If Your Story Is Too Much For Them, Write It Anyway

Silence can feel safer than truth until you realize it is the thing slowly tearing you apart. We sit down with memoir author Tia Strickland to talk about Echoes In Her Bones: Memoirs of the Old Me, a deeply personal survivor story that faces childhood sexual abuse, trauma, pregnancy resulting from assault, infant loss, courtroom moments, and the mental health aftermath that so many people are forced to manage in private.

We also get real about what trauma does to identity. We unpack “performance” as a trauma response, the way survivors learn to smile while they are falling apart, and the long road of reclaiming body autonomy and self-worth. Faith shows up here not as a shortcut, but as an anchor, a way to keep breathing when answers do not come and the memories still hurt.

If you are a writer, this conversation doubles as a practical masterclass on writing a memoir with care. We talk sensory detail, cinematic storytelling, and how editing can polish raw truth without taking away the author’s voice, so a book can reach more readers and still stay honest. We also name the reality of pushback, sometimes from your own circle, and why telling your story can still be the most loving, life-saving choice.

If this resonates, subscribe, share this with someone who needs hope, and leave a review so more survivors and memoir writers can find this conversation.

Transcript

Welcome And Book Club Setup

SPEAKER_07 3:34

Yes, listen, Linda. Listen. Now, before we get started, I have to play one more video for you all, okay? Just one more, and then we're gonna get into Listen, Linda's book club, okay? So just one more video, and I will be right back.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

In the heart of Chicago's West Side, a storm is brewing. They thought they could break us. But they didn't count on China and the Foxy ladies. We're not just fighting for ourselves. In a world of betrayal and violence, we found strength in each other. And when love entered the equation, we discovered the power to change everything. Now they're igniting a revolution. This is our time to shine. No one can stop us when we come together. From the streets to the heart, we're painting our future in bold colors. Fine like China. A story of sisterhood, love, and defiance. Inspired by Jaclyn Cox's Late Parents China and Chico's love story. From international award-winning 11-time best-selling author, Mrs. Illinois, USA Ambassador herself, and global personality, Jaclyn Cox, aka Listen Linda. Ebook available now on Amazon for 99 cents.

