Letters To Survivors
After two years of planning and development, Letters To Survivors is on its way to the printer/distributor! 136 pages of full color, edge-to-edge artwork, in what will become a gorgeous gift book...Months of painstaking graphic design, art production, and re-design...I'm proud to say this will be a spectacular work of art. There's not a single dark or triggering image to be found, and every letter is graceful and poignant. Any woman at any stage of recovery can read this book without being triggered (or hurling it across the room...like my other book!) It's a book that can be read without embarrassment of the topic, or given to a friend.
The printer's proof will arrive this week, and if I approve it, it will go into full production. The book will be professionally distributed, making it available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and can be ordered in any major book store. If sales warrant, book stores will also opt to carry it on their shelves.
I will be launching letterstosurvivors.com to offer extra content and direct sales of the book at below cover price. Plus, there will be a limited hardcover edition! It will be expanded in size, plus have additional letters, more art, glossy paper, group discussion questions, etc. And here's the cool part: it will NOT cost more than the standard paperback edition!
Of course, everyone who contributed to the book will get a free copy of the Deluxe edition! It will be released after the standard one, through because it is NOT being handled by a traditional publisher/distributor. I'm hiring a printer to personally produce the Deluxe (Hardcover) edition (henceforth LTS-HC), which means I have to raise funds personally to accomplish that. Give me time; these days are lean for our family.
For those who don't mind spoilers, I'm adding some sneak previews of the artwork. Please be kind; I worked agonizing hours until my eyes blurred to design each and every one of your letters personally.
The printer's proof will arrive this week, and if I approve it, it will go into full production. The book will be professionally distributed, making it available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and can be ordered in any major book store. If sales warrant, book stores will also opt to carry it on their shelves.
I will be launching letterstosurvivors.com to offer extra content and direct sales of the book at below cover price. Plus, there will be a limited hardcover edition! It will be expanded in size, plus have additional letters, more art, glossy paper, group discussion questions, etc. And here's the cool part: it will NOT cost more than the standard paperback edition!
Of course, everyone who contributed to the book will get a free copy of the Deluxe edition! It will be released after the standard one, through because it is NOT being handled by a traditional publisher/distributor. I'm hiring a printer to personally produce the Deluxe (Hardcover) edition (henceforth LTS-HC), which means I have to raise funds personally to accomplish that. Give me time; these days are lean for our family.
For those who don't mind spoilers, I'm adding some sneak previews of the artwork. Please be kind; I worked agonizing hours until my eyes blurred to design each and every one of your letters personally.
Replies
Aww this is so cool. Can I reserve a hardcopy edition?
This is so beautiful. Thank you, Matt, for doing this.
No need to reserve one; there will be plenty and nobody will miss it. I\'d like ot have them by the retreat, but it depends on our finances (our third hot water pipe burst this weekend...)
Amy, thank YOU for doing this.
Matt, I know that when someone puts their heart and soul into something so deeply meaningful, the \"unveiling\" can make them feel vulnerable. But you didn\'t need to ask us to be kind because...what I see here is so incredibly beautiful that it would be impossible NOT to be kind about what you have done. In fact, it\'s not being kind at all.
I keep trying to come up with words to say, to try to express what I\'m feeling, but I can\'t.
This book, Matt, what you and my fellow Survivors have created, but especially the way the words and artwork go together -- you have created a redemptive work. Out of something so ugly and shattering, you have brought beauty. My words are so puny. I wish I could express it better.
One of the reasons I married my husband is because of something that happened on one of our very first dates. He knew next to nothing about me at the time, but for some reason he decided to sing a song that\'s based on Scripture:
He gave me beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
A garment of praise
For the spirit of heaviness...\"
I\'d never heard the song before, or those verses from the Bible. I remember just crying...couldn\'t stop...even though I hate crying in front of anyone.
Today I\'m looking at these beautiful pictures, and I\'m thinking the book is more than beautiful, more than healing, more than hopeful. It\'s a prophetic book in a lot of ways...a powerful way of declaring a powerful truth...it doesn\'t just talk about beauty for ashes, it shows it.
Thank you. Thank you, Matt. Thank you, everyone who wrote a letter.
You all put so much of yourselves into your writings, not just for LTS for here at this forum and at the retreats in person, that my entire goal is this: I want to deserve it. That\'s all. I don\'t want status or praise or prestige, just to know that when people share these things with me, they feel pleased to have done so. If someone in this book can say they feel proud to be, then I know I\'ve done well.
To those who are not in it: you are not excluded, either. Your contributions to this community DO affect others, and have helped those who wrote letters feel comfortable enough to expose their truths and insights as they have. By being supportive of those who wrote, you helped this book become what it is, too.
