How I Wrote Defying Disability
In my previous Reflections post, I shared why I wrote the book, Defying Disability: One Couple’s Journey of Fierce Love and Unwavering Faith. Now I’m going to reveal how I wrote it.
When my Aunt Darlene died in March 2020, my cousin Shaira posted on Facebook, “To adequately describe her life would require a published biography. She was an iron woman. She loved us fiercely. Her faith in God, unwavering.”
Challenge accepted.
In May 2020, I began writing their origin stories based on their personal documents:
A folder of photos and handwritten memories Aunt Darlene entrusted me with in 2016.
The emails where Uncle Bert answered a series of my questions.
I reached out to family members. My cousin Steve’s wife Darlene and their daughter Breanna provided me with a wealth of digital and paper mementos:
Family photos and handwritten letters.
Newspaper articles written about their incredible lives.
Then came the multiple-hour phone calls with my Texas cousins Janis, Steve, Sheila, and Dorothy, as well as my parents and siblings. My interviewing and note-taking skills from my journalism degree were enjoying the party.
I felt like I was weaving together strands of information from multiple skeins of yarn.
Within two months, I printed a preliminary draft that I brought to Illinois for my parents to review. After I returned to Florida, Newspapers.com provided articles both written by and about my uncle Bert. These identified student journalism as a common activity I shared with my uncle and added depth to the manuscript.
Finding information about the Cherry family was easy. Learning about Aunt Darlene’s family (the Fox family) was more of a challenge. My cousin Steve also introduced me to Aunt Darlene’s half-sister Claudette, and she shared her own stories of my aunt. Darlene’s grand-niece Heather Eldredge, whom I met in 2016, provided me with photos and essays written by her kin, including the Titanic essay introduced in Chapter One of the book.
At one point in the process, I found a letter from Uncle Bert to my parents, which enabled me to give both sides of a few stories shared by my mom and dad. That was pure gold!
For the newspaper article resources, I contacted the publications to request permission to include images of the articles in the manuscript. Most were happy to grant approval; the other newspaper allowed summaries.
By the time I was called back to work remotely in August 2020, I had a workable second draft that I sent to two cousins, Dorothy and Darlene, for their feedback.
Writing the book became my second job. I bounced between my Disney laptop and my personal computer as I inched my way to the finish line.
Once I incorporated the family perspective notes, I contacted two former writing colleagues, Cassie and Tierney, to see if they would provide editorial insight on my manuscript. In early 2021, these ladies provided valuable feedback.
In the spring of 2021, I signed a contract with what I believed to be a hybrid publishing company to handle editing, interior design, and cover. After months of collaborating with their staff to finalize the manuscript, we published the book just before Thanksgiving 2021.
The process of weaving together the tapestry of their lives was a labor of love that expanded my professional skills more than I ever imagined. It was intense, but I learned a ton. My own journey continues.