Rachel Thompson's Blog, page 17
December 14, 2014
Traveling Home for the Holidays by @TruthIsHers
As a therapist and trauma recovery coach, I encounter many hurting people in the landscape of life, especially during the holiday season. This time of year seems to magnify the pain that some carry inside
from the path they have travelled. They just want to go home, to that place of peace, calm and respite. Instead, they feel metaphorically lost without a map or even enough money for a lousy bus token to take them home once they figure out which way to travel. They might feel ashamed, hopeless, or defeated. Hungry, tired, and lost the most they wish for is the slightest amount of shelter from life’s storms during this holiday season, a chance to regroup and get their bearings.
Sometimes passersby flick judgment upon them like a burning cigarette butt. Others walk by them and look away, offering no help. Or they kick up a dirty puddle of advice in the form of trite platitudes.
I have been there. Lost. Alone. Broken. To be honest there are still days I’m not sure I’m headed in the right direction. And more often than not I travel alone, by choice because my past has not taught me many good lessons about the safety and dependability of other human beings. But I’m not as broken as I used to be. I have more resources and treasures stored inside myself than I have ever had before.
On my journey I encounter other lost spirits, searching for shelter, direction, and hope. Unfortunately, no one’s path is the same as mine. To take them with me would be fruitless. They have their own road, which is as unfamiliar and foreign to me as mine is to them. I can’t even be certain we’re headed to the same destination. I’ve never been to my home, that place of peace, love, and contentment where I am restless and anguished no more. Their destination might be miles from my own.
So I can’t show them the way. My heart feels the vibration of their fear and pain. I see the brokenness in their eyes. I would do anything for the magical power of wishing them home.
The most I can do is take their hands in my own and tell them, “If I knew your way home I would take you there. I would carry you, safe and tucked away because I know you are tired and hurting. But I don’t know the way to your home. I can stay with you here though. Share with you what I have. Let you rest while I look over you. We will wait together. Until you are better. Until someone who knows your home comes to fetch you. Until my resources are exhausted.”
We can’t help everyone. I don’t even see all of those who need help. Life rushes by us or our focus is in another direction. But those who are squarely in our path are part of journey. We are meant to help them, and doing so will teach us lessons we need to learn.
Sometimes I’m low on resources myself and don’t have much to offer. I can, though, always sit down beside them so they aren’t alone. We can always listen. Sometimes those two things are all they need to gather the strength to continue their journey.
Many of my greatest moments in life have come when four or five of us, all lost and hurting, stumble across one another and choose to gather together for a time. We share our resources, our stories, our voices and our hearts. Nothing renews my spirit more than knowing I’m not alone in my struggles and stumbles.
Sometimes, I grow weary of seeing others stroll by me with ease and assurance, especially during the holidays when my pain seems to be so great. I watch them looking as though they have never known a day filled with fear, unhappiness, or struggle. They seem to live in a different universe than I do. And I don’t know how to get from mine to the glory of theirs. Gathering with others who are open about their broken places centers me again. It renews my knowing that I belong, I am enough, and I am worthy of love.
No one knows the path of my journey. No one knows my way home. And I cannot guide anyone else on their journey. But we can all steady each other, shelter each other, and listen to one another. Even if we are still struggling to put on our own oxygen mask we can sit down beside each other. That simple act says “I see you. You aren’t alone”.
I don’t want you to put me in your pocket and carry me on your journey. I want to go on my own. Sometimes I might need a little help. When you see me lost and broken please really do see me. Sit with me, hold my hand, and hear my words. I will do the same when I see you hurting and alone. In concert we will enable one another to all reach home for the holidays.
Sign up for my newsletter and never miss a post again! I will never share your email and that’s a promise. Follow me on Twitter @RachelintheOC or @BadRedheadMedia for social media, branding, or marketing help. Increase your blog traffic by participating in #MondayBlogs (a Twitter meme I created to share posts on Mondays — no book promo) and entering my free feature giveaway.
Broken Pieces is still going strong, #1 on Amazon’s Women’s (paid) Poetry list. Pick up a copy today, or one for a friend. Broken Places will be out by Christmas from Booktrope.
Don’t miss Author Social Media Boot Camp! Take a look: group sessions for authors on a budget. Now you too can get affordable, effective help FAST! Follow @ASMBootCamp on Twitter and sign up today here!
