Author's Note: Why I Wrote About Abuse

Why I wrote about abuse in Let It Be.

In my early high school career, I was exposed to the effects of abuse: three of my friends were abused. One was abused emotionally and mentally, one was neglected, and one was abused physically and sexually by her boyfriend. My sophomore year, I wrote a ten page term paper on the effects of child and adolescent abuse. It blew me away. So when I was emotionally abused by a boy when I was fourteen (my experience seems like absolutely nothing compared to my friends and other's experiences), it Tore. Me. Apart.

In my depression over the discovery of it all when I was sixteen, I angrily wrote the first version of Let It Be. It was much, much different, much more morbid, and contained much more abuse than it does now. I wanted everything horrific in the world to happen to Abby and have her triumph and have an epic love with Sam just to show that things can turn out alright. Eventually, I carved it down to what it is today for the sole purpose of giving one message.

My message?

To anyone who has ever been hurt: Everyone is giving the God-given right to attention, life, happiness, and love. Bad things happen to everyone, and yes, unfortunately more to some people than others, but we are all given these rights. If you make an effort, if you open up and let people in, you’ll find that there are people out there that want to love you, care about you, want you to be successful in life and happiness.

No, this does not mean that you are destined to an epic love with your own Sam, but it does mean that you are capable of having loving friendships. And who knows? Maybe even your own epic love story.

If I have an impact on just one person’s life because of this book, my purpose has been complete.