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North Tazewell woman finds healing in poetry
Bluefield Daily Telegraph, January 25, 2006 by Melissa Cuppett
"My mind tells me
"My heart will heal..."
And Heather Horne finds some of that healing in poetry.
In her newly released book of poems, "I Chose to Survive," the 28-year-old North Tazewell native shares raw emotion and personal experience.
After enduring an abusive relationship, she said, writing "was part of my healing process."
"It's a release for me," Horne said. "Most people talk about their feelings; it's easier for me to write them down."
Though she'd written poetry "since I was about 10," Horne wasn't the one who decided to pursue creating a book.
"My mom and aunt pushed for me to send it to a publisher," she said. Her mom researched several publishing websites and liked what she saw on PublishAmerica's.
"I wasn't even going to send my manuscript," Horne said. After some encouragement, though, she sent a query letter. The company asked to see a manuscript, and eventually e-mailed to express interest in publishing it.
"'I Chose to Survive' is a well-written and crafted work of contemporary poetry that fits our specialty like a glove," said Miranda Prather, executive director of the book's publisher, PublishAmerica. "PublishAmerica primarily publishes works by, for or about people who face a challenge in life, and who overcome it by turning stumbling blocks into stepping stones."
The book is available now at the websites for Amazon.com and PublishAmerica, and will be available soon from Horne herself.
"It's my wish that it offers hope to someone in an abusive relationship," Horne said of her work. "To me, it's just a message of hope. I feel like if I can reach one person in that situation, they can say, 'Hey, someone's been there,' ... [if I can] touch one person, then I've done my job."
Horne doesn't plan on stopping with her first book of poetry.
"I'm working on a second book," she said. While "I Chose to Survive" focuses on Horne's experience with violence and survival, her second book features a "mix of different kinds of poetry."
More information about the book and PublishAmerica is available at www.publishamerica.com.
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