Journey of Writing a Book – Two Years In
Journey of Writing a Book – Two Years In
Two years. Writing a book is slow. The analogy of a train starting from the station rings true–it starts slowly, but with time, it picks up steam and then barrels down the tracks.
My writing started when I attempted to develop a documentary on the Survivors Movement two years ago. I like the idea of a documentary as I can interview the heroes who created the Movement. Alas, too many hurdles and early rejections discouraged me from that attempt. While temporarily stopped from making a documentary, my interest in telling a story continued.
I took another fork in the road—I wrote and then submitted several articles to national journals and magazines in the Summer of 2021. I wrote articles tailored for popular magazines, such as Mother Jones, The New Republic, The Nation, and Ms. Magazine. I sent a couple of 5k essays—no joy. I dropped that avenue of advocacy. The denials did not diminish my passion for publicly advocating for survivors of sexual abuse and their emerging social movements.
Figure 1 Early research and exploration
Parallel to these endeavors, I developed a website that gathered many posts of my analyses, links, references, and resources of this new social movement. See StandupSpeakup.org
I engaged with dozens of survivor organizations when I was a leader in one of the largest survivor organizations in the world, SNAP. My immersion in survivor advocacy for over two decades gave me an awareness of the emergence of a new social movement, the Survivors Movement. The explosive growth of this new social movement in the last twenty years is similar to other social movements such as the Women’s or the Civil Rights Movements. I realized widespread awareness of our new social movement had not caught up with the public.
My passion for writing the book arose from my own rape and sexual abuse when I was a child. What happened to me should not happen to another person. I am writing a book to give victims of sexual abuse hope and a spotlight for the path forward. I especially want to demonstrate that victims are not alone—a whole Movement is mobilizing to change the world.
My thesis is that a new social force has emerged and has become a force of change and reform. No longer will victims be subject to intimidation and threats used in the past. There is a national movement of activists, reformers, researchers, advocates, and experts. Now, a victim stands with a Movement when they face the formidable powers of privilege, position, and authority. Survivors have stepped up and are not going away.
Figure 2 Organizing into Chapters and Appendixes
Together, we can overcome the institutions of exploitation and win new support from the general public. We can continue to connect with other social entities such as media, government departments, and social service agencies to raise awareness of this rapidly growing Movement. I point to the power and influence that this new Movement has exerted in changing laws and society as an effort to combat sexual violence in society.
The strongest path for my advocacy is to document this new social Movement. Who are the leaders, how did they create survivor organizations, what were the missions, what are the obstacles, what is the history, etc.? How have collaboration and cooperation increased the power of our Movement? What are the questions that need to be addressed?
Figure 3 Two years researching & writing–waiting for publisher feedback
My book is also an organizing tool for all survivors fighting the institutions of power. I have written about 40k words (~140 pages), created a forty-five-page bibliography, developed a timeline of events, and compiled a database of 200 national survivor organizations. See the list of allies and sister organizations here.
The next step is to get published.
Figure 4 Marketing, graphics, promotion, fundraising, book series, etc.