All content copyrighted unless otherwise specified. © 2014 by Rachel Thompson, author. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided a link back to this page and proper attribution is given to me as the original author.
December 8, 2014
Where To Find Content When You Just Don’t Care
Shocking news out this week: we are not perfect beings. I know. What the fuck? I want to speak to the manager.
We have meltdowns, some more publicly than others (see my latest Huffington Post article on NYTimes bestselling author Ayelet Waldman’s most unfortunate Twitter rant because they failed to choose her for their 100 Most Notable Books of 2014), and hopefully some of us learn, or at least learn to move the hell on. Want to know what helps me focus when I just don’t care? Let’s deconstruct.
THE FOUR AGREEMENTS
In working with authors and clients, I recommend reading The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz — it’s a short little book full of practical wisdom. For writers (or any kind of artist-person or well, person-person), the most important agreement is this: don’t take anything personally. People think I have a third eye when I say that. Crazy woman! How can we not take it personally when someone calls us stupid or says our book is awful?
But I don’t. Because it says so much more about that person and their perceptions and life experience than it does about me. Maybe it’s a way to fool ourselves, but so what? It works. Maybe it’s the same as Madonna’s blunt lyric in Human Nature: “I’m not your bitch, don’t hang your shit on me.” All I know is, it’s a way to cope with the sting and move on, and maybe that’s not a bad thing.
QUOTES AND SHIT
I avoided sharing quotes for THE longest time, because I felt that inspirational BS was just that — a bunch of rainbows and unicorns that amounted to jack. And for what it’s worth, I still think that. However, I now share poetry quotes and the occasional empowerment or feminism quote that resonate with me. Quotes that you don’t see very often (I hope). I also share quotes from my own work, or from other writes that I enjoy. Call it ‘soft marketing’ or whatever — mostly it’s about sharing my work and the work of others — quotes that makes us think.
I’ve found the best quotes on Pinterest and Goodreads — Pinterest is easy because many quotes are already in a visual format. Simply pin and share, or schedule them in using Hootsuite or Buffer. However, you do have to be careful. Sometimes, a quote is mis-attributed or not attributed at all which, as a writer, is a total no-no. I only pick quotes that are given attribution, and heads up, if it sounds too modern for say, Einstein or Darwin to have said ‘hustle,’ it is. Skip it.
VIDEOS
Facebook and Twitter love videos. You’ll get more shares from those than just about anything else. But what to share beyond a cat video?
I don’t like sharing what everyone else is sharing. Everyone loves Buzzfeed and Upworthy and they are great sites, no doubt. But I want cool stuff, things that 50K other people haven’t already seen. Where to go?
Here are some cool alternative sites with neat stuff (I especially like aplus.com):
So on those days when you’re not feeling perfect, visit a few of these sites and feel good, get tingly, and share something that makes you focus on something besides that zit the size of Mount Rushmore on your chin or the fact that your boss is a jerk. None of that will matter next week, right?
Keep moving forward and stuff.
Sign up for my newsletter and never miss a post again! I will never share your email and that’s a promise. Follow me on Twitter @RachelintheOC or @BadRedheadMedia for social media, branding, or marketing help. Increase your blog traffic by participating in #MondayBlogs (a Twitter meme I created to share posts on Mondays — no book promo) and entering my free feature giveaway.
Broken Pieces is still going strong, #1 on Amazon’s Women’s (paid) Poetry list. Pick up a copy today, or one for a friend. Broken Places will be out by Christmas from Booktrope.
Don’t miss Author Social Media Boot Camp! Take a look: group sessions for authors on a budget. Now you too can get affordable, effective help FAST! Follow @ASMBootCamp on Twitter and sign up today here! And don’t miss it: special ‘CRASH COURSE’ Webinar with Rachel on Thursday, 12/11 at 6pm PST. Get your book ready to sell for the holiday. Sign up here now! Just $57.
All content copyrighted unless otherwise specified. © 2014 by Rachel Thompson, author. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided a link back to this page and proper attribution is given to me as the original author.
Image: Unsplash.com
December 1, 2014
#MondayBlogs Giveaway December 2014
Since I created #MondayBlogs in late 2012, even I’m shocked at what an amazing success it has become! Thousands participate each week, generating more than 5,000 tweets! And it is because of all of you that we can say that with a lot of pride and a big ol’ smile! As a thank you to all you wonderful #MondayBlogs tweeps, we launched an ongoing, monthly giveaway contest in April and we couldn’t be happier with the response!
