Two members of the National Association of Memoir Writers who have been part of the teleseminars, workshops, and discussions about writing and publishing memoir are joining us at this end of the year member teleseminar to talk about their path to publishing–the choices they made, and why, and why it was important to them to work so hard to get their books out into the world. This is the kind of story we all need to hear! Kathy Pooler, author of Ever Faithful to His Lead began her memoir in one of our workshops, and Martha Sarkissian, author of Living on  Fault, started her writing life thanks to a suggestion from her therapist, who thought that writing would help her heal. Along the way, both women discovered their voice, and the power of story to change lives–first their own!

Ever Faithful to His Lead–My Journey Away From Emotional Abuse

How does a young woman from a stable, loving family make so many wise choices when it comes to career, but so many wrong choices when it comes to love?

She must make a decision—face her self-defeating patterns and move on or repeat her mistakes. Her life and the lives of her two children depend upon the choices she makes, and the chances she takes. The book offers readers insight into her poor decisions and how they can learn from her story. “I want to inspire hope and action for my readers who need to find their own inner strength,” Pooler explains.

Kathleen Pooler spent the first eighteen years of her life in a loving supportive family. The next twenty-five years were engulfed in the abyss of two abusive marriages. Pooler rescued herself and is now dedicated to helping other women (and men) do the same.

She hopes to help others find their inner strength through sharing her hard earned lessons in her new memoir.

Living on Fault is a cross-cultural love story that begins when social and sexual mores restricted women’s lives and choices. We follow the author as she copes with her alcoholic father, the crib-death of her baby, and with the mental illness of her son, at a time when the psychiatric world believed that mothers cause schizophrenia. Finally, we travel with the writer when she pushes aside superstitions, guilt and fear from the past and creates a life of joy in the present.

About the Author:

Martha Sarkissian began writer as a third grader splashing blobs of ink from a dip pen on her stories and poems. Her teenage dream was, “To go to Paris and be a writer.” Instead she married Hrant Harold Sarkissian in June 1947, the same month she graduated from Berkeley. She had five babies, and taught school until she was 80. As teacher, she was director of the Learning Center, where she worked equally with the highly talented and learning disabled. Through years crowded with activities, she managed to write children’s stories, articles, poems and novels. In her later years, she came to understand and delight in the unique capacity of the aging brain to grow. At age 88, having finished her memoir, Living on a Fault, she teaches a writing class and is working on the next project, a children’s novel.