I think its absolutely wonderful. Not much else to say as words escape me. So thoughtfully done and absolutely wonderful. I think I can speak for everyone when I thank you for the reverance youve undertaken during this project. I always knew my words were safe.
matt...this is beautiful. i can\'t wait to have the book. i can buy my own deluxe version! don\'t worry about raising funds for me. you have done enough work. i really appreciate you. we all do. thank you!
What I\'d like to know is...Those of you who wrote submissions, how do you feel about your choice to contribute? Are you happy you did, and did doing this have an effect on YOU?
I didn\'t contribute to the book, but I can say without a doubt I wish I had taken the time to write one. Maybe for a second edition
I am really glad that I decided to write a letter. I am really hard on myself sometimes, well most of the time, and it helps to go back and read what I would say to someone else going through the same thing as me. It helps me to see when I am being unrealistic and too much of a perfectionist. Plus it is inspiring to read when I am not getting the support or reaction I would like to get from my mother, I can go and read exactly what I would want to here, just from myself... If that makes sense.
Matt, based on the previews alone, this book is far beyond gorgeous -- it is breathtaking, truly, in both its art and its content. Reverance, as Scuba said, is the perfect word. Thank you for all you put into this, and thank you everyone who contributed.
I know I am very happy I wrote a submission. I loved my submission. I wrote it during a very emotional time, a time when I was on a real \"high\" on the plane back from OKC. I finished it up months later. I don\'t have a copy to look back at, but I do know that what I wrote was very real and true for me and how I feel about myself and other survivors. I was worried looking back that it would be \"too much\" since I was on that \"high\" but now I don\'t care. My perspective is just that, and it\'s meaningful to me, and I believe it will be to others as well.
One of the biggest things for me is going to be actually showing it to people. I\'ve been so quiet. Too quiet for me, and this is my way of really showing my survivor status. I plan on telling my sisters very soon about my rape. I have one sister who is a fellow survivor. Not of rape, but of SA once as a child. A survivor still, and I have never told her. She is alone, drinking, and self-destructing. She is also looking for someone who understands and someone to relate to. It\'s time for me to tell. This is my way of being able to talk to her, and then later, giving her a copy of the book. Letting her know she is not alone, that it IS a big deal, she\'s not crazy, and showing her what amazing things can come from healing. This is HUGE. When I came to RAR almost 2 years ago, I would have NEVER done something like this. Since then I\'ve started counseling, made real friendship connections, learned to share with people more than I have- EVER, and re-established my deserved place in society. This is one thing I can hold up and say, \"Look what I did!! yeah... I was raped. But look what *I* did with that experience! And by the way sister, you\'re not alone.\" This book is very, very important. I can\'t wait to pass it out. I kind of think of it as my anthem now :)
I also have to say my favorite pics above are the wood planks with the ivy and layered letters. I also really like the rose with the words \"Survivor\" in it. Very pretty, very Earthy and organic. Love it.
i am really happy that i contributed. i did it at such a weird time for me...right in the middle of preparing for trial. i was so crazed and confused about reporting and going through trial that my letter was consumed with the subject. so, although i have so many other things i would like to say, i am glad that i could offer my thoughts on the subject because i know so many survivors struggle with that - as i did. i was less emotional than i expected. but i feel really good about contributing. I feel like out of a horrible experience comes this beautiful gem. and somehow, that helps me to heal.
I am totally, totally amazed I did it!! For me it signifies a huge shift from shame (more like absolute horror that I felt so defiled) to being able to hold my hand up and say \"I am a survivor too\". Even now I cannot quite believe that I wrote it and sent it. I know that I could take that step of courage because of having been to the retreat and meeting an amazing group of accepting, loving and caring people. Because of that, I knew that what I wrote would be accepted and embraced and that is what gave me the confidence to write and submit it. I did not feel triumphant or like I wanted to shout out that I had done it, I just felt like taking a deep breath and quietly saying \'wow, that is amazing progress\'. I don\'t really do \'proud\', but i think that is what I am feeling right now. I am not proud to be a survivor, I wish with all my heart that I was not one, but I guess I am beginning to be proud of the way I am turning things around - to weave into my whole life story the truth of the rape, but not making it the central theme. I think Steht has summed it up beautifully, in saying it is about exchanging \'beauty for ashes\'. Nothing about being raped is beautiful, but from it, we can build our own lives to be things of beauty and I really think this is reflected in the style and layout of the book as well as the words.
So, I am glad that I took the plunge, thank you Matt for making it feel safe enough to write it, and thanks to my tribe here who are always willing to pick me up when I wobble.
I cannot wait to see the real book and hold it in my hands, put me down for two copies - Fish wants one too!