On the Edge: A Look into the Author's Mind

On the Edge is a book about a young woman who finds herself in a dire situation that leaves her life hanging in the balance.  On the Edge is a fictional book that talks about a subject that many teenagers and young adults know very little about; Domestice Violence.  Growing up, I had witnessed domestic violence between my parents and even suffered child abuse but I was never taught was constituted domestic violence and what didn't.  I thought hitting and slapping, you know the pysical stuff, was abuse.  That is, until I suffered domestic violence first hand.  It was then, that I realized-and of course over years of education-that domestic violence is psychological and emotional as well.  

When drafting On the Edge, I was looking for a way to bring young adults (teenagers and early adults) to this book.  How can I attract the audience that I deperately want?  That was easy, make a fictional books with fictional characters and bring it situations that the age group understands.  Get them hooked on the characters and the plot.  So, with research on the "popular" things that young folks are into and many hours thumbing through FaceBook (not to mention many hours of seeing "duck faces" eek!) I finally created a plot for the book.  

I did not create this book to try to become rich (actually it's rare to make millions on books).  I wrote this book to get the word out about domestic violence and to get the population that is most susceptible to domestic violence aware that it exists.  Did you know that the age group most affected by domestic violence are 16-24 year olds?  I did not know that!  

So, to sum up this blog, when I started writing this book, I thought about my past abuse (to be left for another day) and thought that "if I only knew what to look for" or "if someone else knew what to look for" maybe I would have saved myself pain and heartache.  Then it clicked!  I could save someone pain and heartache.  That was when On the Edge began!