Identifies warning signs of possible suicidal behavior, shares the experiences of people whose loved ones committed suicide, and offers advice on suicide prevention.
Married at 17, three children by 23, Rita Robinson started at a community college in her early 30s with a creative writing class. Unable to get a grade unless students sent out something they’d written in class she cried and sent out a fiction piece sure that anyone who read it would call it stupid. It sold, and it was like the Red Sea parting. She still cannot describe how warm it made her feel. Of course after that she couldn't write long enough or fast enough to get all the things down on paper she’s been wanting to say most of her life. She wrote prolifically for many magazines, received her share of rejections, and was asked by the local newspaper to work for them. She did, and then went on to a bigger newspaper in Los Angeles but quit a few years later to return to freelance writing for magazines, and also sold 11 books through the years. Rita had started on a typewriter borrowed from a neighbor, and sat at the kitchen table with the kids and their friends running about all over the place. If something was rejected, she simply sent it elsewhere until it sold. After more than 30 years at writing for a living, she says she still learns something new every day. She loves teaching and encouraging all to write, and considers writing the most fun and rewarding personal endeavor a person can imagine. Rita adds that writing is not easy. There were times when she worked 14 to 22 hours straight to finish an article or a book on deadline, still enjoying every minute of it.
Read this book this morning after carrying it around with me for almost one year. It was worth the read and will be a book I recommend to other families of survivors of suicide. If you ever need a book to recommend in such a situation this one is safe.