An Evening with TWLOHA

Last night, I had the opportunity to attend An Evening With To Write Love on Her Arms. I’ve been following the organization for quite some time and even served as a guest blogger for TWLOHA a few years ago. I’m hoping to re-kindle that relationship and contribute more in the near future, too.

If you’re unfamiliar, TWLOHA is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire, and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery. Needless to say, they’re a badass mental health organization and one that I’m incredibly inspired by.

The event last night consisted of spoken word poetry by Sierra DeMulder which was
freaking incredible! She paints pictures with words, and her poetry is pure art.  I’d never heard of JP Saxe prior to the event, but he was amazing too. I actually had a chance to chat with him a bit after the sho

w. In addition to being super talented with the voice of an angel, he was so fun to talk to. I told him a little about Hoola Monsters, along with the book I’m writing. I agreed to send him a copy of my book when it’s finally out in the world, too. I just love the way that events like this bring like-minded people together.

Hearing TWLOHA Founder Jamie Tworkowski speak was a definite highlight for me, and it was my primary reason for attending. The poetry and music were bonus. I’m so inspired by the work that Jamie is doing in the world. Not only is he the creator of TWLOHA, he’s also a NY Times best-selling author and speaker. I picked up his book If You Feel Too Much, and I can’t wait to read it.

At the risk of sounding like a total fan girl, I want to follow in his footsteps as I move into the next phase of my career. I’ll take the NY Times best seller, too. Speaking of, I’ve been busting my butt on the book. I logged more than 4,000 words yesterday and pitched two literary agents who’ve been on my radar for quite some time. I only have a couple more chapters to go until the first draft of my manuscript is complete, and that feels freaking awesome. I’m not going to do the happy dance just  yet, though. I realize that it could be another year before I can actually hold the book in my hands and share it with others. I still need to edit the heck out of it, secure an agent, land a publishing deal, edit some more, finalize the project, and market it like crazy. Then, I get to have the book launch party and do that happy dance. Until then, I’ll keep plugging away and laying the foundation for good things to come.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my blog.