The Featured Monday Blogger giveaway is our way to say thank you for participating in #MondayBlogs by giving you more exposure for you and your blog. Each Monday for one month, you could have a different tweet sent out by @MondayBlogs to all our followers and be featured on IndieBookPromo.com! But wait, there’s more! Following you, the lucky winner, on Twitter would enter others into the next month’s contest!
Who doesn’t want more blog traffic and a free feature? #MondayBlogs
Nice bit of exposure, don’t ya think?
That sound like something you’d be interested in?
If so, enter now!
Featured Blogger November 2014
Kathy Sharp
Happy Sharing,
Rachel, Will, and Kate
Please note that due to the popularity of Indie Book Promo guest posts will be scheduled according to availability. If you cannot wait for your post to be up you may decline the prize.
Sign up for my newsletter and never miss a post again! I will never share your email and that’s a promise. Follow me on Twitter @RachelintheOC or @BadRedheadMedia for social media, branding, or marketing help. Increase your blog traffic by participating in #MondayBlogs (a Twitter meme I created to share posts on Mondays — no book promo) and entering my free feature giveaway.
Don’t miss Author Social Media Boot Camp! Take a look: group sessions for authors on a budget. Now you too can get affordable, effective help FAST! Follow @ASMBootCamp on Twitter and sign up today!
November 30, 2014
The Holidays Aren’t Joyous for Everyone by @TruthIsHers
I can’t believe Thanksgiving has already passed us by, and Christmas is only twenty-five days away! How did that happen? I still have so very much to do before I’m ready for cookie baking and tree trimming. I need to grab these days by the tail and hold on to keep them from getting away from me.
As we move through this season of holiday celebrations, I want to remind all of us that these days are not joyous for everyone. Some of us have lost loved ones in the last year. That empty seat at the dinner table or unhung stocking from the mantle creates a fresh stab of pain.
DIFFICULT TIMES
Some of us are separated from family, either by distance or circumstance. Perhaps we are alone in a new city during this season and awash in homesickness. Maybe our son, daughter, brother or wife is serving overseas in the military. For others, our families are fractured due to chaos or dysfunction. Whatever the reason, this holiday season isn’t going to be what we want it to be. Instead, it may be lonely and painful because it reminds us of what we don’t have, maybe never had, to celebrate.
For survivors of childhood abuse the holidays can be stressful and anxiety provoking. Schedules can become unpredictable. Sleep might be more elusive. Parties and social obligations call for energy and cheerfulness that we find it hard to summon forth. We might fear judgment because we haven’t gotten any special baking done or been able to put the Christmas tree up, so we hibernate even more than usual to avoid that judgment. The stress makes the burden of symptoms we bear from our Post Traumatic Stress Disorder heavier and even more unwieldy.
BE A FRIEND
So, as all of us move through this season, may we have sensitivity toward one another, conscious of the fact that not everyone we encounter is having a joyous experience. Keep your eyes and heart open for those people: a friend, a family member, a stranger who isn’t having the happy, merry time that society expects them to have this time of year. Be prepared to offer a hug, a hand, a listening ear, and your understanding.
REACH OUT FOR HELP
Perhaps you are one of those people that isn’t feeling so joyous this holiday season. Give yourself the grace to sit out whatever you need to this year. So the holiday lights don’t get put up, or your child’s teacher doesn’t get a Pinterest worthy handmade gift. Maybe this is the year to skip the slew of typical social obligations, or be more selective in those you attend. Alert your close friends that you need more support this year and acceptance if you scale back on participation in activities and events.
Hot Holiday Tablets
November 23, 2014
Giving Back
We take a lot from each other throughout the year:
Can you buy my book?
Review my book?
Tweet this for me?
Share this post?
It’s all part of ‘selling’ in this new virtual world. Well, now I’m turning all that upside down and giving something back. How? Let’s deconstruct.
#MondayBlogs
If you don’t already participate, #MondayBlogs is a blog sharing meme I started back in 2012. It’s free to participate — just share a blog post on Mondays, retweet others, and don’t share any kind of book promotion or ewwww, porn cause, ick. That’s really it. If it’s Monday where you are, share a tweet with the #MondayBlogs hashtag.
Easy.
If you want, you can follow the @MondayBlogs Twitter stream, but it’s not required. We don’t guarantee we will retweet you, but we do try. With thousands playing, we can’t get to every single tweet, but we certainly do our best! The whole point is to increase traffic to your site, meet fellow tweeps, and increase connections while building relationships.
