Alicea Sperstad Rural Writer Scholarship

I wrote a children's book called Tooties Tutus. Is inspired by my daughter who has very eccentric style of clothing. Her father didn't know he's understand her style and tried to get her to change her ways. I could see that his forceful attempts really made her feel like she couldn't be herself. So I wrote a book that rhymes for children to understand that even if the people around you who love you don't understand you and your ways that it's okay to still stay true to yourself. I love writing and I've always been told I've been good at it. I never thought of it as being a career for me until I got inspired to write that book. I now want to make a whole series of different lessons that each one of my children teach me about life. I have six children so that's a lot of lessons lol. Well I haven't got my book published yet I am actively seeking a writing agent. I also recently got accepted to the University of Washington where I will be obtaining my degree in psychology I already have my AA so I'm going for my bachelor's so that I can be a counselor. Early on an experienced a lot of trauma and I live dealing with it was very unhealthy. Unfortunately I passed down a lot of my negative traits to my children until I noticed that they were being affected by it and then instead of blaming children which is unfortunately done I took a hard look at myself. From there it started a whole journey of healing which initially was only about me and what I needed to work on. But once I reached a certain point I realized that these valuable lessons that I was learning I could use to help others that have been through the same things that I have been through. Unfortunately, I wasn't alone when it comes to dealing with trauma and a negative way. It is common for people to numb the pain by using substances or other addictions. It's also easy to suppress these feelings having it turn into passive aggression which ends up becoming explosive. But the reality is it's so much harder to deal with that pain from the past and day to day than it is to heal from it and move on and let it go. It's a scary thing when you first start but it's so worth it! So I hope that my writing and my career allows me to show people the beauty and healing and discover their worth!