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I LOVE this post by ‪#‎YAlit‬ author Ava Jae On The Lack of Chronic Illness Rep In YA, and I’m honored that she included Parallel Visions in her list. We need to change the message that’s out there in YA lit for chronically ill teens: that their stories are only worth telling if they die or have a miracle cure. Chronically ill kids and teens can be heroes in their own right. I wrote Parallel Visions after getting asthma. It’s terrifying to feel like you can’t breathe. But chronic disease has nothing to do with us being strong, intelligent, empathic beings who can be heroes and have adventures, too.

Read her fantastic post, book suggestions, and reader comments on more book suggestions.

Comments from readers like these two–by Miracle and Annie–are a HUGE part of why I write. It is incredible to hear that my books help people stay alive and get through hard times, or stop cutting and get help, or accept their queerness and come out to others! (beaming) Amazing and so feel-good to have my books help others survive and heal and stay alive–just the way my favorite books helped me. I’m not sure I could have survived the torture and abuse I did without books, so it feels like a gift to me that my books help others, too.

I feel I can share these two letters because they were made publicly. I receive letters like this often–and they fuel me. They are soul food. On my darkest days, they give me light.

So if you have a book that helped you through hard times, don’t hesitate to let the author know!

If you loved SCARS, I think you’ll enjoy STAINED–and you may want to get it while it’s deeply discounted. Right now STAINED is on sale for both Kindle and Nook for $1.99–until Oct 31st. I hope you grab yourself a copy.

In STAINED, Sarah think she knows what fear is–until she’s abducted. Then she must find a way to save herself.

Like I did with SCARS, I drew on my own trauma and healing experience to write STAINED.

I hope you enjoy it! And if you enjoy it, or like this deal, I hope you’ll let others know about it, too.

Dear Teen Me,

I know you have no safe place—not at home being abused, and not at school being bullied. You are an easy target: shy, scared, jumping at touch, not looking people in the eyes—the marks of someone who’s been hurt. You’re afraid all the time. You hate yourself instead of your abusers and tormentors. You cut to cope. You think about killing yourself. But you keep hanging in there. You’re stronger than you know.

I know you think you’re weak. All the terrible things that happen to you at home. The way you struggle to stand up to your own bullies. But do you remember that Spring day on the way home from school when those boys were running after a girl with coke-bottle glasses and ill-fitting clothes, hooting and hollering at her, calling her names, throwing things? Do you remember how you ran after them, shouting at them to leave her alone? How angry and protective you felt? And how when the boys turned and saw you they ran away?

Do you remember the look in the girl’s eyes—the surprise and the relief that someone cared enough to stand up for her? Or how you walked her home even though it was out of your way just so she’d stay safe? And how you listened to all the horrible things she’d been through and told her she didn’t deserve any of it? That wasn’t weakness, Cheryl. That was strength. I am so very proud of you for standing up to those boys. For helping that girl find a small pocket of safety.

So what if you couldn’t do that for yourself yet? You were still being abused at home. You had victim tortured into you. But still you stood up for others. And you did it over and over again—with that same girl on other walks home, with a girl being harassed by a drunk man on the streetcar, with another girl being sexually harassed, with children being hit by their parents. You tried to protect other kids and teens the way you needed to have someone protect you. You were brave, even though you didn’t feel like you were.

I know you still feel ashamed for some of the bullying you endured, for the way you couldn’t protect yourself. Like the time you were wearily leaning against your girlfriend’s shoulder on the bus and the driver stopped the bus and told you to separate or you’d have to get off. You argued with him, but he was enraged and in authority, and you were too tired and scared so you pulled away from your girlfriend and sat there, feeling humiliated and ashamed and later angry at yourself, wishing you’d written down his number and reported him. Or like the boys in school who would poke you and then hoot and laugh when you jumped—over and over again. You were so angry and ashamed because you couldn’t stop yourself from jumping, couldn’t fight back. Or like the time that man said that he should have sex with you so you wouldn’t be queer—suggesting rape would “fix” you. You froze when he and the other men laughed, fear gripping you, and it took you long moments to tell them that that wasn’t okay. You still feel ashamed that you didn’t stand up to them more strongly. To all your bullies. But you don’t deserve that shame or the anger you turn on yourself. It belongs to the people who hurt you.

