What a day today is!!! I am beyond thrilled!!! I even checked my Thesaurus and couldn’t find a word to express what I am feeling. I am now a tour host for WOW-Women On Writing and what a way to start! Please help me give a very big and warm welcome to today’s guest, Madeline Sharples, as she stops by while on virtual tour, to talk about her inspirational memoir.
Madeline turned to another type of writing, memoir, as she grappled with her older son’s bipolar disorder and subsequent suicide. She and her husband of 40 years live in Manhattan Beach, California, a small beach community south of Los Angeles. Her younger son Ben lives in Santa Monica, California with his bride Marissa.
Just Thought You Should Know:
More than 30,000 Americans commit suicide each year, most leaving behind grieving families. Teenagers make up 5,000 of this group.
You can visit Madeline Sharples at her websites:
http://madeline40.blogspot.com/
www.madelinesharples.com
Using Memoir Writing to Deal with Grief
Sharples explains: “I write about the steps I took in living with the loss of my son, including making use of diversions to help me forget. Leaving the Hall Light On is also about the milestones I met toward living a full life without him: packing and giving away his clothes, demolishing and redoing the scene of his death, cataloging and packing away all his records and books, copying all of his original music compositions onto CDs, digitizing all of our family photos, and gutting his room and turning it into my office and sanctuary with a bay window that looks out toward a lush garden and a bubbling water fountain.”
Dear Cheryl,
Thank you for the rousing introduction and the beautiful presentation of my post and book. I am beyond thrilled to be here as well. I'll keep stopping by to respond to comments, and now that I'm one of your followers, I expect to be back again and again. Best, Madeline
Ms Sharples:
Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to stop by and visit. I look forward to reading your inspirational memoir. As a mother of 2 young men, I can't even imagine the journey that you have been on. My utmost respect.