Thank you to Dana Lynn Marsh who invited me to the tour sponsored by IC Publishing. Dana is a sexual abuse/rape survivor who utilizes her experience as inspiration for her blog. During April 2014, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Dana blogged every day, sharing a little piece of her story in each post. Dana chose to be absolutely raw in her writing in order to show the ugliness of her reality. This has resulted in helping many survivors come forward. Dana continues to blog weekly about her adventure through Dialectical Behavior Therapy coping with PTSD and Borderline Personality Disorder.
You can reach Dana on her blog and twitter:
TWITTER: @aftersilence87
1. Share how you start your writing project(s). For example, where do you find your inspiration? Do you outline? Do you jump right into the writing? Do you do all of your research first?
I am currently working on one writing project which is telling my story of being drugged and date raped written in chronological order. I take the reader one day at a time from meeting my attacker on Match.com then through the legal and counseling process. I share not only the facts but my feelings at the time and now looking back on it.
My inspiration is my true story and the outline has already been written because it's my life. I do jump right into the writing as it's easier for me that way because once I begin typing it all flows out easily. The little research I do is from my own records to make sure I have specific dates correct and facts of the trials, etc.
2. How do you continue your writing project? i.e. How do you find motivation to write on non-creative days? Do you keep to a schedule? How do you find the time to write?
I continue my writing project as it's the next page in my own personal story which has been a 10 year journey so far. I'm motivated by telling it in hopes that all I have been through will help another rape or sexual assault victim speak out and tell their story. They can see that all the pain I've experienced and hard work I've put into counseling eventually results in living a happy and healthy life.
Up until this blog the only writing I worked on were business bid proposals for my previous job. About 2 weeks into writing my blog I realized writing early in the day works best for me. I get up, go to the gym, eat breakfast and begin writing. I'm self-employed as a keynote speaker and sexual assault advocate so I find (make) the time because it's directly related to what I'm doing professionally.
3. How do you finish your project? i.e. When do you know the project is complete? Do you have a hard time letting go? Do you tend to start a new project before you finish the last one?
I consider each blog post a mini-project so it's important to me to make sure that every detail of what occurred, thought that I had and feeling I felt from that particular day is documented and expressed. I read it over several times before I know it's complete. I do not have a hard time letting go as I am sharing what happened to me and not giving anything away. I sometimes do begin my next mini-project while writing the current one as it's one complete story and I want to make sure the next "page" will have all that it needs to be written properly.
4. Include one challenge or additional tip that our collective communities could help with or benefit from.
What has worked best for me is to write what I feel. Telling my story is deeply personal but being able to express myself the way I wasn't able to at the time the events were occurring has been amazing for me. I've never considered myself a creative writer but when I sit down to my laptop and start typing the days story (post) the words flow out like water from a faucet. Be true to yourself and the writing will come easily. For me it's as simple as that.
Next I would like to introduce Steve Cooper to continue the blog tour. Steve is a radio host and stand-up comic based out of Burbank,
CA. His blog CooperThought deals with his observations, views and experiences.
You can read what Steve has to say or listen to his show at the links below:
BLOG: CooperThought
WEBSITE: CooperTalk
TWITTER: @Coopertalk
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