There was a time when I didn't talk about this part of my life, but somewhere along the line, I realized I needed to. In my personal and professional life I met women who were going through similar experiences. I realized I couldn't continue to just sit there and listen. I decided it was time to share my story.
It took me 30 years to put this part of my life on paper. This is the process of bringing my life to paper:
1. In the beginning, I knew I needed to write about it. My story would explain a lot of things to my children. I also felt it might help me release some of it and move on.
2. Later on, I took a writing class at Johnson County Community College. My teacher, Juliet Kincaid, encouraged me to use this time to write it. Each week I pounded out 10 pages and turned it in. Not only did another classmate read and critique it, but so did she.
3. At the end of the class, I was only half way through it. Ms. Kincaid invited me to take an Honors class to finish it, and so I did.
4. The manuscript was finally finished but I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. I put it on the shelf and let it rest.
5. From there on, about every year or so I would pull it out and edit it. I should mention here that the first draft was very raw. I wrote it just like I remembered it. There was bad language and more description.
6. This part of my life actually ends about 1969, and each year when I read the draft again, I tried to tone it down. By the early 1990s I was the president of a youth group at church and realized that as much as I thought my story might benefit the youth, I needed to give it a more general rating so their parents would even let them read it!
7. Finally, about 2010, I got serious about publishing it with the help of my friend, Marnie Pehrson. I went to one of her retreats, told my story to the whole group, and committed to having it published in the next 3 months. I went home, got serious, and self-published it through Lightning Press.
I've probably given away more books than I've sold, and have probably invested just under $5,000 in the process, but the experience of publishing my story has been invaluable. I know I've helped those who have read it, and just as importantly, I've helped myself. Now, when I think back to that time in my life when everything was falling apart, it's just a very faded memory. Nikki is the one who lived that life and I have been able to move forward with mine.
Joyce Moseley Pierce
