All The Way To Santa Fe

by Jackie Ferrell

In my memoir, I begin my synopsis with the question "do I live, or do I die?" when facing trauma and loss in our lives. Considering these exact words may not form in our conscious minds, the feelings themselves can still be overwhelming and consuming. In my book, these feelings were in my conscious mind as a senior in high school and again recently when losing one home after another mostly as a result of mold. When indoor dampness leads to allergic rhinitis, this results in a cost of $3.7 billion annually. With 70% of homes in this country containing mold, 28% of the US population also carry the genes that make it impossible to process the mycotoxins found in mold regardless of the amount of exposure. When my husband and I began losing one home after another mostly due to mold, the trauma of each loss triggered memories of my early childhood abuse, resulting in a healing journey no one expected. With each loss, we began another search for a safe and healthy home bringing about healing and revelations never considered for those suffering with the scars of severe childhood abuse. My story begins with the commonality of childhood and abuse, but it is a story of adapting, of determination, and most importantly, of never giving up.

165 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 30, 2022

About the author

My first memory of writing was when I wrote a Christmas play when I was eight years old. I was a class reporter for my middle school newspaper at 13 years of age. I joined an Explorer's Club in Journalism during my junior year in high school. During my senior year, I wrote a daily paper and the final journal for our week's summer camp. I began writing poetry later in life and then came up with my first idea for a children's book. In "Peaches! Peaches!" I used my childhood home in France as the backdrop for this first eBook in the little Gregorie and Gaston series. This eBook earned a second-place award in the 2012 Reader's Favorite Book Awards contest. In 2013, "Peaches! Peaches!" earned two first place awards in the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards contest. "Hide! Hide!" has earned three awards, and "Happy! Happy!" has earned one award. In November of 2018, "Picture! Picture!" earned two awards and "Birdie! Birdie!" earned one award in the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards contest. In June of 2021, "Hot! Hot! Hot!" received an award through the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards contest. All eleven books in this series of eBooks have received 5-star reviews from Reader's Favorite. I have written other children's eBooks including "A Change of Season" which also received a 5-star review from Reader's Favorite and earned an award in the 2012 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards contest. I began writing my memoir in the early days of the Covid pandemic. After 30 months of writing, editing, and polishing, "All The Way To Santa Fe" is now available on Kindle. I am currently working on a new children's book about a special Corgi.

Reviews

[Winter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, Goodreads Giveaways, and to the author, Jackie Ferrell.

#KUDOS!

#GOODREADSGIVEAWAYS!

#WINNER!

[Peggy L. Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

All The Way To Santa Fe, a book of survival

Only someone exposed to childhood abuse can really understand all she went through. I think it’s really brave to put in writing for the world to see what your family was really like.