What:
Everything in my literary life at the moment is centered on the fast-approaching release of my second book, Warrior Sister, Cut Yourself Free from Your Assault (Library Tales Publishing, November 15, 2021). The idea for this self-help book came to me during my 2018 book tour with my coming-of-age poetry collection, Blood Sisters (Main Street Rag). Reading after reading, teen girls and young women (in particular) thanked me for sharing my assault stories and giving voice to things they wish they could. So many of these young ladies stood before me, their broken souls cupped in their vulnerable outstretched hands, that familiar look in their eyes that longed to be made whole again. When I found myself laid off from teaching during winter 2019 term, I knew God had gifted me the time to develop this timely assault recovery book and begin scaffolding its companion outreach, aRIFT+ Warrior Project. The book and outreach independently and collaboratively work to help assault survivors heal and take back control so they can move beyond their trauma and experience self-restoration.
In addition to my two books, since 2010 I have also edited and published Pink Panther Magazine—an international women’s art and literary journal in its twelfth year. Many of the recurrent themes in the art and writing we publish touch on oppression, abuse, and assault and the survivor’s journey to safety, recovery, and restoration. I also do work with a local sex-trafficking and sexual exploitation nonprofit—the Alabaster Gift—that helps rehabilitate and support survivors so they can live with purpose, value, and choice. To say I have vested interests in helping women overcome trauma and learn how to give voice to their experiences is to understate my unrelenting passion to remain a safe harbor and beacon of hope for survivors.
Why:
As with each of my creative works, I begin with my readers in mind. I ask myself, what version of these ideas is meant for them? I write a lot about a woman’s struggle to find her (often oppressed) identity and use her voice. It’s something I wrestle with over and over, returning to it in hopes of understanding the human condition that perpetually crushes woman’s spirit. I write in many genres and styles, including poetry, short fiction, and essays. If you had asked me when my first book came out, what my next one would be, I could not have imagined saying it would be a self-help book. Another poetry or a short story collection is what I imagined in my future. Yet here I am, preparing to release my debut self-help book. Though, in some ways, it does feel like a book I had imagined writing. In essence, the book is a warrior’s journey to her own victory circle that is infused with my creative storytelling.
In my lifetime I’ve learned our best victories come from the sweat of our own brow and that no one—not a higher power or human superhero—swoops down and wipes away our grief or ailments in an instant. Usually, our recovery relies on us working through some tough stuff. So, I’ve become my best practitioner and trusted friend in times I was recovering from physical and emotional trauma. I sought knowledge-based solutions, found sufficient support and medical assistance, and then put in the necessary work. It’s really what I do, not just something I’m saying here because it sounds good.
I learned this survivor’s code at twenty-one, when I survived a horrific motorcycle accident four weeks before my wedding. When what you want more than anything—in this case was to be my dream bride self at our dream wedding—threatens to fall from your reach, you reach deep within yourself and channel that fighter spirit to heal and go after what is rightfully yours. For assault survivors, this healing looks a little different, sure, and getting back what is rightfully yours might more closely resemble your self-worth, confidence, and living your best life. Since discovering this fighter spirit’s survival code way of life—now close to three decades in practice—I’ve coached countless others in these areas on their own trauma recovery journey.
It just wasn’t until my 2018 book tour I realized it was time (and necessary) to broaden the reach of my assault survivor road map and the sisterhood to which this map leads. Living in a self-help era usually means self-guided resources are one click or bookstore trip away. Yet, what I quickly learned once I saw this escalated assault trauma trend was that there aren’t self-help resources for survivors that bring all their recovery issues, needs, and resources together in one accessible place. Though anyone can benefit from this vital and timely self-help tool, the book is designed for teen girls and young women. The first reason is they’re collectively the largest demographic impacted by physical violence with the least recovery resources. The second is, as fellow survivors, they should know where to find their sisterhood and how to navigate the recovery valley some of us have already made it through. Warrior Sister, Cut Yourself Free from Your Assault is a road and resource map for survivors thrown into situations where they must become their own heroes and save their own lost worlds. The book offers the trauma-informed support, knowledge, and strategies survivors need to restore their emotional stability, health, and self-worth.