I also have a #MondayBlogs monthly free feature giveaway — feel free to enter and share the love!
#SexAbuseChat and #NoMoreShame
With the release of Broken Pieces in December of 2012, I was overwhelmed by how many people contacted me with their own stories of surviving childhood sexual abuse, and I knew I had to DO something, anything, to give them some kind of platform to share their own stories. I connected with the amazing Bobbi Parish (@TruthIsHers) and we started a weekly Twitter chat, #SexAbuseChat, every Tuesday at 6pm PST/9pm EST, where we discuss publicly, with whomever wants to participate, topics to help survivors learn about subjects like PTSD, the abuse cycle, forgiveness, and more. Our group grows weekly and I’m amazed by the courage and love of this chat.
Taking it further, Bobbi and I connected with survivor Athena Moberg to create the #NoMoreShame Project, and our first anthology volume, Discovering True, released last week! This volume focuses on stories and poetry by survivors about surviving and we encourage you to purchase a copy for the strong survivors in your life — 10% of the proceeds goes to survivor charities. Please visit the site also — chock full of resources, FAQs, and amazing articles pulled together by Bobbi and Athena. They’ve worked so incredibly hard on this site — I hope you will visit soon.
Author Social Media Boot Camp
As the owner of BadRedhead Media, I consult one-on-one with all kinds of authors and small businesses, and I realize that many people cannot afford my normal $150/hour rate, so I created group sessions, aka, boot camp (four group sessions for $400) to appeal to every budget.
With the holidays getting close, time is of the essence. Is your book marketing ready for the holidaze? 
Let’s do this thingy. While I can’t offer the course totally free of charge (damn rent), I’m offering a one-hour social media crash course for a ridiculously cheap price: $57 for a one-hour crash course on Thursday, December 11, 6pm PST. When you leave, you will be ready to sell books! Book here now. Tell a friend! 
This is how I give back. How about you? Please share below.
Sign up for my newsletter and never miss a post again! I will never share your email and that’s a promise. Follow me on Twitter @RachelintheOC or @BadRedheadMedia for social media, branding, or marketing help. Increase your blog traffic by participating in #MondayBlogs (a Twitter meme I created to share posts on Mondays — no book promo) and entering my free feature giveaway.
Broken Pieces is still going strong, #1 on Amazon’s Women’s (paid) Poetry list. Pick up a copy today, one for a friend. Broken Places will be out by Christmas from Booktrope.
Author Social Media Boot Camp! Take a look: group sessions for authors on a budget. Now you too can get affordable, effective help FAST! Follow @ASMBootCamp on Twitter and sign up today here! (It’s not to late to sign up for the November sessions, currently 20% off!)
All content copyrighted unless otherwise specified. © 2014 by Rachel Thompson, author. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided a link back to this page and proper attribution is given to me as the original author.
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November 16, 2014
The Survivor’s Journey to Discovering True by @TruthIsHers
In early 2014 the Twitter community participating in the weekly #SexAbuseChat declared their motto to be #NoMoreShame. We had realized the power of sharing our stories in a safe, supportive environment. Coming together every week in our chat we encouraged one another to not only find but to use our voices. When we did that our shame decreased, for both each of us as individuals and within the community as a whole.
Wanting to capitalize on the tremendous power of survivors sharing their stories in a public forum Rachel Thompson, Athena Moberg and I launched The #NoMoreShame Project in July of 2014. The project’s motto became: Every Survivor. Every Voice. Every Story. Today, we are proud to unveil the first anthology of survivor stories: Discovering True, The #NoMoreShame Project Anthology, Volume 1.
Each of the authors featured in this book are survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Our stories are different, but our journeys are remarkably similar. As children, the truth that we are good, worthy and sufficient was stolen from us. In its place our abusers left shame, self-loathing, and guilt.
Some survivors choose to embrace the darkness as their new truth. They get lost in self-destruction or numbness, never struggling against the bindings their abusers left behind. The survivors who have written this collection of essays and poetry chose the opposite route. Rather than abandoning the truth of our worth, we leapt back into the morass of our childhood pain in an effort to reclaim it.
One of the most destructive elements of childhood abuse is that it is cloaked in lies. We are told that we deserved the assaults or perhaps that such behavior was the way that all parents showed their love to their children. Some of us were told we were malicious liars when we tried to report our abuse. Others were told there was nothing that could be done and silence was our only option. Our childhood minds accepted these excuses.
