Written in Shards

Life is often described as a series of steps and choices—clear paths leading toward clear goals. But for those of us who have fought our way through pain and trauma, the path is rarely so gentle. Every choice can feel like stepping through broken glass, with skin shredded and footprints left in blood. Some people emerge from that struggle healed; others come out stitched together like a hodgepodge doll, pieced back into something that barely resembles what came before. And yet we search for beauty, even when the world has never shown us any.

We wear the shame of others like armor, mistaking their burdens for our own. We hide our wounds, believing our scars are something to conceal rather than something that speaks to survival. But there is beauty in those scars—quiet, fierce, undeniable.

I have never been able to explain myself with spoken words. Emotion—unless it is anger—has always felt foreign, a language I was never taught to speak. But through writing, everything shifts. On the page, I can express the pain, the hurt, the anger that runs too deep for my voice to carry. I can name the stillness and the beauty that never cross my lips but flow freely when my fingers touch the keys.

In the written word, I hold a power I have never known anywhere else. I can give voice to the voiceless, including the version of myself who was never allowed to speak. On the page, I become master, monster, and savior all at once. Here I am, everything. Here I am, nothing. And somehow both truths feel right.

That is why I created Written in Shards—a place to reclaim my voice. Not just as an author, but as a victim, a survivor, a warrior finally able to stand tall and say: I am here. I lived. You did not break me. This space is mine, piece by shattered piece, rebuilt into something that speaks.

Here, I will share updates on the books I am writing, the stories I am reading, and the authors who have shaped me. I will let the chaos and laughter of my Dungeons & Dragons adventures spill onto the page. And of course, Writer Cat and Hellhound Puppy will claim their rightful place in this world, too.

Written in Shards is where all of me can exist at once—the scarred, the strong, the creative, the curious, the fierce. It is where I gather the fragments of my story, honor them, and offer them to the world on my own terms.