her and her father. He continued to help her in high school and support her, encouraged her to keep making an effort in her school work.

Eventually, after much verbal abuse for twenty plus years, she finally distanced herself from her mother, which was okayed and advised by her priest.

It took her over twenty-five years to realize she wasn’t stupid and that she was worth something.

So, when harsh words were said to her in the usual way they were, she learned to let it roll off of her, not allowing it to penetrate her heart.

Since then, for the most part, her relationship with her mother had become stabilized and seemed cordial. There were moments where glimpses of the mother she knew when she was a young girl peeked through like a hole in a cave that let in a pinpoint of sunlight, when there was true warmth and lovingness between her mother and her.

But sometimes, that indifference shield would slip, and the attacks would strike, and she would feel the pain, but not in the same way she had as a teen or younger adult.

She would keep her mouth closed and let the mean words pass because she knew that’s just how her mother was.

However, the shield slipped again within the last twenty-four hours, and she wondered if she wanted to make the effort to talk to her mother again. A couple of her mother’s comments were, as usual, mean, and she nearly said something mean back to her. But she kept her mouth shut. Figured it would cause more trouble to retort in a similar fashion than to just let the insults go.

Does this still make her that young teenaged girl who took the verbal attacks and believed everything her mother said to be the truth about her? That she was selfish, she was stupid, she was scatterbrained, she wouldn’t make anything out of her life.

No.

She knew now, after two years of therapy and graduating from college, that she was not stupid or scatterbrained. That she had made something of her life in taking care of her two sons and working at being a decent wife to her husband, and striving toward a closer relationship with God. That she wasn’t totally selfish, although, sometimes she was. Was there anyone that wasn’t at least a tiny bit?

However, she wasn’t and isn’t all those insulting and hurtful descriptions.

Between pride and low self-esteem, it is a challenge. And she tries hard to be the person God created her to be. To cooperate with His will, to become transformed into a true human being sharing the Light and Love of Christ.

Sometimes it feels like she’s in a hamster wheel, getting nowhere on this spiritual journey, but she won’t give up.

As she has in the last decade, she will continue to show kindness to her mother and keep the protective shield over her heart whenever the stinging arrows of harsh words fly toward her.

After all, she loves her mother, no matter what. Loves her sister and father. She will always be a part of them.

 

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