Silence, Shame, And Why Stories Matter

Memoir Courage Inside The Boot Camp

Trauma, Identity, And Faith In Healing

Book Trailer And Chapter Reading

SPEAKER_07 5:16

And I am back. I am back. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Listen Linda Book Club Live. I am your host, Dr. Jacqueline Cox, aka Listen Linda. And today we have such a phenomenal book. Okay. I do want to start by saying tonight's conversation is truly one that requires care, compassion, and honesty. Before we even begin, I need to give a viewer discretion advisory, okay? Tonight's book contains real life experiences that involves childhood sexual abuse, trauma, pregnancy resulting from assault, infant loss, court testimony, and mental health struggles. Okay. Um, this is not fiction. This is literally someone's lived experience, okay? So um, as the book warns readers, this book contains real accounts of childhood sexual abuse, it uh accounts pregnancy resulting from sexual abuse, infant loss, medical trauma, and psychological distress. So if at any point tonight you feel overwhelmed, you feel triggered or emotional, please take care of yourself. Pause if you need to. Okay, step away if you need to. Tonight we gather for a reason. We gather for a reason because stories like this one deserve to be heard, and survivors deserve to know that they are not alone. So tonight we are discussing the memoir Echoes in Her Bones: Memoirs of the Old Me by Arthur Tia Strickland. Okay. Um, and this book is not just a story, it is a testimony. So let's begin with prayer. Heavenly Father, tonight we invite you into this conversation, Lord God. This book carries pain, truth, and survival. And we ask that you cover every survivor listening tonight. Bring comfort where memories may rise, bring peace where wounds still ache. Thank you for the courage of women like Tia who choose truth over silence. And remember, Lord God, and and have them remember every person listening tonight that their story does not end with their pain. In Jesus' mighty name, amen, amen, amen. Now, tonight, the book begins with a powerful statement from the author. And when I read it, I truly like I had to pause because the honesty in this line is breathtaking. Tear writes, and I'm just gonna put the book cover up for you all to see. Tear writes, I am not telling this story to shock you, I'm telling you it because silence almost killed me. Silence almost killed me. Let me say that again. Now that line alone reveals just why books like this matter, okay? Because silence is often where trauma hides. Okay, silence is where shame grows. Silence is where survivors feel like they have to carry the weight of someone else's crime. But this book, this book over here, it breaks that silence. Now I want to talk about something personal for a moment because I didn't just read this book as a publisher, I had the privilege of working with Tia in the Listen Linda boot camp, the Arthur Boot Camp, as well as the anthology through the rain. And let me tell you something. When people write fiction, they can hide behind characters, right? But when you write a memoir, you're standing in the light and you're saying, This happened to me. During boot camp, I watched Tia go back into memories. Most people spend their lives trying to forget. There were moments when the writing was heavy, it was heavy. Um, she kept wanting to quit. It was heavy. Um, moments where truth felt painful, moments where the room got quiet, but every time she just kept writing, and that is what courage looks like. That looks like not trying to pretend that the pain didn't happen, but refusing to let it define the end of your story. So let me read a passage from the book. Um, listen carefully to the honesty in these words. Children do not participate in trauma, they survive it. That right there destroys one of the biggest lies that survivors carry. Children are not responsible for abuse, children do not cause abuse, children survive abuse. They survive it, and survival is strength. Okay, one of the themes throughout this book is how trauma impacts identity. There's a passage in the book where Tia describes the emotional performance that survivors learn. And she wrote in the book, and I quote, I have become an expert at performance, smiling when I wanted to scream. I'm gonna tell y'all something, that line stopped me because so many people are walking around doing exactly that. It really hit me hard because I was one of those people. Okay, smiling in public, but breaking on the inside when you're carrying pain that nobody knows about, and this book really shines a light on that reality. And what I deeply, deeply, deeply appreciated about this story and appreciate about this story to this day is that healing is not portrayed like it's automatic, like it's instant, right? It's gradual, it's gradual, so it's messy, it's honest, and faith plays a powerful role in that journey. One moment that stands out when the author reflects on scripture that helped her begin to heal. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. That scripture is Psalms 34 and 18, and sometimes that's the only thing survivors have left. Not answers, you know. Um, let me see, somebody's saying something. Performance is a trauma response. Amen. Performance is absolutely that. It is a trauma response. Absolutely, Sharice. I cannot agree more. Sometimes the only things that survivors have left, because it's not answers, it's not explanations, right? It's just reminder that God is near. That's right, Sharice. Keeping the peace while in pieces. I want to read another powerful line from the book. And that powerful line from the book um was what was meant to break me became the fire that remade me. Come on now, Tia. If you wasn't preaching to us in echoes in her bones, girl, I would have thought you was a minister. What was meant to break me became the fire that remade me. That line captured the whole heart of the book for me. It really did, because this is not just a story about trauma. This is a story about survival. And a lot of times when you're working with different publishers, they only read the trauma, they don't see the superhero. So a lot of times when books get graphic and they they may have a little vulgar language here, there. I try not to look so much at the vulgarity of the language, because we can fix that. Because we don't want to take too much of your voice out, but we also want to make sure that the book can reach multiple people and multiple genres and multiple audiences, because everybody in any of those audiences, always somebody who understands that story. Just like I said in the in the um in the post that I put up today, it could be a homeless story, that uh homeless person that relates to your story. It could be a millionaire, billionaire that relates to your story. You are not confined in a box, and what you have to say matters. What happened to you matters. Never let anyone tell you, oh, I don't want to do this. I don't want to. If they want, if they don't want to do it for you, it's always somebody like me, not just me, but it's all types of publishers who respect your story, who respect you, and who will handle it with care and help you frame it in a way that everyone can relate. Okay? Never think that your story does not matter. Never get down or depressed because someone says, Oh, you're not in my eyes, not aligned. If they are really faith-based, like they say that they are, they will have compassion, they will have empathy, and they will do the work that needs to be done to get your story out there. Because your story is a story about survival, not about trauma. Okay, so I just wanted to say that. And it's some store, it's some scriptures in the Bible that speak directly to my surviving sisters and brothers out here, because it's not just women who are surviving these things, there are men as well, and like we said earlier, Psalms 34, 18, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted, but then you also have Isaiah 61 and 3, he will give you beauty for ashes, beauty for ashes. Because the trauma may still season, but God, my God, he still restores purpose. He still restores purpose. I want to read another um, another excerpt from her book, and I'm gonna go. I'm on my phone. You guys see, I'm looking at the e-book. I flipped my office upside down trying to find this book, and I really think I let someone borrow that book. Um, so I definitely gonna get it back. I know who I gave it to, and you better give it back. But I want to read another excerpt from her book. But you know what? Before I do that, I really want, like I said, viewer discretion is advised. Let's play the trailer from this book. Let's do that.

SPEAKER_04 17:36

I woke up to a hand over my mouth and a lie whispered in my ear. He called it love, while he stole every inch of my childhood. I felt everything, the weight, the pain, the betrayal. I bled in silence because he told me to. I didn't know I was pregnant even until they rushed me to labor and delivery. I delivered a baby born of rape, and she never took a breath. She looked just like him. How do you bury a child who only lived in your body? That was the first time I said the word rape. I faced the monster, and the truth couldn't hide anymore. Guilty. And even after the courtroom abuse found me again. But this time, I chose me. My bones remember the echoes, but I am not the girl who lived them. This is not a story of pain.

SPEAKER_05 18:36

This is a story of rising.

