I discovered Donna Katko’s books and journal at an author event, and could not stop lingering back to her table. I had my own table to tend to at the same event, but I was very drawn to hers. I could see right away that her message of emotional/mental wellness was lined up with my own. I ended up buying her book and journal, and accidentally stealing one of her bookmarks (ha! oops!).

The phrase “Wr;te On” was particularly attractive to me, and I’d like to express why.

I understand the significance of the semi-colon. Symbolically it represents the idea that it is not the end, but a pause in life. In the genre of mental health awareness, it has become a message to those contemplating suicide – a message to PAUSE and CONTINUE with life.

Donna’s specific message, “Wr;te On,” speaks to me in a way that is very much about my own experience when I lay in bed one night and contemplated the idea of going downstairs while my family slept to overdose on my medication, in hopes it would end my emotional suffering. I lay there, tears soaking my pillow as my then husband slept beside me.

What hit the “;” for me? Was it the thought of my kids finding me in the morning? Well, partially… but the most powerful and definitive moment of “;” was when it occurred to me that the novel I was writing (Somewhere In-Between) would never be finished if I ended my life at that time. I was about half finished with the novel at that point and well engaged with the story and characters. The book had become two things for me: 1) a method to deal with the grief of losing my dad, and 2) an avenue to finally express my own thoughts and musings on spiritual warfare and how they relate to depression and other mental health matters.

It might sound selfish that this was the overbearing thought that presented that pause to me instead of my children, family and friends, but that’s how important that book was to me.

If you have that itch that God has given you to scratch – the itch to write, create, whatever it might be… you need to follow that. Those urgings are important messages. You need to follow them. Your story, your art, whatever it might be – has a purpose. Only YOU can write that book that is in your heart. Only YOU can create whatever it is that you feel led to create. Because nobody else has your soul, your life, your hands, your passion, your VOICE.

I don’t care if my book is a best seller, but I know people have enjoyed it and it has affected others and spoken to others. It doesn’t matter how many readers I have – it just matters that my book is read and shared.

Don’t let your book – your art – lay hidden in a dusty drawer. Put it out in the world.

It just might give “;” to someone else who needs it.