RemembRED -- Comprehending Chaos

Comprehending Chaos is the story of my battle to overcome the far reaching effects of childhood sexual abuse. Beginning at 4 years old, I was physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by a variety of family members and friends including an elderly aunt, a female cousin, and one of my father’s college students. Although I grew up in the Bible belt, the daughter of a minister/professor, it was not until I reached middle age that I began to tell of the abuse I had suffered. I recount the retrieval of memories and the agonizing experience of flashbacks and anxiety attacks with authenticity and brutal honesty. I share the struggle to come to grips with my family’s inability to grasp reality or show compassion for my experiences, and the choices I was faced to make to finally move to a place of true healing. This is not just the story of abuse, but the story of one woman’s move from victim to survivor to compassionate witness.

The Prompt:RemembRED – Pitch Us

Memoir can be intimidating for writers. You’re relating actual events, portraying real people, and there are years of material to sift through.

Those years of material can seem overwhelming when looked at as a whole, or they might seem underwhelming.

Have you had a rollercoaster ride, filled with ups and downs that may have left other people screaming in their seats? Perhaps your life has been more of a merry-go-round, the same scenes arising again and again, the shifts less noticeable.

Either way, you have a story to tell, and the way you tell it is what makes it compelling. Distilling your memoir into a 200 word pitch will give you the chance to really focus on what you want to share with your readers about your life story.

This week pretend we have a book contract here just waiting for someone to sign (and we wish we did, believe me!) Pitch your memoir in 200 words or less and come back this Tuesday to link up. 

link up at Write on Edge