The moment you write your story, healing begins.
STRANGLED
A Survivor's Plea To Men Who Look The Other Way
by Dottie Davis and Kathy Curtis
A woman I had never met caught my attention on LinkedIn with her posts about training police and first responders for organizations around the world. I knew she was a former police officer and domestic violence advocate, but I soon learned she was also a survivor.
As in, she survived strangulation by her husband, a fellow officer.
Fate would soon bring us together at a social event.
We instantly agreed to have coffee, and less than an hour into our conversation, she said she had wanted to write a book for 25 years and didn't know how. Destiny sparkled its light and in the blink of an eye we were on our way to writing STRANGLED, a book that will leave you breathless.
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LISTEN to the authors speak on public radio about the book.
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INVISIBLE INK
Reaching Out To Loved Ones In Spirit
by Kathy Curtis
Not every death plunges us into a grief so deep we can’t breathe, but when it happens, it’s harrowing. I felt that way after my mother died at 60 from an aggressive cancer. I saw her as a fragile and innocent woman, and the fear and pain she went through during her illness tore me apart.
We had become friends who shared a love of writing letters to each other. When she died I kept writing to her, and I imagined she received every single letter.
Those letters healed me. The sense of my ongoing connection to her healed me. The energy of love and laughter that sometimes bubbled up as I recounted things to her healed me. Then the feeling she wanted to write back took my healing to a whole new level.
INVISIBLE INK shows you how to create a connection with your loved one, and gives you permission to accept its healing even if you don't understand how (or if) it works.
My sweet mom will melt your heart while she convinces you it does.
LEAVE YOUR LIGHT ON
by Shelley Buck & Ryder Buck with Kathy Curtis
My best friend since junior high faced an unbearable tragedy: the death of her oldest son on a foggy highway in the middle of the night. At 23 he had just faced a 9-month battle with cancer that he won. His dad was about to leave on a world press tour for the animated film he had just co-directed, and for which he would soon win an academy award.
I think the world actually stopped spinning that day, at the sheer audacity of death to show up at such a cruel time and in such a cruel way.
I was terrified for my friend, whose grief surged deeper than anyone I had ever encountered. Even though we talked several times a week, she seemed unreachable.
The turning point came when she decided to write a book about her boy. She needed help creating the narrative, and it just so happened her best friend not only specialized in processing grief, but also wrote books and had heard all the stories about her son since the day of his birth.
I was ready.
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HEALING HAIKU
Poetic Prompts to Help You Express Your Grief
by Kathy Curtis
I learned the healing power of haiku when a good friend challenged me to write one every day. Having just moved to a different state, this would be a creative way for us to stay in touch.
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It was that and so much more. Haiku helped me spend quality time being in the moment. It honed my ability to say exactly what I was feeling. It gave me a quick outlet for anything and everything. It was fun and it was heart-opening. And all in only 17 syllables!
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As a literary coach, I was so taken by its power I published a course on DailyOM with 35 haiku-writing prompts. I added guidance on using analogies and other techniques to help express one's ideas, and soon the program was a hit.
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One thing I didn't anticipate was how many people would use the program to process their grief. But it made perfect sense and led me to create a book for others who needed a way to do the same.
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Give it a try. Haiku is an incredible way to get grief out of your body and onto the page where it can help you heal.