And you know what? You often did stand up for yourself, even though it felt like they won. Sometimes it’s okay to not challenge too hard for your own safety. And the other times? Come on, you were a traumatized, bullied kid. Have more compassion for yourself. Yes, you wish you’d done more. Or that someone else had stood up for you. But it’s time to let that go, and to recognize your own strength.
I know you’re hurting—so badly that you don’t want to be here. That every day feels like another day you can’t endure. But I’m glad you’re here. You have a place in this world. Never forget that. And there are good people, even if you haven’t met many of them yet. Just keep hanging on. You will find more and more people with love in their hearts instead of hate.

I want you to be proud of who you are. You’re a survivor, a strong, gentle soul who doesn’t hurt others even though most others hurt you. You have compassion and kindness for others even though you don’t experience that yourself. And you will put even more goodness into the world with your writing. Yes, you will publish books! So be gentle with yourself. Let yourself love yourself, just a little. Let go of the hate and shame that aren’t yours. And know that things will get better. You will find true friends, kindness, love. You will find hope. And one day you will be glad that you are here, making a difference in the world.

I pledge to speak out against bullying when I see it & try to make a positive difference in this world, always. #OneVoice

I hope you’ll join us all in taking a stand against bullying. Share the #OneVoice hashtag and let’s let people know that bullying has to stop!

The fantastic YA authors who are taking part in the #OneVoice Campaign all this month include:
Oct. 1- Cole Gibsen
Oct. 2- Ellen Hopkins
Oct. 3- Ann Aguirre
Oct. 4-5- weekend/open
Oct.. 6- Anna Banks
Oct. 7- Shannon Lee Alexander
Oct. 8- Julie Cross
Oct. 9- Alyssa Day writing as Lucy Connors
Oct. 10- Jus Accardo
Oct. 11- D.R. Rosensteel
Oct. 12- Sunday/open
Oct. 13- Rebekah Purdy
Oct. 14- Mary Lindsey
Oct. 15- Tracy Clark
Oct. 16- Chantele Sedgwick
Oct.17- Francesca Zappia and Rachel Caine’s post (Rachel in the morning, Francia in the afternoon)
Oct. 18- Lisa Brown Roberts
Oct. 19- Victoria Scott
Oct. 20- Trinity Faegan
Oct. 21- Tiffany Truitt
Oct. 22- Tara Fuller
Oct. 23-Jennifer Bosworth
Oct. 24- Cheryl Rainfield
Oct. 25- Chloe Jacobs
Oct. 26- Sunday/open
Oct. 27- Carrie Jones
Oct. 28- Sarah Bomley
Oct. 29- Sarah Darer Littman
Oct. 30- Tonya Kuper
Oct. 31- Nikki Urang

I hope you’ll check in (you can go back to look at any post), leave comments, and help spread the word!

If you’re in Toronto, join me at

to hear me talk about STAINED–why I wrote it, the need for strong-girl characters, and more–and get a signed copy of STAINED, SCARS, and/or HUNTED.

I draw on my own trauma experiences to write all my books.

In STAINED, Sarah is abducted and must find a way to rescue herself.

Cheryl Rainfield has been said to write with “great empathy and compassion” (VOYA) and to write stories that “can, perhaps, save a life.” (CM Magazine) SLJ said of her work: “[Readers] will be on the edge of their seats.”

I hope you’ll join me.

I am honored that SCARS is included in a thoughtful B&N blog post: “8 Great YAs About Mental Health Issues” written by Dahlia Adler.

Dahlia includes some powerful YA books on various mental health issues, including Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (eating disorders), It’s Kind of a Funny Story, by Ned Vizzini (depression), OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu (OCD), and Crazy by Amy Reed (bi-polar).

Check out her post for the entire list and thoughtful descriptions of the books from someone who’s clearly read them and been touched by them, and to leave a comment about your favorite YA books that deal with mental health issues.

I think it’s important that we have books that deal with mental health issues in honest and realistic ways–and that provide hope. We all need to know that we’re not alone, and that things can get better.

I’m delighted that STAINED is one of Bank Street College Center for Children’s Literature’s Book of the Year for ages Fourteen and Up! (beaming)

Links to all books and categories here.

It’s such a feel-good thing to have my book recognized! For any author to have that happen. (grinning)

I believe so strongly that we need diversity in books. I hope you do, too.

Join in the discussion through the Twitter Chat on May 2nd at 2pm (EST) using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. Share your thoughts on the issues with diversity in literature and why diversity matters to you.