Writing Memoir With Sensory Detail

SPEAKER_07 18:43

That is the trailer for echoes in her bones. Okay, and I'm going to read the first chapter. Echoes after the silence. That morning, it felt as if silence had swallowed the sun. The air was heavy, unmoving, as though the room itself were holding its breath, waiting for me to break. Dust floated in the slivers of light slipping through the blinds, each part particle suspended in time, mirroring the weight that I felt, caught between past and present. The walls, once familiar, now loomed like strangers, their faded pink carrying the weight of secrets I had tried so hard to bury. My childhood posters hung crooked, their colors dulled in a mocking joy, reminders of a girl who once believed in safety, in innocence, in dreams untouched by violence. Even the floor seemed to creak differently beneath my feet, as if it too knew the truth I carried. And in that moment, I realized the room didn't belong to me anymore. It had been stolen, claimed by the memory of my father's violence. The air, the light, the silence of it all, all of it was marked by his shadow. What should have been mine, my sanctuary, had become a crime scene that I could never escape. Nothing in that space was innocent anymore. It all belonged to the story I had been forced to live, the story that had seeped into every corner, staining what once felt safe. Because what he took from me was not the end of me. I survived because God carried me when I could not carry myself. In the nights when fear pressed hardest, I prayed. And in prayer, I found strength I didn't know I had. My support group became the hands and voices of that strength. And women and men who listened without judgment, who reminded me that I was not alone, who spoke life into the places where I felt only death. Together, they helped me reclaim what had been stolen. Slowly, piece by piece, I began to take back ownership, not of the room, but of myself. Of myself. My pillow was damp, not from my tears, but from the weight of all I couldn't say. The blanket tangled around my legs like a trap. And the mattress beneath me felt colder than it should have, as if it too knew. A stuffed animal lay on the floor, face down, arms stretched. I stared at it, wondered if it too had hurt. The closet door slightly creaked, not from movement, but from memory. Every corner of this room whispered what I was trying to forget. And yet, in that stillness, flicker stirred, not hope, not healing, but the first breath of survival. After that night that changed my world, I became an alien to myself. The girl who craved innocence began clinging to survival. I didn't know how to process what was happening, only how to escape it. For a long time, I chased comfort in places it never lived. I mistook attention for affection. Okay. I mistook proximity for safety. And yes, too, intimacy because not because I was ready, but because I was desperate to control something, anything. My boundaries had already been broken. And I was left trying to rebuild them with fragments that could never quite hold. Each sexual partner was a question I couldn't answer. Was this love? Was this power? Was this me reclaiming my body or losing it all over again? Sometimes the answer changed with the night. Sometimes I convinced myself it was love because love was supposed to heal. Other times I told myself it was power because power meant I wasn't a victim anymore. But most times I left feeling emptier than before, like I had traded pieces of myself for moments that dissolved as quickly as it came. I think back to lying in bed afterward, staring at the sale and wondering if anyone else felt this empty. I wondered if my body remembered what my mind was trying to forget. If I was building a new life or simply layering scars, excuse me, on top of the old ones. There were nights when I laughed too loudly, touched too easily, and pretended I was just fine. There were mornings when I couldn't look at myself in the mirror without flinching. I had become an expert at performance, smiling when I wanted to scream, flirting when I wanted to cry, faking into intimacy when all I wanted was safety. But beneath the surface, I was searching and searching for something to anchor me, for a way to feel whole again, and for proof that I was more than what had been taken from me. Whether I could learn to trust myself again, whether I could believe that my worth wasn't tied to who touched me or how often or why. Each time I chose to keep going, each time I decided to get up and face another day I was reclaiming something, my body, but not all at once, but my voice, my right to exist without apology. See, healing didn't arrive like a sunrise, sudden and brilliant. It came like the slow turning of seasons, barely noticeable at first, until one day I realized the air felt lighter, the earth steadier beneath my feet. I began to understand that my choices were shaped by pain and not by weakness. I started to forgive myself for the ways I coped. I remember the first time I told someone my truth, my voice shook, my hands trembled, but I spoke. It was the beginning of learning that my story didn't have to stay locked inside. I found people who listened. I found spaces that felt safe. I found healing, not all at once, but peace by peace. Some days looked like crying until I couldn't anymore. Other days it looked like laughter. I thought I'd lost forever. I learned that reclaiming my body wasn't about who touched it, it was about who owned it. Now I do. That is just an excerpt from Echoes in Her Bones by Tia Strickland. Now, when we first got this book, and Tia, I wish she was on here, she would definitely tell you. When we first wrote this book, well, when she first wrote the book, um it was raw. It was very raw. And there are some there is a lot of rawness in this book. I didn't take away her voice, but to be able, you have to know when you're working with any publisher or any editor for your book. I want you all to realize that sensory matters. Sensory creates cinematic voice to your story. When a when a reader is reading your book, they want to, girl, you but you got the girl. If you look, here you got the stream yard link. Click on it, girl, so I can bring you on here. Stop commenting. Yes, it was raw real. When I say when you write and you and you make sure that you use your smell, touch, taste, um, what you heard, what you what you saw, what you see, what you feel. Um, when you explain that in depth in your story, it draws the reader in and it creates a cinematic picture in their mind. And when they read, it's like reading, like like watching a movie. You want the reader to feel what you felt, to taste what you taste, to hear what you heard, to see what you saw. Those are the most important pieces when writing, especially a memoir. You want to make sure that you touch on every single detail of that story and of not just the story, but of your story, your truth, your life. Because when you draw them in and they can be in that moment with you, it makes them understand the story so much better, especially if it's people who have lived that with you. Okay, I'm gonna actually call in Tia since she don't wanna click on the link and calling her now. And if you watching Tia, answer your phone.

SPEAKER_06 30:56

She did not answer people, and I know she's watching because here's her right here.

SPEAKER_05 31:10

See, it's always the good clients that be the problem clients. I really want to get her on because what are you doing?

