Join Sara on her journey of escape from abuse to a small mid-western town as she discovers courage, strength, and hope to move forward. Read how Normal, Illinois becomes her chance for peace and freedom.
“A lost cat is not just an absence, but a heartache that lingers until their safe return.”
Meet Thomas: Antagonist of Success Is The Best Revenge
“You can't take my love.
You can't take my joy.
You can only try to steal them, but you will fail.”
- Sara Matthews, Success Is the Best Revenge
“You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.”
― Brene Brown
“Abuse and respect are diametric opposites: You do not respect someone whom you abuse, and you do not abuse someone whom you respect.”
― Lundy Bancroft, Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men
“The craft or art of writing is the clumsy attempt to find symbols for the wordlessness.”
― John Steinbeck, Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters
You know how it goes - life keeps you busy, and daily routines provide the structure we all follow without thinking about it. We can predict our tomorrow, next week, and next month, and life becomes a comfortable blur of activities.
Sara has disappeared and doesn’t come to whisper her story in my ear anymore. When I wrote SIBR, Sara was always with me, making my fingers fly on the keyboard as I tried to keep up with her voice in my head.
Warning: Post may contain triggers
Never in a million years dreamed it would ever happen to me. Despite always being told I was unworthy of love and success, I had been driven to master all that I worked at and guess what? I became successful at all I worked toward. I was married to a man for twenty years, a man who loved me, supported me - until he didn’t.
I’ve been MIA since July - how did that happen? But the good news is I had a nice vacation, but the better news is the first draft of North of Normal is completed!