Angela,

I am a faithful reader of your articles. Rarely am I moved to respond to one, but “Writing as Healing” struck a nerve with me. Be very, very careful with this regarding who may read it.

Long story made much shorter as explanation. As a child I suffered from having an alcoholic mother. My only outlet was keeping a diary where I vented. Mother read it and retaliated. At the age of 15, I ran away from home, never to return. Fortunately, my older sister let me stay with them. Who knows what my life would have been like otherwise?

I am now 60 and this is something I do not talk about, or even think about very often, but perhaps it may be worth mentioning to warn others.

SK