In Conversation: Precious Williams

I do not think that writing a book, publishing it, and having it reviewed in the press – possibly harshly – is going to help anybody heal from childhood trauma. For example, One critic complained in her review that my memoir – in her view – was a ‘misery memoir’ and she implied that writing a memoir about enduring and overcoming childhood abuse is clichéd and has been done-to-death. Imagine how crushed and invalidated a writer would feel by that response if they’d written their memoir as an aide to healing and to find their voice! Fortunately, because I’d already done my healing in the appropriate setting (behind closed doors, in a therapist’s office) I was able to just shrug the comment off and think, “So maybe my book’s a misery memoir. And?”

In Conversation: Precious Williams