Break And Devotional Promo Clip

SPEAKER_07 31:22

I'm trying to get her on for y'all, and while while I'm trying to get Tia on, we're gonna take a break and go into I don't know, let's do a video. Okay, she entered because I was gonna get her tell. And before I bring on Tia, I'm going to play a video and then come right back, okay? So we're gonna give it like a two-minute break, so to speak, and then we're gonna come right back.

SPEAKER_05 31:54

What listen, Linda?

SPEAKER_00 31:56

I haven't they told me to come inside before I caught a cold, but what they didn't know was I was already dying inside. That day I didn't run from the rain. I ran into it. Because sometimes the only way to heal is to let heaven soak you. When I lost my daughter, the world went silent. I begged God to let me die too. Depression chained me, guilt buried me, shame tried to erase me. But then, in the middle of my breaking, I heard him whisper, Leanne, I want to drench you in grace. In that moment, I lifted my hand and let every drop wash the pain away, every burden, every secret, every tear. God wasn't punishing me, he was purifying me. He reminded me that I wasn't alone, that the same God who calms the storm was standing in it with me. His grace didn't just touch me, it drenched me. He is raising up daughters who carry his presence into the darkest places. Women who aren't afraid to get messy in the storm if it means someone else feels his rain. You see, the most powerful women aren't the loudest. They're the ones anchored in God, grounded in truth, wrapped in his love, and completely drenched in his grace. Experience the story that will wash your soul clean and remind you that God never wastes the storm. Drenched in Grace by Dr. Leanne Cerise, Hendrick H. C. From the Through the Rain Devotional Anthology. Pre-order today for$30 at www.beyondhecalling.com. Presented by Listen Linda Publishing, where healing meets purpose.

Tia Strickland On Telling Her Truth

SPEAKER_07 33:48

And now we are back with Tia. This was last minute for her, y'all, so it ain't her fault. I just undrugged her out of the chambers, honey, so we could talk about this book. Now you did tell me for people. I will tell y'all, she did tell me. She said, whenever you do it, just let me know if I could pop in. I will. And I bugged her until she popped in. So thank you.

SPEAKER_03 34:17

I'm in. I'm here.

SPEAKER_07 34:21

Tia, tell the audience what it was like. Um, going back when you when you go about and you think about writing this book, what emotions were um going through your mind? And I don't have my questions, I'm just going off the top of my don't, but what emotions were going um going through your mind as you started to relive some of these things that first of all, tell everybody who you are, um, what you do, and the the kind of like the overall theme of this book.

SPEAKER_03 35:01

Okay. My name is Tia Strickland. I am a full-time government worker. Um, the memoir is definitely a 100% true story, real and raw. Um no details edited, nothing dropped off, nothing substituted, nothing watered down. So how how I lived it is how I presented it and how the readers is reading it.

SPEAKER_07 35:31

Okay. And and and when you say that, um, I want you to give a little bit of background about the book and what happened to you. Without giving too much away, just you know, just sum it up for for the viewers, um, your story. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

So pretty much I came from a single mother background. Um, I was the one always in school. I was looking, my friends always had a two-parent household. So we got to the point I used to always question my mom, oh, well, where's my dad? You know, and I was a twin, you know, complete, complete opposite path. You know, she didn't really care. She was just going going through life in school. But I was the one, I seen my friends with that two-parent household. So I'm like, where's my dad? Oh, you know, he's incarcerated, you know, he's been incarcerated since y'all have been born. Okay, cool. Didn't think nothing of it. Um, I was like in middle school, and my mom had finally told us she was like, Your dad is about to be released from jail. So I was like, ooh, great. You know, I've been praying for a dad, so maybe, you know, he'll be able to go sit on the front row of games, you know, go to father-daughter dances, you know, trying to do how everybody else was. You know, I was like, maybe I can finally fit in and accept having a dad around. It wasn't like that. Um, the phrase stop praying for something that you don't know what it's about really came to standard. If I realized that the rape and everything would have come back from me wanting my father around, I wouldn't have never prayed, asking God, where is my father? Bring my father around. So I did resent, I did run from the church, I did do everything. I ran to the street, um, ended up pregnant three times because I, you know, I was mad at God. I was mad, I was mad at the world because I felt like He let me down because what I was praying for, you know, wasn't wasn't what I wanted. But just to skip up to present day, what I went through has made me the person that I am today.

SPEAKER_07 37:38

And when you when you say um what you pray for is not what you wanted, and you wish that you probably had never asked God for that. And when you ask God, why did it have to become packaged in that, right? Um for the readers who don't know, um Tia was sexually abused by her father at a young age. Um, and that continued to happen um because her mom, you know, God bless her mom was thinking she was doing the right thing by bringing her dad back around in her life because her mom was unaware of these things as well. Um, and she goes back, you know, more about that in the story as well, um, without giving too much away. Um, but um how was that like reliving those moments while you were writing the book? I know how it was because I was there with you. Um and we we kind of we kind of polished it, but we didn't take away from the story. Um, I I want to, I want I'm so glad Tia said this story is not watered down. I didn't condemn her because of her truth. I didn't um make her feel now. You correct me if I'm wrong. If I did, you tell him, girl, don't don't let me lie. Oh let me try to don't let me lie to keep the peace. But I I want to um let me let me rephrase that with a question. During the process of of doing your memoir and telling your story, was it any time that you felt like your voice was being taken away? Or you felt like you had to hide your voice?

