Cassie Daley’s Reviews > Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language > Status Update

"I began to realize that whether I wanted it or not, I had a responsibility not only to myself, but to my readers who, in response to my trusting them with so much intimacy, asked me to trust them with their own intimacies. I realized that when writing about trauma, you have to be prepared to handle not only your own trauma but being exposed to the trauma of others."

"I knew I needed to thicken my skin to withstand it. I did not know if I could."

"I didn’t tell anyone for years, even though it was painfully clear that something was wrong. In an instant, I became a stranger to everyone who knew me. I became a stranger to myself. I had no idea how to explain who I was becoming. I had no idea how to keep myself from shattering, so I did. I shattered, but my skin hid all the broken shards of who I had been. It was easy to hide in plain sight."