Helpful Tips for Writing Your Story 

Sometimes it’s difficult to get started so here are some helpful tips to consider while getting started on your journey to sharing your story. 

• Don’t get hung up on the “order”, just start writing and then go back to change it.
• Sometimes it helps to jot down notes about main things you want to communicate like what you wish you knew then that you know now or what you wish other people around you understood.
• It’s also important to consider what you want others to know about your experience (for example, “this can happen to anyone” or “parents don’t know what is actually going on in their kid’s lives” or “how people make you feel guilty about what happened to you” (victim blaming).
• May also be helpful to write it in timeline format, especially if this was ongoing abuse or violence like the first time I remember something happened then another time and another – map it out to choose what you want to share.
• NEVER FORGET: what happened to you is NOT your fault so don’t hold back the parts that you feel bad about, that is part of the healing process and one that you should share (if you’re ready) so that others who may be going through the same thing can see themselves in your words.