A local counseling firm in Minocqua, Wisconsin heard about my novel, about how throughout the Kara Michelson duology, the tangled web of why high schoolers bully in the way they do is unwoven. Once they learned this, they contacted me and ordered a dozen copies of part one. The firm plans to give the novels they ordered away to high school clients who struggle in school and feel out of place. I cannot begin to express how awe-striking and powerful having my book purchased for that reason is.
A beyond important disclaimer: I have absolutely no training as a therapist, nor am I trying to mimic one throughout my writing. My series about high schoolers is not a meant for therapy. No one with professional training as a therapist edited my books, and the story that unfolds in the series is not one written for self-help purposes. Whatever help my book may offer teenagers was intended through the underlying message of my series, but it is not a part of the main storyline.
The counseling firm asked for my novel because the book explores why high schoolers act the way they do through a real-time high schooler’s perspective. While Living in Silence doesn’t offer solutions to the misery teens can induce on others, it does explore how those acts of malice often come from a place of insecurity and selfishness.
Here is the opinion I relay throughout the series: You are bullied, people are assholes, and yes, people lash out with every intent to make your day worse. However, their choice to be a jerk has absolutely nothing to do with you. This might not make you feel any better, but bullies are often indifferent toward you. They don’t hate you. They don’t think you’re lame. They don’t love you. You’re simply a target they’ve chosen to push their own misery onto to make themselves feel better.
The world keeps turning after mean kids lash out, and they often quickly forget what they’ve said to you, even if and when what they said sticks in your mind forever. You did nothing wrong and were not chosen as a target because you’re not cool enough. Everyone is suffering from something, and you were simply targeted so that said sufferer could feel a little less miserable, if even just for a moment. It’s not right, but it’s the truth. Bullies might not realize how miserable they make you, because they are selfish; they do not care enough to think about it. It’s as terribly simple as that.
Knowing that sure as heck doesn’t make me feel better about mean kids, but it is one explanation for their brutality––a reason that is explored throughout my two-part series. In Living in Silence and its sequel, the main character who feels like a target begins to realize that after someone hits her with a low-blow, the world can and will continue to spin for her, too. You can be hurt, and you can move on.
So, I suppose the above was reason enough for a couple of therapists to feel that my book could make their clients’ days better. From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely hope it does.
I have always read to escape reality, as a stress reliever, and to live in someone else’s world for a while. Kara Michelson and Jack Ridan, the two main characters of my series, will definitely steal you away from reality. They are both strong-willed characters who couldn’t be more different. Kara offers a constant snarkiness that I hope makes my readers smile, and Jack provides a sweet yet cocky point of view, often in a teasing manner. Their contrasting, insecure and bold personalities make the book. Their interactions and the mystery of seeing ghosts are what allow my readers to escape reality. But that underlying message––the very reason a counseling firm bought a dozen copies of my book––might just have the power to make someone feel a bit better about their own life, too.