Yet as adults we were unsettled. Our minds would not quiet, but questioned at every turn. We realized there might be another version of the truth to be found in the wreckage of our childhood. As a result, we have all become travelers seeking to discover truth.
We do not want someone’s interpretation of truth. We want the facts about what happened when we were children. Not what he thought, what she thought or what the neighbor thought they saw while peering from their kitchen window. We seek the reality of our abuse, laid bare in all of its ugliness. Raw. Honest. True.
As we traveled those roads back into our childhood we were surprised to find things we didn’t know could be reclaimed. We found power in simply making our journey. As we uncovered the reasons why our abusers betrayed our bodies and minds we found relief and a knowing that we were not to blame for the horrors we endured. Encountering other survivors on our journey, we shared our stories and found value in ourselves where there had once been only shame. Self-worth replaced self-loathing. The darkness gave way to glimmers and splinters of light.
These stories and poems describe our individual journeys in search of the truth. In reading them you will experience many facets of what we have felt, heard, and wrestled with along the way. There’s anger, pain, confusion and hopelessness in many of the pieces. Yet there is also hope, reclamation, and peace. Not all of the stories and poetry directly reference sexual abuse. Some are metaphorical rather than literal. But all reflect the journey of a survivor on the path to discovering true.
You can order Discovering True, The #NoMoreShame Project Anthology, Volume 1 directly from the #NoMoreShame Project now or pick up the book tomorrow at Amazon.
Sign up for my newsletter and never miss a post again! I will never share your email and that’s a promise. Follow me on Twitter @RachelintheOC or @BadRedheadMedia for social media, branding, or marketing help. Increase your blog traffic by participating in #MondayBlogs (a Twitter meme I created to share posts on Mondays — no book promo) and entering my free feature giveaway.
Broken Pieces is still going strong, #1 on Amazon’s Women’s (paid) Poetry list. Pick up a copy today, or one for a friend. Broken Places will be out by Christmas from Booktrope.
Don’t miss Author Social Media Boot Camp! Take a look: group sessions for authors on a budget. Now you too can get affordable, effective help FAST! Follow @ASMBootCamp on Twitter and sign up today here!
All content copyrighted unless otherwise specified. © 2014 by Rachel Thompson, author. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided a link back to this page and proper attribution is given to me as the original author.
Image courtesy of koratmember at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
November 12, 2014
#MondayBlogs Giveaway November 2014
Since I created #MondayBlogs in late 2012, even I’m shocked at what an amazing success it has become! Thousands participate each week, generating more than 5,000 tweets! And it is because of all of you that we can say that with a lot of pride and a big ol’ smile! As a thank you to all you wonderful #MondayBlogs tweeps, we launched an ongoing, monthly giveaway contest in April and we couldn’t be happier with the response!
The Featured Monday Blogger giveaway is our way to say thank you for participating in #MondayBlogs by giving you more exposure for you and your blog. Each Monday for one month, you could have a different tweet sent out by @MondayBlogs to all our followers and be featured on IndieBookPromo.com! But wait, there’s more! Following you, the lucky winner, on Twitter would enter others into the next month’s contest!
Who doesn’t want more blog traffic and a free feature? #MondayBlogs
Nice bit of exposure, don’t ya think?
That sound like something you’d be interested in?
If so, enter now!
Featured Blogger October 2014
Gina Stoneheart at Walking in the Write Direction, One Story at a Time
Happy Sharing,
Rachel, Will, and Kate
Please note that due to the popularity of Indie Book Promo guest posts will be scheduled according to availability. If you cannot wait for your post to be up you may decline the prize.
Sign up for my newsletter and never miss a post again! I will never share your email and that’s a promise. Follow me on Twitter @RachelintheOC or @BadRedheadMedia for social media, branding, or marketing help. Increase your blog traffic by participating in #MondayBlogs (a Twitter meme I created to share posts on Mondays — no book promo) and entering my free feature giveaway.
Don’t miss Author Social Media Boot Camp! Take a look: group sessions for authors on a budget. Now you too can get affordable, effective help FAST! Follow @ASMBootCamp on Twitter and sign up today!
November 9, 2014
I’m Not Broken! I’m More Than a Survivor, I’m a Lifer! by guest @aleishagore
Please welcome to the blog director and producer of Chocolate is Not Better than Sex and author Aleisha Gore as she shares her story. Aleisha has a powerful message that I hope will encourage and empower other survivors.
