LaDonna Marie Cook

I often thought about writing letters to my younger self and calling them valuable lessons. Poetry is the best gift I have been given, to keep me positive in this world, where I grew up feeling alone. I have always felt that as long as I have a pen and a pad, all was well.

Starting to write at twelve and not knowing that it was poetry until two years later, I began to add my poetic flavor to life experiences. I also had my voice muffled by battling self-esteem issues and depression. Walking into my future, I gain so much introspective about my valuable lessons of my experiences.

Poetry can be said to be my inspiration and my push forward. With the flip of my pen and my spiritual connection, I use my words to heal, to bring awareness and to start communication See, poetry to me is like the victory dance in the end zone after a touch down. It’s like the last basket you get in the game when the buzzer is going off  and you made the three-point shot.

Poetry to me is that good feeling; writing does wonders for my mental escape.  Being able to be positive as I go through life and to expect good, to smile and to feel good, is new.  For so long, I lived in a life of confusion. From within, I always had a desire to do better than where I stood.  

Traveling my own journey consumed my heart, so that now I’m reaching my hand back and bringing others up with me. My goals are to encourage and motivate and share some of my knowledge that I gained over the years.  I am no longer operating out of old hindering patterns. I find that loving people where they are and approaching matters with genuine concern goes a long way. I love working with people and others, so children have become my passion, to help them have a role model that will be compassionate enough to meet them where they are.

As a single parent, working mother, therapist, author, poet, writer and motivational speaker, I love all of my jobs. Writing has been my passion and  after 17 years of writing, I published my first book in 2010 Expressions of the Mind, Body & Soul. In sharing my poetry, I focused on pain, love, hurts, confusion, spirituality, encouragement and uplift, to be a voice to children who masked their issues.

As a creative expressive writer, I want to help address issues for growing children to create an awareness of childhood depression, low self-esteem, and relationships. I will be publishing my second book this month Until Tomorrow Comes, a book that takes the reader on a journey of being lost and arriving at believing in self.

I tell many aspiring authors who would like to start writing, to just start writing. You have to find your passion to tell your story. I choose to write to have teachable learning experiences for anyone moving the directions of growth.

In first deciding to write, I would do my research. It is essential to knowing what direction and publishing company is right for you.  I chose a self-publishing company for my first book. The turn around was great and it was done well. However, everything was a hassle to try and get cost-effective marketing and prices for author copies, in my opinion.  In working with any company, have all your questions lined up about the process and know how you want things done.  

I would like to learn how to be able to publish my own books. I think many times others try and take your visions and make them their own, so I would still seek counsel, but have full control of my product.

A gift is born
Sitting inside these four white walls
not the padded ones with straitjackets
but this one is secluded and isolated all the same
Thoughts get lost in the air
Confusion stirs from truths unknown
Anguish and anger find me
See there is no other person present but myself
I begin to bounce questions
to and from counteracting my
ideas against perceptions
There is a frequency of interactions
Constantly measuring my reactions
to the distractions that come my way
So I take a seat in the room with
the white walls with my pen and pad
Thus my love for writing poetry begins
A gift is born!

LaDonna Marie Cook
@LMB_poetry
www.ladonnamariebooks.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LaDonnaMC

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