This is my big day! I’m so excited! My first novel, SOMETHING TO BE BRAVE FOR, has just been released on Amazon, and I’ve been working hard on my author pages on Amazon and Goodreads, not to mention all the social media and blogging.  It’s so rewarding to finally see it out as an ebook after working on it for two years.  Today, I feel like I’ve given birth, although this labor and delivery certainly lasted much longer than my other three children.  Delivering an ebook is not quite the same but it’s a process and a labor of love.  In that sense, this book is my baby, and I will nurture it and make it grow as much as I can in order to help the abused.

To celebrate, friends invited me to one of my favorite places for lunch, La Farina, in Harvard Square—a relaxed quiet place with delicious pasta dishes and cannolis—not far from where Katie and Gillian went to the movies together.    Katie Giraud is the heroine of my book, and Gillian Beckerman is her best friend.  They love old 1940s black and white movies like Gaslight with Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman.  To be “gaslighted” came from the film and describes a technique that abusers use, a form of emotional abuse to manipulate their victims into questioning their own feelings, instincts and memory.  I saw so much of it working as a nurse in the emergency room—domestic violence cases where women thought it was their fault for getting battered, and there was no breaking through their denial.  “She’s being gaslighted,” I’d whisper to one of the other nurses.  “All you can do is patch her up until the next time—maybe then she’ll be ready,” was the answer—or dead.

Time to get back to work!  I’ve got to spread the word to help as many people as I can.  Don’t forget to go on my website priscillabennett.com for all kinds of announcements and information. Click on the Resources button for specific organizations and make a call.  Don’t forget the Priscilla Bennett Pledge and reach out to help someone—a smile, a pat on the arm and a kind word can make a difference.  Thank you, my friends, and remember that all of us have SOMETHING TO BE BRAVE FOR.

XOXO PRISCILLA