A couple months before my thirteenth birthday, I was raped at a Monsters of Rock concert. I remember it was during Metallica, my favorite band. I was dressed in a white-tiger striped mini skirt and had bought a M.O.R T-shirt. I was with my brother. Some fans crashed the gate below us and a hundred people or more moved forward into the lawn area. My brother had some friends in front, so he left. I stayed where I was. I met a guy named Eric, that’s his name, I don’t see any reason to protect it or him. We chatted a bit and then he asked me to come sit with him in seats behind the stage where it wasn’t as loud. I didn’t know or didn’t think at the time, it was also where no one could hear us. I went with him and it was there that he forced himself on me while I called out, “I’m only twelve! Stop!”
He walked me to the bathroom where I saw my skirt was bloody and I told a girl in the bathroom that I had just been raped. She ignored me. I don’t know if she just didn’t care, was on something or didn’t hear me. But, I washed my skirt and tied my shirt around me. When I came out, he smiled and made it seem like it was such a great thing. He hugged me, kissed me and even took my shirt. I was so confused. Was this man who took my virginity and treated me like now I was his girlfriend thinking that I was ok with it all? I didn’t know what to do. I must have been in shock. I did everything he asked. I let him have my shirt and my phone number and I left to go find my brother.
When I found my brother I started shouting at him and throwing the discarded beer bottles at him. He didn’t know what had happened. I hid the words from him even though I did not hide the anger and pain.
The next morning, our babysitter found my bloody pantyhose in the trash and told my parents. I had to admit to them that I had been raped.
This was the first time, but not the last that I would be assaulted.
When I was seventeen, I babysat for a young couple. They were rockers and lived in Hollywood. When I arrived, I took their daughter into my arms and started playing with her on the floor. The husband walked out fresh from the shower in just a towel and sat on a chair spread eagle in direct eye-line from me. I averted my eyes.
When they returned from the party they had attended, the husband took me home but instead of dropping me off, drove me past my house and parked and wouldn’t let me out. Instead he opened his pants and took my hand and placed it on him. He told me he could teach me things and that he wasn’t happy in his marriage. I was utterly mortified and felt powerless, I froze. I refused to do anything with him. I took my hand away and after begging him to drive me to my home, I jumped out of the car. I thought about calling the wife and telling her, but I never called them again. The next day when I met up with my boyfriend, I told him what happened. He wanted to take a baseball bat to that guy. But, I wouldn’t let him do anything. He wanted to be a police officer when he got older and I wouldn’t let him hurt his chances to defend my honor.
Finally, when I was thirty years old, I auditioned for the part of vampiress in a vampire film. The producer gave me an “eh, you could be sexier,” and asked me to come back for another audition. I was naive to say the least, when I went alone and at night and it was only him at the apartment serving as his casting office. I was fondled and humiliated. He said if I couldn’t take this how was I to take it when an actor did it to me on camera. There was some logic to it, I thought, but at the same time, shame and more humiliation. I cried and called my friend as I drove home. The next day this same producer asked me on a date. Again, humiliation crept in.
You may be thinking that I sound like a victim. But in my 39 years (14,235 days) on this green earth, I’ve had three bad experiences like this but thousands more empowering experiences.
I stood up to gang-bangers in my Junior high school who threatened me and got them to stay away from me.
I joined a Tae Kwon Do Studio and excelled to Orange Belt (and I plan on taking that back up!)
I worked two jobs while maintaining an A-B average in High School and earned enough money, plus a scholarship to go to Germany on a student exchange program TWICE!
I visited France, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Germany, Denmark and Norway all before I turned 18.I fell in love, got married and although I almost died, I had a beautiful baby girl, a preemie at 31 weeks. She weighed 3 pounds 14 ounces. But not only did she and I survive, she grew very well and caught up!
I was, myself, a hard labor, I was breech, had the cord wrapped around my neck and when I was born, I weighed 9 ½ pounds and was very long.
When I was 13 I wrote over 300 pages of song lyrics and poetry
When I was in the 5th grade I wrote a children’s book and even drew all the pictures.
When I was 15, I wrote another children’s book and submitted it to an agent.
In Junior High, I received one of the highest awards from the State Department for an essay I wrote.
I was digging through my storage and I found a screenplay I wrote when I was just 13.
