Amy Bickers, author of The Geography of You and Me, is my guest on episode 2 of the Discover Grow Shinecast.
Amy experienced a massive personal tragedy when her ex-husband committed suicide in front of her. Journaling is the way she processed the emotions that accompany such an experience.
Writing Through Tragedy
What began as a private journal ultimately evolved into a memoir, The Geography of You and Me, to share her story and to help others face their own challenges of life.
We start off the conversation with my request to Amy to talk about hope in the darkness as expressed by Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird, which Amy recommended as a must-read. From there, Amy talks about her experiences and how writing helped her process the myriad feelings and emotions.
We also talk about what makes someone shine and finding the courage to dive in and do the thing you’ve always dreamed of doing.
I chose this as the second episode of the Discover Grow Shinecast because it seemed like the perfect follow-up to episode 1 featuring Dr. Scott Hammond on Lessons of the Lost. Dr. Hammond’s stories of survivors and victims in wilderness settings parallels what happened in Amy’s life.
More About Amy Bickers
Amy published her amazing memoir thanks to the help of a kickstarter campaign. Since the Kickstarter ended in May 2014, I edited out that portion of our conversation. You can hear the entire interview—including details about the Kickstarter—in the full interview published as episode 5 of the Birmingham Shines podcast.
Connect with Amy Bickers on her blog, Vodka Cranberry Clooney and on her Facebook page.
Amy will be one of the highlights of TedxBirmingham 2016. I’ll update this post with the video of her talk when it becomes available.
