Believing in the Writing

For me, it's always been about the writing.
I'm a story junky.
For me, the power is in the telling.
The reader may come, the reader may not.
The words a writer chooses are a gift to the tale.

When I sent Linda Sivertsen a stack of snippets, blog chunks, and unpolished pages in 2012, she spent a few hours with my words, her reaction to which, placed her permanently in my heart.

She got me.

I wrote my latest book about giants, and how my reaction to trauma made my heart expand to giant proportions--but there is one woman whose heart is more giant than mine--Linda Sivertsen is one of the most generous writers, story whisperers and author finders I've had the honour of being inspired by.

This story has taken  digging deep, bleeding on the page and looking the mad dogs in the face. And every day I've mined my memory it has been with Linda's words as my reminder that my story needed to be told.

---and she edited me
---and she got me a powerhouse developmental editor, the incomparable Betsy Rapoport, who has moved my work farther than I ever could have alone
--and she told me they'd be my team
--and she reminded me to just write about my kid, because that would be enough,
--and she built the Beautiful Writer's Group
--and she birthed the Open Books event
--and she lead me to my Wolf Pack, Steph Jagger and Carly Butler
--and then to wrap it all in a bow, she handed me an invitation to the one thing my little writer's heart ever dreamed of...

a New York literary agent.

Mama, there aren't words for my thank you. I have oceans of gratitude, forests of yippees, and the shelves of my heart are overflowing with the volumes I will dedicate to you.

When I grow up, I want to be just like you, Mama.

This little photo has been beside me for all this time....I wrote, I polished and I finished because she said I could.

Me and my giants love you more than you know.

Share on Google Plus

About Unknown

Patti M Hall is an author, educator and writing coach living near Toronto, Ontario with her two very tall sons.

Hall is a non-fiction writer specializing in the stories of individuals who demonstrate resilience in the face of trauma and personal challenge. Hall is dedicated to helping other people tell their stories through whether that be through authoring books, teaching writers or coaching aspiring memoirists.