Are you writing a book or is this blog… it?
I’m hearing this question from more of you, so I wanted to take this time to update you on this rather public view of my personal and professional journey to a trauma-informed life. But first, perhaps my timing is a bit cliché, I wanted to pause a moment and thank you all for being here with me along the way.
After tinkering around with my website and blog for almost a year, I accidentally published it this April. Yes, it was an accident. Although, looking back, I think it was my mind’s way of pushing me out of the comfy nest of contemplation into the terrifyingly open air of vulnerability. As I began to frantically flap my little writer wings, I started to feel an updraft of gratitude from some of you.
When I look back over the past 8 months of weekly blog posts, my heart begins to swell with joy. I remember the man I met for coffee after he read an entry. He wanted to thank me for dropping my guard and sharing about my past in a way that honored resilience and post-traumatic growth. I also remember a woman reconnecting with me after almost 20 years. Together we began working through her self-sabotage from a trauma-informed perspective.
There are a dozen more personal stories I will cherish. I am grateful for all of you. As I look over Google Analytics for my web page, I am in awe. There have been over 1,300 of you who have checked in on me at least once. Yes, many of these are “bots” but I’ve worked to reduce that to about a 15% bounce rate, so, I think that’s still over 1,000 real people from about 10 different countries (shout out to my new friends I met at ISTSS from Norway and the UK!).
Back to the question about my writing. Yes, I am in the process of writing a book, and yes, I already have written one. Thank you for asking! Almost 3 years ago, I became a member of the 5 AM Writers Club. Following Julia Cameron’s suggestion from her book, The Artist Way, I made a goal of 3 pages a day. A year and a half later, my life looked completely different and I had a solid draft of a memoir.
This is when I began building my author platform in the form of my web page and blog. Then, 3 months after my happy publishing accident, Lisa Bess Kramer, President of Cleveland Edits Literary Group, LLC stumbled across one of my blog posts. A week later, I signed on with Lisa as my literary agent.
As Lisa works to secure a home for my memoir, Dragons and Disco Socks, she encouraged me to begin my second book, a self-help type adventurers guide to trauma-informed living. Just this week I sent her my proposal and writing sample for this book. Next up is a proposal for a textbook and a sequel to my first memoir.
I remain hopeful that my 2020 vision for publication of my memoir will come to fruition. I will need a lot of support from all of you to spread the message far and wide that there is hope beyond a traumatic past. Thank you all for your encouragement and sharing how my personal journey has inspired you to move towards your own trauma-informed life.
If you’d like to share part of your journey with me, I invite you to connect with me at: WillKoehlerLCSW@aTraumaInformedLife.com
or find me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
I’m also now on Research Gate and Psychology Today
