Write What You Know

It goes without saying that writing what you know is easier than writing what you don’t. The real challenge isn’t the words themselves, it’s the impact they have on your heart.

Heart on My Sleeve

If you’ve read All The Things I Couldn’t Say Then, you’ll know I write about deep and often uncomfortable subjects. That collection wasn’t originally meant to be published or even shared. It began as a private therapeutic tool, a way to turn feeling into language. When I read those poems back now, they don’t transport me into the past the way a hospital corridor can. The sterile smell still does that. My words don’t. Instead, they serve as a quiet reminder that whether spoken aloud or written down, it is okay to say hard things. Painful words only become offensive if someone chooses to take offence.

The Rollercoaster

I am currently writing my first novel, the one I planned over a decade ago and have started more than once. This time it feels ready. It is literary fiction that reads, in places, like a psychological thriller. Roughly ninety percent of it is rooted in true events. The surprising discovery so far is that the traumatic scenes are easier to write than the ones filled with joy. My poetry was the same. I found it simpler to write about suicide than about living.

Human Experience

How many times have you watched a film and felt that extra pull when the words “Based on a True Story” appear on screen? Even The Fourth Kind held attention, despite its alien abduction premise, because it claimed to use “real footage.” I don’t write about real human experience to convince readers that every detail is factual. I write about difficult subjects because I want the words to resonate. And if I’m honest, because I hope they might help someone feel a little less alone.