Behind the Words

People judge. People say that my story is too messy. People walk away when they find out about the brokenness underneath.

Paper doesn’t judge. Ink doesn’t judge. The paper listens patiently to the story I tell it without hinderance, without judgement.

When I feel the most alone the characters emerge from the page and greet me like an old forgotten friend. They become what I needed when the invite didn’t come. When the people who were supposed to be there put another crack in my heart or try to edit my story into what makes them feel better about the part they played or didn’t play in it.

The characters show the parts of me that hide behind the scenes that most people never see.  They show the powerful wildfire that burns inside that is my courage to face what scares me. They show the warrior I had to become to fight my battles. They tell my story that is still too hard to tell, even after all these years.

To some people, my stories may seem like just a bunch of words, however, these words have come together to tell the story I felt I had to hide. The story no one could know, the story no one would talk about. Writing gave me a voice in a world that wanted to silence me.

I still write through my grief to show people how that my heart is slowly mending behind the words.  My stories, my grief, and I are a continuous work in progress.

©All writing property of R. M. McDermott LLC