How:
I’m excited to bring this book to assault survivors and the professionals who serve them. And I’m even more thrilled to have received a generous donation that will help me place hundreds of free copies of the book into the hands of these professionals and advocacy agencies in the Great Lakes region and beyond. And this is only the beginning. Early readers of the book have raved about the book’s total package appeal and commented on how moving and relatable the grief section is that breaks down the grief process, stages, and navigating these. I’m currently developing a motivational talk—one being solicited by a TEDx consulting firm—that explores grief associated with trauma recovery. If I could only find and dedicate the three months needed to get this talk into shape and ready to share . . . (insert the laughter of madness here).
When I do, I also plan to bring these motivational talks to local high schools and college communities, as well as survivor advocacy agencies. I’m also working on a social media interactive platform called Meet Me at the Edge (#MeetMeAtTheEdge), which I outline in detail in the book and which encourages survivors to share their steps in “purging” the labels holding back their healing and restoration. I will host this on my new TikTok platform and broadcast it on my other social media channels. My first intro Meet Me at the Edge video will go live prior to the November 15th book release date.
Of course, I continue to write and publish my poetry and prose. I’m shopping for a home for my newest finished poetry collection, New Wilderness, which is a survivor’s story of a different nature—one that recounts a mother’s witness to her daughter’s brain cancer experiences and the nuances of raising a mentally ill child. I also have a hybrid poetry and prose collection, Stubborn Silence, that contains works centered on women keeping their prescribed or self-imposed silences along with those breaking moments when they break their silence.
My next self-help works in progress are in this Warrior Sister series. Warrior Sister, Let’s Talk GIRL CODE is a rally cry to bring together young girls and women to rewrite SISTER CODE. This book explores girl-on-girl bullying, gaslighting, self-censorship, and the bystander effect and how these interactions are dividing teens and young women during moments in their journey they need their sisterhood most. Then, Warrior Sisters, Go Back for the Girl, is a work in progress that explores the real signs of sex trafficking and forced exploitation of girls and women and ways we can work together to reduce acts of violence and exploitation committed against them. As the name suggests, I’m provoking a movement to become informed warriors who take actions to help our fellow sisters who are enslaved to sexual violence and/or exploitation escape their captivity.
New projects aside, it’s new book release season and this is where all my creative energy goes these days. Between the official book release, distributing donated copies, and delivering motivational talks, I look forward to inspiring survivors to cut themselves free from the trauma holding them back from living in total freedom. I’m confident this book (and outreach) will change many lives for the better and I honestly can’t think of anything more rewarding than breathing hope and new life into this next generation of fiercely brave warrior sisters.
Bio:
Teaching writer and assault trauma advocate Jenifer DeBellis, M.F.A., is author of Warrior Sister, Cut Yourself Free from Your Assault (Library Tales Publishing 2021) and Blood Sisters (Main Street Rag 2018). She edits Pink Panther Magazine and directs aRIFT+ Warrior Project and Detroit Writers’ Guild. When she’s not editing or writing for others, she sneaks in time for her own craft, which has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and appears in AWP’s Festival Writer, Calyx, the Good Men Project, Literary Orphans, Sliver of Stone, Solstice, and other fine journals. A former fellow for the Meadow Brook Writing Project, JDB facilitates workshops for Oakland University’s MBWP Writing Camps as well as teaches for Saginaw Valley State University and Macomb Community College. Find more at JeniferDeBellis.com.
Links:
http://www.jeniferdebellis.com/
Pink Panther Magazine
aRIFT Warrior Project
Facebook
Twitter
tiktok
Thank you for visiting Linda’s blog.
Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a writer, poet, and artist.
Learn more about her award winning novel, In the Context of Love.
Learn more about her picture book, Gordy and the Ghost Crab.
Learn more about her poetry chapbook, Security