Beyond Adversity: Author Arlene Crenshaw

For many authors, writing is a means of expelling the demons, getting rid of burdens and baggage, healing the pain of past hurts, and sharing a story with many others who may have experienced similar events in their lives. Author Arlene Crenshaw has used her experiences to heal and change her life. I'll let her tell you in her own words...

Hello everyone, my name is Arlene R. Crenshaw, the author of Twelve Roses for Uretta. I wrote my book because I felt it was a story that needed to be told for my sake of healing within. I also hope that by putting this story out there it will raise awareness to many, many people that suffer with domestic violence as well as child abuse. My story is a true story of my life growing up—watching the abuse of my mother and also the abuse I suffered from my best friend’s brother, being molested over and over at age 14, which led to me being a mother at age 15.

Most of my life I have struggled with anxiety, depression and I struggled even more after the untimely death of my mother. After 47 years of struggling to finally get my life under control, I decided to write everything down. The first thing I did was stop crying behind closed doors. Everyone who ever knew me always thought I was a happy person, full of joy. The truth was I wasn’t. I was miserable with my life and the only thing after the death on my mother that kept me going was my son; he was all I had.


So after 47 years of crying, I decided to stop and take charge of my life. I had been through a lot of challenges that I didn’t at first realize I had overcame. When I began writing, I started emptying out all the old baggage I was carrying within and I started noticing I felt better and stronger. I cried and cried while writing and sometimes I found myself writing so much that hours went by, but it felt good right to the soul. The more I wrote, the more I sensed a feeling of healing coming over me.


I realized I had been carrying a lot of stuff and for an awful long time. I prayed and prayed to God to help me…and he did. I got it all out and I ended up writing a book and it’s all true. My own story healed me within. I no long suffer from anxiety or depression. I have not taken any medication going on 2 years now. I live my life beyond adversity. I have also written a second novel due out this month called Hidden Closet’s Book of Short Stories. It is not a true story but it’s all about secrets that people have that they want to keep hidden for fear of being exposed to their real truths about themselves.


Life is wonderful for me now I love life and I even write every day on Facebook and Blogger. I call it “My quote of the day,” which I write a quote to try to inspire people and uplift their spirits, I do this daily. Also below is a poem called Living Beyond Adversity. To all stay blessed and soar high as eagles!!!


Living Beyond Adversity


Adversity means different things to different people and it depends on what their experience was and the attitude they have about it.


In the beginning when life was out of control, it meant something like this:


It shows up uninvited.


It took control.


It changed your life in ways you didn't want.


It took what you wanted away from you.


It forced you into situations you didn’t want to be in.


It stopped you from doing what you wanted to do.


It's was ruthless and cruel.


It's was unfair.


After working through its challenges, life became something like this.


It helped you to become a better person.


It made you achieve more than you ever thought you could.


It made your relationships deeper and more meaningful.


It showed you what was most important in life.


It helped you become more compassionate and understanding.


It made you appreciate life much more.


It leads to the discovery of true joy, in life.


It gave you wisdom and now you soar beyond the clouds (awesome feeling within).


And know you live your life beyond adversity; because now you’re in the best place you can be for yourself emotionally… now you’re living beyond adversity.


By Arlene R. Crenshaw

Thanks for sharing these thoughts and feelings with us. For more information, visit Arlene's website.

Author Cissy Hunt & A Rose Blooms Among the Thorns

Say hello to my seventh guest on the Virtual Book Tour: author and poet Cissy Hunt. Cissy’s book A Rose Blooms Among the Thorns is a special testament to Cissy’s own life experiences, and how she has turned these into a means of enlightening and helping others. Before we find out more about Cissy, let’s take a look at her book.

Cissy says: “It is about a woman's journey from domestic abuse through healing to forgiveness. Though it is a fiction book, it is taken from my own life. It was a very hard book for me to write, because of having to relive it all, but true and complete healing came from writing it. It took me a long time to start writing the book but it came quickly once I started. I am a minister called to helping women who have come out of domestic abuse.


I started my book, A Rose Blooms Among the Thorns, in Feb of 2009 and turned it in to the publisher in June of 2009. The toughest obstacle that I had to overcome before completing my book was taking the journey into my past, but when the journey was complete I received complete healing. As for my title, "A Rose Blooms Among the Thorns", what is behind it is symbolism. Rose = new life; Blooms = over coming thorns = abuse."

You mention that this book was inspired by personal abuse. You live such a happy settled life now—was it difficult to dredge up your own pain to express it on paper, and why did you feel the need to share this with others?

Yes it was very difficult to take the journey back into my past but it had to be done, because there is so much domestic abuse in this country and women are left feeling that "IT" is all their fault. A woman that escapes a violent relationship leaves feeling worse than "DIRT."

Do you feel that being an ordained minister enables you to empathize with others' pain and thereby express your own emotions better in your writing?

Yes, a woman can relate to another woman who has been where she is now. It gives her hope, hope for a better live that doesn't hold pain and sorrow. I can show them that hope for a better life in my writing.

You love to write—was there someone who inspired you from an early age, or did you get your spark from books or poetry while growing up?

I loved reading every since I learned how to read. I'm a type of reader that gets totally "into" a book. I could go anywhere in time and be anyone I wanted to be. Books were an escape for me. One person inspired me to write and she was my 12th grade English teacher, Miss Fife. She not only complemented me on my writing but would push me to pull more out of myself. "Dig deeper," she would say.

Tell us more about your poetry—what moves you, inspires you? Do you have a special place or set of circumstances to be comfortable in writing?

My poetry just comes to me. I don't just sit down and say, "I'm going to write a poem today." Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and the words just flow out of me. I'm a night person and I like sitting on my deck at night (we live out in the country) and words come to me. I wrote my poem Like the Moon for one while on my deck at night.

What kind of response have you had from readers? Do people relate well to your book? Have your helped people through your own journey?

The people who have read my book said they loved it. They said that it made them cry, laugh, and made them angry, but most of all it made them think, think about what is going on around them in their own neighborhood and community. That is the response I wanted. I wanted people to open their eyes to what was going on in their own community.

How did you get published?

I sent in the first three chapters of my book and the publisher, PublishAmerica, liked it and sent me a contract.

What books/ideas do you have lined up in future?

I have been thinking of a sequel to my first book, A Rose Blooms Among the Thorns. It has been very strong in my thoughts. I just want to get this book out to the public first before I start on a second one.

Thanks for sharing this with us, Cissy. Interested readers can purchase A Rose Blooms Among the Thorns on Amazon, or visit Cissy's website.