Guest post: Coming Out of the Dark

My special guest today is Beth Fehlbaum, author of the 'Patience' books: Courage in Patience and Hope in Patience. When I invited her to share a guest post, I had no idea what she would write about. I must admit, I'm surprised and honored. Mostly, I admire Beth's courage regarding her own past.

To mangle a line from Robert Fulghum, “Everything I learned in [the writing] life, I learned from Cheryl Kaye Tardif.”  A few years ago, I wanted to be a published author and by chance, Cheryl and I ended up in the trenches together under the roof of the same publishing house.  I learned an incredible amount about increasing my Internet presence from Cheryl, and I will always be grateful to her for her expertise and guidance. 

It wasn’t easy for me to come out of the shadows, even online.  For a lot of my childhood, I spent my nights in my closet trying to avoid the nighttime attacks of an adult male family member.  When Cheryl and I met, I had been in therapy for a few years and had begun to grasp the concept that the shame of being sexually abused throughout my childhood was not my fault—but I still clung to a shyness and uncertainty about identifying myself as a survivor.  I was so tepid about “coming out” of the figurative closet I still kind of hid in, our publisher made up a story for my back-of-the-book biography, saying that I had drawn on my experience of working with abused children to write Courage in Patience, the story of fifteen year old Ashley Nicole Asher’s first shaky steps into recovery from childhood sexual abuse. 

What a difference a few years makes!  I no longer hesitate to identify myself as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and my biography is no longer fiction.  I followed up Courage in Patience with Hope in Patience—and a new publisher.  Hope in Patience was written as a stand-alone novel, but those who read Courage in Patience will recognize Hope in Patience as a sequel. I’m so excited to announce that Hope in Patience will release from WestSide Books in late October, 2010!

Courage in Patience is officially out of print, but there are still copies available, and I’d love to sign one and send it to you!  There are two ways to get it: through Amazon Marketplace sellers -- you can message me through Amazon to tell me who you would like your book personalized for. My seller name is STEADYONBOOKS, and the price is $20.00.  You may also buy it for $20.00 by messaging me at beth@bethfehlbaum.com,  and I’ll send you a PayPal invoice.

Thanks so much, Cheryl, for letting me stop by! 

Check out Beth’s website for chapter previews!