Coming in January--Available now for preorder on Amazon! Paperback or Kindle!
I am using this blog platform to provide the information about BRAVE in one place. I have included the links for ordering above and the description and selected statements from the endorsements are below (full endorsements available at the publisher's website: Cladach Publishing).
Waiting for publication is somewhat like waiting for a child to be born. There is both excitement and anxiety in the days that pass. I am well aware that my book and the truth I tell will be a powerful statement about the effects of childhood trauma. The vulnerability required to help others understand those effects makes me wake in the night and think, "What have I done?" Then I remind myself that I made a choice to speak for the children and adults who have suffered the unimaginable.
A bit of backstory to how this even happened. Almost all of the writing comes out of my process writing during therapy. I wrote my way to freedom and filled my computer with hundreds and hundreds of documents. This book is only a small portion of my writing. A very small portion. I could not really imagine sending out proposals. The story is so personal that rejection letters would have taken on unintended meaning. So, I diligently worked on figuring out how to self-publish. I was almost there when, as a result of mentioning my book while speaking in my video (about my essay published in the book, Uncontrolling Love: Essays Exploring the Love of God, with Introductions by Thomas Jay Oord), Cathy Lawton (Cladach Publishing) contacted me. We talked at some length about BRAVE and I agreed to send her the manuscript. The rest is history and I am grateful.
So, here I am . . . . waiting--having never sent out a single proposal. That is really quite remarkable. Preview copies went out in November and I waited to hear responses. I was overwhelmed as the endorsements began to arrive. Somehow out of my three years of intense pain and struggle to heal, I had written a book that was resonating deeply with readers--some I knew and some I did not. I will always treasure the excerpts I have included below. They give me courage when I wake in the night.
A few days ago, in one of my 'moments,' I said to Scott, "This is not a book anyone will have expected me to write."
His response? "This is not a book anyone would expect any person to write."
Exactly. The title, BRAVE, is certainly appropriate. I am grateful for his support as I have travailed through lingering but necessary areas of healing to prepare for when the world (however small or large that is) begins to read the book no one expected me (or anyone) to write.
Description:
Janyne wasn’t exactly sure why she had gone to therapy, but she did sense her wonderful life was a cover for deep inner pain that she called “the dark cloud.” During her first EMDR therapy session, three fractured adult parts made a perfect three-point landing in her conscious awareness. Thus began three years of intensive therapy as she fought to heal from sexual abuse that began in a home daycare at the age of three. With a sometimes-conflicted faith in God, and with the support of her therapist, and of her husband, Janyne fought to heal and integrate.
This is Janyne’s story and also a tribute to a therapist and client who worked as a team to heal attachment wounds and increasingly tragic memories. Insights into the early wiring of unmet attachment needs as well as dissociative coping mechanisms are integral to this memoir of healing. Both pain and hope are present on every page. Janyne is both vulnerable and triumphant in her writing and will help every reader believe healing from childhood trauma is possible.
Endorsement Excerpts that both Humble and Encourage Me*
“Janyne McConnaughey is vulnerable in the kind of way that changes the world!"
–Thomas Jay Oord, author of The Uncontrolling Love of God
"Thanks to such a tenacious, transparent and tender author, we are all afforded the high hope that healing is possible, no matter the depth of the hidden wounds."
–Alice Scott-Ferguson, therapist and author
"Truly an inspiration, this story of the successful journey from broken and dissociative to integrated and fully aware provides an excellent narrative for anyone who desires understanding about what it takes to overcome the very real, lasting effects of unprocessed trauma in a child’s life."
–Kiersten Adkins, Executive Director, Pathway To Hope
“Not an easy read, yet impossible to put down, Janyne McConnaughey’s personal story captures the heart from the first page, as she courageously unfolds the abuse she experienced from early childhood through her adult years."
–Susan Elaine Jenkins, author of SCANDALON
“Janyne McConnaughey bravely becomes the voice for children who have experienced attachment wounding and trauma."
–Heather C. Thompson, Child and Family Therapist, A Safe Place to Grow Counseling
Janyne’s therapy not only profoundly changed her life, but it also profoundly affected me and helped form my parenting practices. I now view the thoughts and memories of a child during early formative years as much more robust than I ever thought possible."
–Leslie R. Mikesell, Ph.D.
"The emerging narrative is life, joy and intimacy. McConnaughey’s faithful imagination and audacity help her persevere with hope. An inspiring memoir of tenacious mercy.”
–Lon Marshall, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Note: The Word Cloud image for this blog was built from the endorsements for BRAVE