How Writing Can Be Therapeutic
By Sally Barrilla
“Writing is medicine. It is an appropriate antidote to injury. It is an appropriate companion for any difficult change,” by Julia Cameron.
As a self-proclaimed bookworm and self-published author, writing actually saved my life. No, I don’t mean that figuratively. Writing truly saved me. And because of that experience, I believe that if you have challenges, there is power in verbally expressing your feelings through the written word.
Growing up as the daughter and granddaughter of Ecuadorian immigrants who worked hard to provide the best life possible for me and with Spanish as my first language, I did not realize how much writing would help me process my circumstances. When I first attended school, I recall struggling to communicate with teachers and classrooms, being unable to respond back to anyone who spoke to me in English, and having a difficult time reading or writing because I only knew Spanish. I was in regular classes but receiving extra help and through time, my teachers helped me learn English through the guidance of short stories, adventure and mystery books, essays, and of course Disney shows, films, and music! I realized that through words, there is so much potential, imagination, and creativity to be had.
I cannot tell you how many times I found myself excited reading a book, unable to contain my joy at discovering what would happen next–imagining that one day I would hold my own novel and a little girl would read my work and picture herself as an author too as I had done when I was young. Whenever anyone asked me what I aspired to be when I grew up, I would always say “A writer. I want to be an author and publish 1,000 books.” I didn’t know how long it would take, nor how many obstacles I would have to face, but I was willing to face it all to accomplish my dream. Sometimes, I would receive joyful cheers but more often, I was told to seek a more “Serious” career choice or at least to find a job on the side to support myself so I wouldn’t be a struggling author living on ramen noodles in NYC. I know, what can I say? Latinos are very resourceful, I guess. I can’t say they were wrong though, it is best or at least recommended to be able to support yourself but always strive to achieve your ultimate goals.
Aside from obtaining the money to publish, the other challenge was not knowing what I would ever write about. In 2009, I encountered horrific bullying when I entered middle school for the first time. I wasn’t as strong mentally, physically, or emotionally as I wish, but I took the traumatizing experience as my inspiration to write. My first novel, The Doctor: The Toxic Combination of Love, Hatred, and Revenge is Served was based on a fictional version of myself, a woman who looked exactly like me but was a total badass. Detective Sasha Thomas is a woman who has gone through quite a bit of trauma in her life and faced many people who betrayed her and made her feel small. I decided to write her story because I wanted to finally release all of my past hurts, tears, and bitter moments where I considered myself a failure. The deeper I dove into her story, the more I realized just how alike Sasha and I really are.
Writing Sasha’s story began to heal me mentally and emotionally in more ways than one because while I originally thought she and I were completely different aside from our similar looks, I learned that is not the case. Being a trauma survivor, bullying took so much from me: my confidence, self-esteem, self-love, and especially my self-respect- just like they did for Sasha. For three years, my life was in absolute hell but the only thing that helped me overcome it, aside from having a guidance counselor to talk to, was writing. I journaled every single thing that went through my mind. Whether it was good or bad, I wrote it all down. Although I never actually discussed out loud what went down during those three years, writing it, for me, was enough.
During my last few semesters in college, a professor in my fiction writing course had this prompt for us: “If there was another version of you, perhaps in another universe, how would they be? Would this individual be the opposite of you or would they be the same as you? How do you picture it?” I honestly can’t express how much fun I had with that prompt and how much it helped me unpack myself. At first, I only wrote a couple of paragraphs, but I just knew there was more to be said so I kept writing. Pretty soon, a short story assignment transformed into a fifty-plus page paper that my professor said, “Sally this is not a short story, this is a book!” At that moment, I made the choice to just go for it and give this opportunity my all, despite being in between classes, part-time jobs, and the pandemic, buckled down and started writing.
Upon finding New Degree Press thanks to a fellow author friend, I was able to finally accomplish my dream of publishing a novel. The moment you are able to sit back and view that everything you strove to achieve has arrived is such an intense feeling that I can hardly describe it in words. Writing is an absolute game changer and perhaps one day, it can ensure you tell your own story like I did.
Detective Writer 