“Simply put, Laura made me feel like
I could tell the truth and not die.”
– Matt Bays, Author of Finding God in the Ruins: How God Redeems Pain
Books were my salvation when I was young. They provided relief from a life I did not want to be living, they were a respite from worrying about the secrets I carried with me. I used books the way I would use other, more harmful escapes later in life. They were a way out of the pain of the story I was living, a story written largely by the unreliable narrators in my life. They offered up an alternate universe in which I didn’t have to hide who I was and what had happened.
I never thought I would tell my shame stories, let alone share them in the chapters of a book. Those secrets held me back and kept me small. The weight of them was crushing. I spent most of my life guarding them and making sure no one really saw me.
The thing is, those stories demand to be told. The truth is nothing if not insistent. My secrets were making themselves known in toxic and harmful ways in my life – addiction, fear, eating disorders, perfectionism, control, unhealthy relationships… All of those things were my story being told – I just wasn’t the one telling it.
When I finally became unable, and eventually, unwilling, to keep those secrets anymore, I became a storyteller. By sharing my stories, by writing them down, by allowing myself to be seen in all my brokenness, I finally found healing and connection and joy.
What if the power to heal yourself has been yours all along? What if the secrets you’ve been carrying, those dark and heavy shame stories, are open to challenge? What would happen if you came to believe your stories are not unspeakable and you could survive the telling? What if you decided to tell the truth about your life story in order to write a new ending?
You can, you know.
We either own our stories, or they own us. Period.
More praise for She Wrote It Down:
“Laura Parrott Perry is one of those rare and extraordinary writers willing to lay it all out there, every painful, private, unbecoming detail of her life. Yet somehow her story becomes your story. Yes, the details might be different, but the struggles, doubts, insecurities, and fears are the same. But here’s where Laura rises above even the most extraordinary writers: Her healing becomes your healing. Her strength becomes your strength. Her courage becomes your courage. Her faith becomes your faith, and through the pages of this book, you hear divine whispers assuring you that you are not alone, and a new ending to your story is possible. She Wrote it Down is a detailed map out of the darkness you’ve carried or currently face. Laura’s words are a guiding light in which a caged soul can finally see the way to freedom.”
~ Rachel Macy Stafford, New York Times Bestselling Author of Hands Free Mama, Hands Free Life, and Only Love Today
***
“This woman, Laura Parrott Perry, and her breathtakingly powerful survivor’s story SHE WROTE IT DOWN, was made for just such a time as this. For this new day.
In this new day, indomitable survivors are dragging into the light what they were forced to keep in the shadows for decades.
In this new day, predators who were protected to keep the peace and shield the powerful are facing a fearsome reckoning wrought by little girls who became fearless women.
In this new day, children — who lost their childhoods in a firestorm of abuse — have learned that they are fireproof.
And these fireproof survivors are leading us. Leading us toward a new world in which children are protected and believed. In which predators — and those who would smooth over and cover up abuse — face the wrath of a culture and a justice system whose highest priority is protecting the bodies, souls and futures of our children.
Laura, your courage and shameless truth will help lead us through this new day and understand ourselves in it. Brava, Sister.”
Glennon Doyle, New York Times Best-Selling author of Love Warrior and Carry On, Warrior, Founder of Together Rising and the Compassion Collective
***
“I read She Wrote It Down in one sitting — nodding and weeping and finding comfort, solace, and guidance in Laura’s words. Laura has a special way of helping us bring our darkest secrets into the light, making what once seemed shameful and ugly into something brave, beautiful, and new. Her words are beacons, her message, necessary and real.”
~ Katrina Anne Willis, Author of Parting Gifts
***
“I am impossibly grateful for this book. I laughed so hard while reading, only to have my eyes fill with tears fifteen seconds later.
And mystically, Laura was there the whole time. Because She Wrote It Down isn’t a book, really, so much as a companion. She was with me in my living room, in the laundry mat, sitting in a cold garage because I needed to finish this one last chapter.
In it, she never tells us “how to” …because haven’t we had enough of that already? Instead, she tells us…
“I see you.”
~ Matt Bays, author of Finding God in the Ruins: How God Redeems Pain
***
“Laura helps us melt off the shame, helps us get underneath the wordlessness and find our way to ourselves and each other. It’s not just writing. It’s not just good word choice and great grammar, though she’s got both of those things, too. Yes, she’s brilliant, clear and funny and that makes for great writing. She opens hearts and minds. That too, is a gift. But I read her because of the way her words are a balm for my soul, how she helps create a community tribe at the same time – and together – that’s healing magic people died from not enough of and she gets that and gives generously.”
~ Cis White, Writer and Founder of Heal Write Now
***
In She Wrote it Down, Laura Parrott Perry tells her story, a seemingly straightforward act. But She Wrote it Down is not just a revelation, it is a revolution, a casting off of the false mantle of shame and a reclamation of life in all its beauty and pain. Laura writes with wit and compassion that draw the reader in, but there is a take-no-nonsense, mother hen quality about her writing, too. As Laura puts it, “I swoop.” You’ll have to read the book to find out exactly what a swooper is.”
~ Jessica Faith Kantrowitz, Writer at Think Christian, Our Bible App, and blogger at Ten Thousand Places