Today we welcome Phoenix Blackwood to the blog. They are sharing their journey to becoming a writer as well as an excerpt from The Secrets That Kill Us. Remember to leave a a comment or question as you follow the tour! Best of luck in the giveaway!
At sixteen, Liz had already trudged through hell and back. Having bounced from one foster home to another most of her life, she finally finds herself in a stable home. But stability poses its own challenges after a life of unsteady fooling, and Liz grapples to find a way to be still. Her past still plagues her in this new world. Everything feels wrong, she is at odds with her own body and mind, and struggling to survive.
Liz finds an unlikely friend in Alex, a girl who may not share Liz’s troubled past but strives to understand, even though it means becoming a pariah at school. With Alex’s help, Liz searches for the strength to confront her demons, and the two see each other through addictions, transitions, and the dangerous consequences of coping.
Unable to let herself trust and love, even in this new space with new support, Liz’s trauma begins to drag her under. Some secrets kill, and some truths fight to stay hidden. Unearthing them all will require Liz to trust others despite a lifetime of learning just how dangerous that is.
Read an excerpt:
High school wasn’t much different than middle school, other than things being less sticky and more dingy. I’d made it through freshman year by the skin of my teeth, and now the daunting task of sophomore year stood before me, halfway accomplished. The guys were a lot more obnoxious, graduating from senseless teasing to aggression in order to fulfill their newfound need for overbearing toxic masculinity. I rolled my eyes as I walked past a group of guys pushing each other around, proving my point. At least I wasn’t the new kid this time. I’d somehow managed to keep up with the class and graduate. I'd made it through a year and a half of high school without being held back. It was still a constant struggle. When I got to my locker I squinted at the paper I’d been given for the code, bringing it closer to my face. Contacts weren’t cutting it, I really needed to wear my glasses. But damn, did I hate them. After a few different attempts I managed to get the right numbers and threw the books I didn’t need in. They made a loud slam as they hit the back of the locker.
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I didn’t start out wanting to be a writer. In fact, when I was in school, English was one of my least favorite topics and I hated the lessons. When I was in highschool, I started diving a little into the world of creative writing, actually writing out the scenes that I played through in my head, but didn’t do anything with the writing. I always told myself I’d write a book eventually, but at the time was invested in what was essentially an early version of The Secrets that Kill Us into a webcomic. I even drew a couple pages, but that was as far as I ever got.
When I was younger, my dream was to become an animator for Pixar. This dream slowly fell away as I realized how much I hated working with animation programs. I transitioned from that idea to an illustrator, whether it be for books or concept art for movies or games. This dream lasted into college, where I found that I just didn’t like my artistic process when it was on a deadline. That, coupled with learning how competitive the art world is, was enough to scare me off. I shifted to the idea of psychology and becoming an art therapist.
That’s a dream I still hold in my head, but a couple years ago writing came back into my life in a very real way. I picked up Jennie Wood’s A Boy Like Me at Boston Comic Con one year and it sparked something in me that made me want to tell my story. The story of Secrets had never really left my head, and I finally decided that it was time to get it out on paper. So I started writing a little bit every day, delving into the world and exploring the characters as the story unfolded. Unfortunately, life happened and I put it down for a little while. Another book came along, Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, and it was the kick in the pants that made me want to start writing again after a very long stint of depression.
And so, I wrote – and finished – The Secrets that Kill Us. Through writing this story I discovered how fulfilling it was to write a story that people would see themselves in, and it left me craving more. There will be many more projects to come, and I’m hoping I’ll have success with them, but most of all I’m hoping that I can make at least one person feel like they belong in a time when they’re struggling to find their place.
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ReplyDeleteSounds like a good read.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a wonderful book.
ReplyDelete