I went to India for three weeks, two I spent in the jungle!
These twelve experiences show I will not be put down. I will not be stomped on or brushed aside. I have value. I am worth something. I am powerful. I am loveable and can love.
There is so much more to tell, but I will end with this: I have written over 300 pages of poetry and lyrics, 2 novels, 4 screenplays (working on 5 & 6), several short stories and 17 shorts. I produced 47 episodes of an SNL spoof on YouTube called Saturday Night YouTube where I wrote, produced, acted and edited every Saturday for 6 months straight. I got my degree in film production. I have produced music videos, PSAs, Industrial videos, sketches, short films and live shows. I am currently working on my first feature film, a heart-warming romantic comedy called Chocolate is Not Better than Sex. It is live on my website right now. I intend to direct it in December, come hell or high-water, because I do believe in myself. I know I can do it.
I like to go back to the film Shakespeare in Love, where the theatres are all closed and the debt collectors are threatening to put the producers feet to the flames, the producer says, “Strangely enough, it all turns out well.”
“How?” asks the collector.
The producer responds, “I don’t know, it’s a mystery.”
What I do know is, it’s happening. No matter what, we’re doing it. I hope you will all join us as supporters on our website and share with everyone you know. Life is a funny thing, time is relative and if a cell can appear from nothing, so can we.
Much love and much success to you!
About Aleisha Gore:
Aleisha Gore is the director and producer of Chocolate is Not Better than Sex.
Join us for all the fun on our website! http://www.chocolateisnotbetterthansex.com
Music Videos I produced and directed http://espritfilms.com/musicvideos.html
PSAs I produced and directed for Help for Orphans, Int. http://espritfilms.com/psas.html
Short Films I worked on or wrote, produced and directed http://espritfilms.com/watch.html
My blog www.aleishag.blogspot.com
Teaser Trailer and movie site for Chocolate is Not Better than Sex www.chocolateisnotbetterthansex.com
More about me: www.aleishagore.com
My books: www.marneyandme.com and http://girlinahouse.com/adventure.html
Sign up for my newsletter and never miss a post again! I will never share your email and that’s a promise. Follow me on Twitter @RachelintheOC or @BadRedheadMedia for social media, branding, or marketing help. Increase your blog traffic by participating in #MondayBlogs (a Twitter meme I created to share posts on Mondays — no book promo) and entering my free feature giveaway.
Broken Pieces is still going strong, #1 on Amazon’s Women’s (paid) Poetry list. Pick up a copy today, one for a friend. Broken Places will be out by Christmas from Booktrope.
Don’t miss Author Social Media Boot Camp! Take a look: group sessions for authors on a budget. Now you too can get affordable, effective help FAST! Follow @ASMBootCamp on Twitter and sign up today here!
All content copyrighted unless otherwise specified. © 2014 by Rachel Thompson, author. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided a link back to this page and proper attribution is given to me as the original author.
Image courtesy of Toa55 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
November 5, 2014
Help us Celebrate the First #NoMoreShame November!
In January 2014 #SexAbuseChat, a Twitter chat for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, was born. Survivors from around the world logged onto the chat to provide each other with compassion, understanding, and encouragement. The chat became a way for survivors to unite with one another, rather than living in the isolation of shame that our abuse created. Our motto quickly became #NoMoreShame.
In October 2014, we opened another platform for survivors to join together and find healing in the form of a Google Hangout on Wednesday nights. The Hangout streams live on our YouTube Channel. We’re building the channel up with videos from not only the Hangouts but stand-alone videos on topics helpful to survivors, like coping mechanisms and medication.
As time progressed, the community of survivors participating in the chat and Hangout became more powerful. Sharing our stories with one another decreased our shame. With that came healing. As each of us took a step forward we reached behind to another survivor to help them take a step forward as well.
Witnessing the power of sharing our stories over this year has been amazing. We want to expand that healing power to a wider audience. To do this we have launched a #NoMoreShame November campaign. For the next month we’ll be tweeting, posting, video posting and generally raising a ruckus about childhood abuse.
Do you want to get involved?
Go to the #NoMoreShame Project Facebook page and download the #NoMoreShame November button (right click and save). Use it as your avatar throughout November, and especially on and around November 17th, which is the date the first #NoMoreShame Project anthology publishes.
