The heroine within

Growing up, I would always imagine myself into stories. First into my mom's Harlequin romance novels and Judy Blume's books then later, into Shakespeare's tragedies.

Books have always been my solace. So it makes sense that I became a writer. Perhaps me and my twin sister were born to be writers and creatives and tell our tales. Maybe it gestated in the womb.

Life has sometimes been hard to muddle through. I know I'm so privileged to have a great husband and job, an education, a house and the gift of writing, but I have had my share of dark times. The only way I've ever been able to deal is to escape into the written word. During my bouts of depression and anxiety, I wrote to calm my mind. 

When my dad died, I started writing my long memoir that was (finally) published earlier this year. When I had to reconcile not being able to have kids, writing saved me from a dark, deep well of sadness. Writing put light on the pain and healed it. When Covid hit, isolated at home for months and months, I wrote my chapbook. Writing has saved me time and time again. It is my everything and other than my husband and family, it is my priority.

This is just my way of remembering why I write. I write to understand myself and my life. It's a form of reconciliation. It's to find myself and the heroine within. I saved myself you see. And that's why I write.