There are a ton of YA and kidlit authors, industry professionals, and readers taking part in this. I hope you’ll check out some of the books. There are so many diverse, important books that can help bring greater empathy to our world.

I think it’s so easy as a writer to get insecure. To start off with, we’re creative people in a confining world. We’re usually different in some way (who isn’t?), and many of us have had painful experiences or painful childhood. And there’s a lot of rejections in the world of writing, even after you’re published. Rejections for manuscripts, for blurbs for your books, the edits and re-edits of a manuscript even after acceptance for publication, and then the occasional painful negative reviews that don’t get your work. All part of the work and life of being a writer–but they can wear on us. And since we can put so much of ourselves into our work–I know I do–it’s hard not to have it affect your self-esteem.

e_walk / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

I do have the added layer of being an abuse and torture survivor, and being taught to hang on to the negative. I’m trying hard to turn that around and hold on to the positive, but it’s hard for me to do. So when something like this happens–when a writer whose work I love and admire, who speaks out with a strong voice, says she admires me and thinks I’m a hero for what I write and how I reach people? It’s a huge gift, one that I hold close to me. Thank you Jennifer! (beaming)

I love Jennifer Brown’s books (Hate List, Bitter End, Perfect Escape, Thousand Words, Torn Away). They’ve got strong girl heroes who go through painful experiences and find hope. If you like my books, you will probably like Jennifer’s, and vice versa.

I believe that #YASaves. I know it does; I couldn’t have survived my child- and teenhood without the books I devoured, looking for something to tell me I wasn’t alone, wasn’t crazy, that things would get better–and I know it from the reader letters I get telling me that my books helped readers not kill themselves, talk to someone for the first time about their own pain, get help, stop cutting, feel like they can survive what they have to survive…. Hearing such from other people–readers and writers–is a gift of strength and love that I hold on to when things feel too hard. If you love someone–a friend, a writer, a parent–never hesitate to tell them. Words are powerful, and they can heal.

Did you read the recent news story where a teen who was swept away into whitewater towards a waterfall used what he’d learned from a YA fantasy book–The Merchant of Death (a Pendragon book by D. J. McHale)– to save himself? No? Go check it out, then come back. Or better yet, stick with me for a bit, then go back and check it out.

It felt good to read that news story, and affirming. But it wasn’t surprising to me. I think books have been saving people for a long time, and in many different ways. Books can help us for hard things in life without having yet experienced them, help give us tools to cope when hard things do happen. They can also help us realize just how bad a decision we could make might be, like taking drugs or turning to prostitution–Ellen Hopkins’ books vividly show that, and I’ll bet many teens on reading her books are warned away from those choices on a deep level. And books can show us other options, other ways of coping with problems, other solutions.

I think children’s and teen books especially save people. Children and teens may not have anyone else to turn to but an author’s words in a book, especially for trauma such as abuse, but even without trauma. And children and teens are learning, growing, finding out about the world, hungry to know more. Books help guide and arm them. And most children’s and teen books have strong protagonists who are heroes, who make mistakes but who fight for good. And many children’s and YA books have hopeful or uplifting endings, inspiring the reader.

Books sure saved me as a child and teen being abused. Books were my escape from my life; they helped me dream and hope. But they also helped me believe that people could be good, kind, and caring, even when I saw no evidence of that in my life. I’ve heard similar things from many people–that books helped them survive, helped them get through rough times. Finding out you’re not alone, say, with a parent dying or killing themselves, or a sibling doing drugs.

Some of my own readers have written me, telling me that Scars helped them stop cutting, get help, or even keep from killing themselves. That’s incredible to me–something I’d hoped for! Books are powerful. They can help us know we’re not alone on a very deep level, sometimes for the first time in our lives. They can help us believe in other people, trust them, believe in ourselves.

And they can help us navigate in this world, make better choices, and know what to do in a crisis where we might not have known what to do otherwise. (I once helped a diabetic girl who would have gone into a coma if I hadn’t known how to respond–and I only understood because of all the books I’d read.) We absorb books, we take in the knowledge, the learned experiences, the wisdom, and we use it to build onto our selves.

Books are powerful tools. And they help save lives every day.

#YASaves

Today on Patricia’s Particularity for YA Saves Sunday, I talk about HUNTED & using real life in fantasy and realistic novels. I hope you’ll check it out, maybe leave a comment.