Second, if you write a blog, even if it’s not about topics directly related to survivors, we want to feature it on the Nomoreshameproject.com website. We want people to know we are wonderful, incredible beings with much to offer the world! So just shoot me an email at BobbiLParish@Gmail.com with your blog link if you want to be included.
Buy the first #NoMoreShame Project anthology of survivor stories when it publishes on November 17, 2014. It will be available on Amazon. Buy it, read it, share it!
We are publishing a Survivor Story-a-Day on the website. Please read and share these stories on social media. We’d love to feature anyone’s story from this group! If you’re interested in that please email me at BobbiLParish@Gmail.com.
Finally, go check out The #NoMoreShame Project YouTube Channel. Subscribe and share the videos.
Let’s make the inaugural #NoMoreShame November a month to remember!
Sign up for my newsletter and never miss a post again! I will never share your email and that’s a promise. Follow me on Twitter @RachelintheOC or @BadRedheadMedia for social media, branding, or marketing help. Increase your blog traffic by participating in #MondayBlogs (a Twitter meme I created to share posts on Mondays — no book promo) and entering my free feature giveaway.
Broken Pieces is still going strong, #1 on Amazon’s Women’s (paid) Poetry list. Pick up a copy today, one for a friend. Broken Places will be out by Christmas from Booktrope.
Starting NOVEMBER 3: Author Social Media Boot Camp! Take a look: group sessions for authors on a budget. Now you too can get affordable, effective help FAST! Follow @ASMBootCamp on Twitter and sign up today here!
All content copyrighted unless otherwise specified. © 2014 by Rachel Thompson, author. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided a link back to this page and proper attribution is given to me as the original author.
Image courtesy of NoMoreShameProject.com
November 2, 2014
The Other Side of Words — An Excerpt from ‘Broken Places’
I’m sooooo close to finishing my latest book of essays and poetry Broken Places (set for release before Christmas from Booktrope). Yay! Today I’m sharing an excerpt about … well, you tell me. I’d love your thoughts.
Pick up Broken Pieces today — 99c sale (for one more day) on Amazon (eBook). No Kindle required.
THE OTHER SIDE OF WORDS
by Rachel Thompson
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t tell him. The gravity pushing me down so that I became a micro version of myself, voice tiny, movements small.
“You need to go. I can’t do this anymore,” I say in a rushed, pained whisper, pushing it out before I can breathe it back in, before it can beat me down anymore.
He hangs his head. It was coming. He knew it was coming. How could he not? We hadn’t fucked in years, hadn’t touched in months. My desire for him ceased the day he lost my faith.
Such a complicated swirl comes to down to this, a simple haiku of randomly plucked words. It’s over. It has been. Echoes of what we had torture us, but those are only ghosts, memories that taunt us with promises of what we once had. Happy pictures don’t capture the resentful sadness behind our brightly lit eyes.
You convince me that I need you, but I’m better alone. I have been for so long now. If being alone means depending on myself, on my quiet determination, on peace and gratitude, then I’ll be making my way now.
I’ve learned that this is not my place. I’m not really who you think I am. I need more than you can give. I asked, you denied. I needed, you laughed. I gave, you took.
It’s not all you. I can’t give you what you need anymore. I’m not an actor. I can’t fall at your feet and eat your words as if they are the best I’ve ever tasted. I’m a writer and words matter.
And maybe that is my elemental, as crucial to me as water. I accept that words aren’t the same ethereal, beautiful creatures to you. You used words, discarding them meaninglessly, without thinking, whereas I thought they held meaning.
I found what you will never see: that my love resides on the other side of words.
Sign up for my newsletter and never miss a post again! I will never share your email and that’s a promise. Follow me on Twitter @RachelintheOC or @BadRedheadMedia for social media, branding, or marketing help. Increase your blog traffic by participating in #MondayBlogs (a Twitter meme I created to share posts on Mondays — no book promo) and entering my free feature giveaway.
Broken Pieces is still going strong, #1 on Amazon’s Women’s (paid) Poetry list. Pick up a copy today, one for a friend. Broken Places will be out by Christmas from Booktrope.
Starting NOVEMBER 3: Author Social Media Boot Camp! Take a look: group sessions for authors on a budget. Now you too can get affordable, effective help FAST! Follow @ASMBootCamp on Twitter and sign up today here!
All content copyrighted unless otherwise specified. © 2014 by Rachel Thompson, author. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided a link back to this page and proper attribution is given to me as the original author.
Image courtesy of unsplash.com