SPEAKER_03 39:24

I felt like I had to hide it, and that was personal. That wasn't that wasn't from you being my publisher, my coach, my pusher. I think uh it was me, right? It was many times I was like, I'm done, I don't want to do it, I'll be the next one. I just I can't, I can't, but I knew I had to, it was a purpose, it was driven, you know. Over 20 years, I've been waiting to get this story out, and I know I had so many people waiting for it, so I'm like, you know what, why not go ahead and do it?

Pushback From Your Own Circle

SPEAKER_07 39:54

Yeah, and I'm a firm believer of if you're gonna tell your story, tell it all away. Um, don't leave anything out. Um, I'm not a judgmental person, and I I really love creating spaces like this where women are not condemned by what they've been through. Because, like I said in the beginning of this um podcast, I don't know if you were on yet or not, but your story is not trauma, it's survival, it's what makes you a superhero, it's what makes you a superwoman. Because you were when I say this is one of the most bravest ladies I've ever met, like in my entire life. The way that she poured everything into the pages for you all. Um, it was it was nothing short but the glory of God, you know, keeping her and her mental through this whole process. Um, all glory to God, because this book has gone on and is still going on to do amazing things, Tia. I'm so, so proud of you. Um, I also wanted to know because I'm pretty sure a lot of the audience would want to know. Um, was there any negative feedback from maybe people in your community, family, friends, people who knew of some of the because it wasn't just one perpetrator in this book. Let's be clear, there were a few um people who who were not um good people in this book who were not good characters. Um, so was there any pushback or you know, people who were giving you kind of a hard time because of you writing this book?

SPEAKER_03 41:46

I hate to say it, but it was my circle, my own circle. And I can say it proudly now. I'm okay if you did not support my book. I'm fine. Because I had to look at it certain ways. One, they knew the journey was deep. So maybe they didn't want to relive what I went through or what they went through with me during my recovery stage. And then I had some. Well, why did you tell your story? Why, why do the world need to know? Well, the world, the world needs to know. I'm ready to help that next little girl, that next little boy that's going through it. So I'm I'm fine if people don't, if people don't support it. And I hate to say it, but it's the strangers who's who's supporting me 100%. It's the ones that been through somewhat of it. It's support groups that's asking me, hey, you know, can we get a copy? Can we put it in our, you know, our library for, you know, young women, battered women. Um, you know, like just to help them through their recovery. And I'm fine with that. So yes, I did get a lot of pushback and a lot of lashback. But now today, I can say I'm fine. When I first published that book, oh, I was in tears. But I why don't they want to do it? You did. You did. You that that you did. But I knew too when I first was doing it that I knew I would have some people that don't support me, but I didn't know it was gonna be my circle.

SPEAKER_07 43:19

Yeah, I was alive. Usually, usually your circle's like, oh, girl, you need to write a book. You should write a book, girl. If you write a book, we abide. I I heard that so much, and then when I finally wrote mountains, all the people said it was so bad. Gone, and they condemn me. How could you do that? I'm like, you the same person told me to write the book. The same one that told you. And so I tell everybody if you're gonna write your story, write it because of you. Not saying that you didn't do that, right? I know you did. That's why we moved forward. And you was like, Look, they say what they say, but girl, I don't care about nothing what they're talking about. I'm gonna tell my truth, and I appreciate that so much about you because a lot. Of people hold their stories inside because they are so afraid of what their friends are gonna say or what they're doing.

SPEAKER_03 44:07

I did that for years, I couldn't hold it no more. I did that for years, I couldn't do it anymore. And I feel like it was like a big burden release once that book was done. It was done, I was able to wash my hands and I was like, look at God, it's done. Yeah, because I felt like it was a big burden that was holding me down because I knew I had it inside of me, and I knew that one or two people that was waiting for it. So once I had a I had a female, she was waiting for the book. I gave it to her, I gifted it to her. Next thing I know, she she walked off from a marriage that she was struggling with this from. She said, Tia, I needed that push. I needed somebody to encourage me to do it. So, you know, as long as I touch one soul and I think I did, I'm fine. Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 44:53

And just going back and touching back on just the whole process of the book, what would you say um was the best part? Other than, of course, like you say, you know, you felt like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. But has there been any events that you've done or, you know, um where people um who have read your book may have come back and say, you know, this person uh this has really helped me in this way, or you know.

SPEAKER_03 45:25

I love all my readers' feedback. Like when they send me comments, oh, I I put I want the world to see that people are still talking about this book. But I take my book everywhere, even even in my vendor events, Infinity Sense, we got we got books on table. We're we're we're catching strangers, we're catching anybody. So that book has become me, my journey, but in hand form. I may not have time to sit here and talk to you about my whole journey. Here, purchase my book, enjoy my journey, pass it on when you need to.

Advice For Writers Facing Judgment

SPEAKER_07 46:00

Absolutely, absolutely. Um, if you could um encourage someone who may have a story, but they're scared of the pushback, they're scared of the critics, people who ain't never wrote a book a day in their life. The critics always be somebody who never wrote a book, don't know the first thing about publishing, never, you know, never uh accomplish really too much, nothing. Because one thing um I learned, um, and I think fabulous said this the winners focus on the win and the losers focus on the winners. So, what advice would you give someone who knows they have a story, who know that their story can help someone else, but they are afraid of judgment.

