The Pearlsong Letter August 2010 -- Transcending Trauma Through Art & Writing

August 2010

A Pearlsong Conversation with author & artist Anne R. Williams—
transcending trauma through art & writing

Join me (Pearlsong publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D.) this coming Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central in a free teleconference call chat with artist & author Anne Richardson Williams as we discuss the healing power of art & writing.

Anne is the author (and illustrator) of Unconventional Means: The Dream Down Under, which chronicles her creative journey after a family tragedy in her youth. Life recently provided her another opportunity to employ her transformative skills, as she uses her creative process to rise above the aftermath of the 2010 Nashville flood.

Anne's hometown of Nashville, TN underwent epic rains and what some have called a Biblical flood the first weekend in May. Her west Nashville house is perched halfway up a steep hill crowned with old-growth forest (now a rarity in the U.S., much less in a suburban setting), so rising water didn't threaten her. But at 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning, May 2, 2010, the high retaining wall behind her house collapsed with a thunder as part of the hillside slid toward her house.

Anne tossed the rubble away from her car and sped to the safety of a friend's house. The mudslide rendered the hill behind her house unstable, the house no longer safe to live in. Three months later she is still living at a friend's house and faced with staggering rebuilding costs that her homeowner's insurance and FEMA won't cover.

What's an artist & author to do? Create art, of course, and write about the experience (which Anne has recently done here.) And hold a Rebuilding Sale with 25% off all her artwork.

This Wednesday I'll talk with Anne about how she's using art & writing to transcend this latest challenge, and how others can use the creative process to cope with and heal their own traumatic experiences.

Email pearlsongconversations @ pearlsong.com (without the spaces) for the details (teleconference phone number & access code), and call the teleconference line at noon Eastern (11 a.m. Central) to listen and/or participate in the hour-long Conversation. The teleconference line will handle up to 96 participants―first come, first served. There is no cost for the call other than your usual long distance charges, if any.

We'd love to hear from you during the call! If you don't feel comfortable speaking up during the July 14 teleconference, then email your questions or comments to me at peggyelam @ pearlsong.com.

We are recording these Pearlsong Conversations and making them available for listening online or downloading after the calls. You can find links to the previous Conversation recordings on the Pearlsong Conversations webpage. See http://www.pearlsong.com/pearlsongconversations.htm for more info and the archived recordings.

And remember—we're nearing the September 2010 publication of Pearlsong Press's newest offering, Lauri J Owen's paranormal romance Fallen Embers (Book One of The Embers Series). We're offering free shipping within the U.S. on advance sales of the trade paperback of Fallen Embers through the retail store on our website at www.pearlsong.com. The books will be shipped on or slightly before the September 1 publication date.

Add any other books to your Fallen Embers advance order and those books will be included in your Fallen Embers shipment along with a check refunding you the $5-per-order shipping charge for those books. So you'll get free shipping for those books, too! (Check out the special offer of a free autographed first edition of Lynne Murray's 1988 novel, Termination Interview, if you buy a copy of her newest novel, Bride of the Living Dead, along with a paperback copy of Fallen Embers or any other Pearlsong Press trade paperback.)

Mark your calendar for a Sunday, September 12, 2010 (5 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Central) Pearlsong Conversation with Lauri J Owen, author of Fallen Embers.

Talk to you Wednesday!

In Joy,

Peggy Elam, Ph.D.
Psychologist, Editor & Publisher
Pearlsong Press

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world,
the Master calls a butterfly."

Richard Bach

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