SPEAKER_03 46:52

Tell your story before you allow somebody else to tell it incorrectly. That's that's one that I would have to say. Don't leave this world without telling your story. Once you're gone, they're going to edit it, they're going to change everything about it. So tell it while you can. It's okay if all the negative feedback, it's fine, but at least you know deep down what the real truth was, and that's all you need.

SPEAKER_07 47:22

Absolutely, absolutely. And and I want to just uh piggyback on what Tia just said. Um, a lot of times we don't understand that the reason why we go through these things in life, the reason why God takes us on these journeys is because there are lives that are attached to our assignment. You don't know what your assignment is. My story may help someone else be bold or brave enough to tell the story, or my story may help someone not commit suicide, my story might help someone see, you know what? Even though she went through all of this, life still turned out great for her. So if life turned out that way for her, life can still turn out that way for me. And it's not an I am a faith-based platform, I am, but just because I'm a faith-based platform does not mean that everybody who follows me is faith-based. And me as a woman of God, I am okay with that. I cannot force you to believe in God, I cannot force you into believing the things that I believe. But what I can do as a woman of God, it shows you because of my thought process and my faith. I believe in my heart that God delivered me through this, right? And they and I I've had literally had people come up to me, Tia, and say, you know what? I didn't believe that God was real. I didn't believe, but girl, you've been through so much. And for you to say that God brought you to through those things, I may just have to pick up a Bible. I may, I have had people in my life, family and friends, who did not pray as much. You couldn't catch them saying to God be the glory. After staying around me, I may rub off on you. It's not like I'm trying to push it on you, but I cannot be who I am today without giving all glory to God. And a lot of times, like I said, God will take us on a path and we will think that He does not love us. He will we will think that He is not there. But trust and believe, just like Tia, just like me, we have some stories that shake the earth. Do you hear me? But God brought us through those things, and He and we not done. Tia might still be going through some stuff, I may still be going through some stuff y'all know nothing about. But we will tell you this we our faith in God is so strong now that we don't even let it stress us. We be like, yeah, because we've been through that and we know what that looks like, and we know what the attack looks like, but we don't condemn people who don't believe. Only thing we can do is the people that are attached to us is show you the miracle that happened to us to show you. You know what, you may not think God is real, but let me show you all this stuff I've been through, and let me show you how my brain is still sane. Let me show you how I have risen above those things, like your chapter, Beauty for Ashes. Let me show you how God made beauty out of ashes, because only He could have done the impossible. So if you don't believe in God, you're gonna believe in something when you get done with me and Tia. I'm telling you, because I've been through some stuff, and stop me anytime, Tia. So one last thing before we go. Um no, two more. I want you to give us three things that you wish you could have done differently when writing the book, and then the three things that you would not change, and these are all questions on the top of my dome. Y'all see I don't see the comment. I ain't got nothing written down. I just going with the flow today.

SPEAKER_03 51:39

So three things that I would change during the process of writing the book, right? I think I would have got my spouse involved because I went through this that 21-day boot camp pretty much on a secret. So once I got done with the calls, I was emotionally drained. And he he didn't know why. But that's because I held I held it all in. Where if I felt like I expressed my 21 day and what I was about to do and go on, I would have had that network and that support.

SPEAKER_07 52:26

So he can't support what he don't know. Correct, absolutely, absolutely, and sometimes we do that because of shame or because like we don't, we we we we know that the men in our life they're carrying so much already, right? And they're dealing with so much, especially me and you as you know, veteran wives. We don't want to put too much on our husbands at one time, and I can understand that, but I do believe that um I agree with you on that.

SPEAKER_03 52:53

Um to be honest, I wouldn't change anything, to be honest. That's the only thing the journey, I love the journey. I love the journey with you, like you really made my writing, you know, like a really smooth sailing. I went in here blindsided. You knew that. I didn't know what I was about to get into. I didn't know what I was doing. So because I felt comfortable, because you being the coach, you know, coaching me all the way through, I didn't feel like finishing this thing. Oh, I wish you would have done this, or I wish I would have done that. So I don't think I would change anything else.

SPEAKER_07 53:38

And what's let's just leave it to one thing. What's one thing that you are glad that you did after the book was released?

SPEAKER_03 53:48

I finished it. I got it out there because you know me, halfway through what I tell you, I'm done. I'm not doing nothing else. I can't.

Editing Without Losing Your Voice

Awards, Events, And Where To Buy

SPEAKER_07 53:58

One thing about me, when I'm in my coaching, I'm very I have a very rigorous coaching uh technique. So you'll think you finished with something because a lot of things people get misconstrued as they think that when they come with their finished manuscript, that's it. We just gonna go to publishing. Oh no, I'm gonna dissect that thing all the way down. I'm gonna pull out, excuse me, the sensory, the detail, the emotion, what were you feeling like in this moment to help you curate the best possible book that you can, not just for yourself, but for the reader. But what I also try to do is make sure that when your book is published, it can reach more than one type of audience. A lot of people don't understand that it's not what you write, it's how it's written. And we didn't take away your voice, we polished it, it was a little vulgar, and but we still have parts in there, but we made it palatable for different audiences, ages 12 to 200, can read this book and be healed from this book. We don't want to leave it to one genre, but other people miss out on what could be a blessing in their life, which is your story. And I was so grateful because um you allowed me to help you. I mean, you didn't fight me on it. Um, and I, you know what? Nobody has ever, even the people in my anthology, now that I think about it, has ever fought me on just helping them polish up their work. Um, but with you, you were you were by far um one of the most powerful stories. And I have published 152 stories under Listen Linda, and you are by far, you Mount Rushmore. You got to be one at the top of the list because yours was so vulnerable, it was raw, it was real, you were transparent, you didn't leave anything out, and you it was sometimes you wanted to quit, but you know I wasn't gonna let you have that because you weren't gonna do that no way for real, for real. Like you wasn't gonna spend your money on nothing and didn't complete it. So I wasn't worried about that, but I knew and I told you, I said, I will warn you when I wrote my memoir, I had to go back to therapy, and um that's why you know, doing this life coaching sessions and stuff now, um, that I do now um as a certified life coach, it really helps me to coach my authors through their trauma so they could be able to write. And, you know, and I do sometimes offer ghostwriting services. I didn't do it for your book, but there have been books that I have done ghostwriting services for because sometimes people are just so broken, they just cannot finish. Once they tell me everything, they ain't going back telling me nothing else until they go back and read it and approve it. But I didn't have to do that with you. You you're very well spoken and it bleeds into your writing. You are a phenomenal writer. Um, I didn't even know. Like I said, me and her were going into this. I didn't know what her writing style was. I didn't know, you know, if she was experienced or not, and she wasn't, but the fact that she used her real voice and she's so very well spoken, um, so very well poised, it bleeds into her work, and her work is like art. It really is. It's just a phenomenal writer. It was like God, God gave her the gift. She didn't even know she had it. When I say it was not much I had to do for her book, I was so very, very thankful. I said, Lord, you know what I needed at this time because all I had to do was explain, and she got it. She she got it, and when I say she got it, look at the masterpiece that came from the just her, just everything about echoes in her bones was phenomenal. And I will say, even uh, she participated in the Listen Linda book awards. Um, those judges that I had did not play, they were professional writers. Uh, I wish I could tell who the judges were, but I cannot. But I will tell you this these are award-winning authors, award-winning publishers. Well, I could say one, Zane. Zane was one of them. Um, a really good person, uh friend of mine, and she was one of the judges. And when I say phenomenal, it was the judges were floored, floored by bones. I call it bones, but echoes in her bones. They were floored. Now I already knew I was floored. That's why I couldn't be a judge because I would have been biased. And it was a lot of people who were coming in who did not publish under Listen Linda, who also won, but Tia took home first place, honey. So I cannot wait to get started on this next book that she did win free publishing by listen. All my all my first, second, and third place winners won free publishing um for their next book with Listen Linda. And I cannot wait to get started to see what she got coming next. Um, can you let everybody know what do you have coming up next? Do you have any events that you're participating in for the rest of this month? Like, what is your plan moving forward?

SPEAKER_03 59:39

Um, so this upcoming weekend, I'll be in William Williamsburg, Virginia for the um moments from um legacy unlock conference. Um, in infinity will be pushed to the side for this one. And we're doing nothing. Echoes and the uh through the rain anthology. We're letting the book sit front front face this time.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:02

Awesome, awesome, awesome. But she still be rapping, girl. It don't matter if she got her body butters or whatever she got out there, she got um echoes right there, and she got beautiful ash, beauty in the rain right there next to it. And she makes sure um that she reps. And I love that about you, girl. I love that about you. Um, also tell people where they can find you and where they can purchase the book.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:28

Sure, you can find me on social media, uh Tia Bia, and you can also purchase the book from our website. It's Tia Strick uh Strickland, but without the R. So it's just T-I-A. Yep, there you go.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:45

Okie dokie. Well, you know it's always good, girl, to have you on. It's always a pleasure. You know, you my good girlfriend, you my cousin from another cousin, honey. I love you like Christ loved the church. Um, I'm gonna drop you down. We're going to, no, matter of fact, before I drop you down, we're gonna play the trailer from the book one more time. For those who you of you who did not see the trailer, we're gonna play that one more time.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:13

Started with the sound of my bedroom door cracking open. I woke up to a hand over my mouth and a lie whispered in my ear. He called it love. While he stole every inch of my childhood, I felt everything, the weight, the pain, the betrayal. I bled in silence because he told me to. I didn't know I was pregnant even until they rushed me to labor and delivery. I delivered a baby, born of rape, and she never took a breath. She looked just like him. How do you bury a child who only live in your body? That was the first time I said the word rape. I faced the monster, and the truth couldn't hide anymore. Guilty. And even after the corporate abuse found me again. But this time, I chose me. My bones remember the echoes. But I am not the girl who lived them. This is not a story of pain, this is a story of rising.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:20

Yes, yes, yes. Now I remember when I first put this trailer up before we go. I know y'all keep saying this girl keeps saying before we go. But I just love your book. I do. And it's not that I enjoy trauma, I enjoy seeing a woman break through that. I love to see women overcome things that the devil thinks they're gonna take from them, and you just take it back. I love it, I love it. I loved everything about it. Um, it reminded me a lot of the things that I went through. And I mean, you had that conversation. It reminds me so much of Mountain. I was like, yes, please, thank you, Lord, for letting me help publish this. Um, and just going through the boot camp with you, trying to, you know, teaching you the ins and out of not just becoming an author, right? But becoming a publisher. Um, because I do, I, I, I just see, I see you going on and doing the same things. I'm not saying that's that's just because you know what your path is, God know what it is for you, right? But I just, you know, just to see you say, you know what, let me help somebody else tell their story in their way, and and you are still participating in and and and and just showing up for people. I truly love that about you. Um, when we finished this trailer, what was the response like?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:48

Tell the people what the response because I know what it was like for me. When is it coming? Where can I get it? My pre-orders, oh, that that really took it. That really took it. I was sitting at my son's uh birthday party, dinner when when that came out. I left the table, had to get myself together. Then I came back and I popped it on the table. I was like, here we go. And then next thing I know, pre-orders started coming in. Pre-orders started coming in. I still keep that on my page. That trailer will forever stay on my page. That's where it all started at.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:23

Yep. Phenomenal, phenomenal. Just you know, one thing about listening to publishing, um, working with our authors. We really, really try to make sure that we keep you all at the forefront of your stories. Um I'm not jumping in front of talking about, yeah, look at me, but I'm the publisher now. No, I believe that you all need to be uplifted, encouraged, inspired, but also um empowered. And I can't do that with my authors if well, not my authors, I can't do that with the authors that work with me. Um, if I'm always like, yeah, but me, yeah, but me. No, I I want you all to, I want to take you from wherever you are and put you at the highest platform that I can possibly put you. And then if I know people who can put you even higher, I want to make sure that those doors are presented to you as well. And you have been an absolute phenomenon. She graced the cover of Listen Linda magazine for domestic violence awareness month. Um, she has also contributed to Through the Rain. Um, the anthology. Were you in the devotional too? Or was you just in the devotional? I don't think just I was in the uh anthology devotional tool. Yeah, the devotional. So she was in the devotional. She always, you know, besides being A full-time worker for the government, and you know, with other side jobs, um, and being a mom and being a wife and being a domestic violence advocate, she is a phenomenal friend. And I truly, this girl to be what we been went through what we went through and still have a heart like ours, that's nothing but God. So I appreciate you, my Tia Bia, my sister, my cousin. I call her my cousin, y'all. We've been calling each other cousins since we met each other. This is my girl. Look, she just came on, she didn't even have to come home, but she came on. I was bothering her so much. She's like, let me just log on. Let's tell this girl can stop calling my phone. She don't even know how I look on the other end. She don't even care. She's just trying to call me. I could be doing anything right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:54

Listen, listen. I was like, okay, I'm here. I'm here.

Final Blessing, Affirmations, And Outro

SPEAKER_07 1:06:59

But I'm glad you came on because I can only express your book so much, right? Um, but I think once people see the face behind the story, because once again, y'all, that's her. That's her face. This is the real person, and she's telling real truth here. Um, I truly believe that what you're doing and what you continue to do is a part of your assignment. And like I said, we all have people attached to our assignments. And those people that's reading your stories that are um that are are are being inspired to tell their truth because they see that you did it and it worked for you. Hopefully, we can inspire more people, men and women, to tell their truth and not be ashamed and not be afraid of what other people may think. Because at the end of the day, when you let go and you leave it at the altar, your life, the weight on you just gets so much lighter and you become so much more free and so much more healthy, and you gain so much more peace. And I'm glad that you were able to do that with echoes and her bones and and other future projects that you may have coming. So I love you again. Um, let's give it up one more time for Tia Strickland. You can purchase your signed copy directly from her website, www.tia s t i c l-n d dot com. Or you can find her on Facebook. She's on my page, actually. Tia Strickland with an R. Um, it was so great for you coming in today. I appreciate you so much. I love you, love you, love you, love you. All right, and I'm gonna leave this book cover up, but I do want to end by saying, if tonight's conversation moves you and you want to read the full story, you can always publish the book in two places. Um, but I'm not gonna name the other place. I'm just gonna send you directly again to tia strickland.com. That's www.t-i-a-s-t-i-c-k-l-a-n-d.com because supporting books like this means supporting supporting survivors' voices, okay. Um, if you are listening tonight and parts of this story touch something deep inside of you, please remember this. Your trauma is not the end of your story. Your voice matters, your healing matters, and you deserve peace. Father God, we thank you for the courage of survivors who choose truth over their silence, Lord God. Heal hearts tonight, Lord God, restore hope where pain once lived, Lord God, and remind every person listening that their story still carries purpose. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. I am not happy with what happened to me. I am what I choose to become. My voice matters, my healing matters, and my story still has a purpose. This has been Listen Linda Book Club Live, and tonight we did not just read from a book. We truly witnessed survival. Good night, everybody, and I'm gonna leave you all with one of um my songs from my debut album, Listen Linda, and it is called God Did That.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:45

Love you all like Christ. Love the church.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:52

Let me test it real quick. God did that. It's glowing love. It's just glory. I did that, and oh I did that. When it comes up, I did that. I'll put a little foot up when I didn't want to close one. I was gonna break it. I'm back, I just think it's all I just don't want to skip, it's what's we need to do. Only one night to cut it.