Author Guest Post with Jo St Leon, The Light in the Darkness

The Light in the Darkness is a must-have companion for anyone living with a serious illness, or caring for a loved one with such an illness.

Welcome to the February 2nd stop on the blog tour for The Light in the Darkness by Jo St Leon with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts & interviews, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.

Author Guest Post

I haven’t always been a writer. Or have I?

Like alcoholics who don’t drink, can there be writers who don’t write?

Perhaps. What I do know is this: since writing became my (almost) daily occupation, instead of my (occasional) sideline to being a musician, I have come to know myself for the first time.

Like a portal into the innermost recesses of my mind, putting words on a page (or typing words on a screen) creates clarity for me. Writing The Light in the Darkness was revelatory, and not only for illuminating my path forwards. Of course, it did that, but it also shone the torch backwards and helped me to understand all the incarnations of my far-from-perfect self.

While my fears, shames and insecurities remained stuffed—unexamined—in a closet chock-full of skeletons, they wielded an unholy power over me. ‘Don’t you dare start to like yourself,’ they said, ‘or we’ll come out and unmask you. Show your sorry ass to the world.’ But like magic, once I started to write, to voluntarily put these same fears, shames and insecurities out into the world, their power drained away. Those pointing fingers, demonic cackles and turned backs I had so feared never eventuated. I found I could forgive myself my mistakes, learn from them, and walk on with a little more kindness towards myself and others. Amazingly, I discovered that people preferred the real me to the mask.

This new self I discovered through my words was not afraid of scrutiny. She could stride into the world in all her messy glory without fear of rejection. So for me, putting words on a page was a path to authenticity.

Now that I write all the time, I find I don’t really know what I think about any issue, large or small, until I have written about it. I have recently started to write what I call my ‘rant pieces’, not necessarily about matters of great import—rather about whichever of the goings-on in our troubled world I find making the most noise in my mind.

As I write, I notice myself become fairer, listening to the other side of the story as it plays out in my head, finding new understandings as I go. Unless, of course, I cannot find an acceptable other side to the story. Then I become a crusader, eloquent in my evangelistic zeal to right wrongs, to eliminate social injustices.

Who knew I had that in me?

I find I quite like the person I am becoming as I write. She’s interesting, and I have great curiosity to know what her pen is going to get excited about next.

Socrates told us that ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’. In these days of therapy and self-examination, it is probably also true to say that the unexamined self is not worth being. Once I started to live by these two maxims, simply by putting words on a page, I made the greatest discovery of all.

Who I am is constantly changing, one word at a time. I love the idea of Heraclitus, who said that  ‘no man ever steps into the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.’ Seen like that, being in the world is an adventure, a never-ending series of surprises.

What fun!

About the Book

The Light in the Darkness
Musings on Living With Cancer
by Jo St Leon

Published 24 August 2021
Tellwell Talent

Genre: Non-Fiction, Inspiration & Personal Growth
Page Count: 68
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

The Light in the Darkness is a must-have companion for anyone living with a serious illness, or caring for a loved one with such an illness.

With this collection of reflections and personal essays, Jo St Leon shares her experiences, her darkest moments and her greatest joys. She tells of the journey from fear and denial to acceptance and a determination to live her best life. She shares her deepest thoughts and feelings, always with her characteristic blend of wry humour and wisdom.

The Light in the Darkness is the book Jo wishes she could have found when she first received her cancer diagnosis.

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | BD | B&N | Chapters Indigo | Smashwords

Excerpt

According to my doctors I am something of a medical miracle. A year after I am supposed to have died, here I still am—living a fulfilling and productive life. So, what on earth makes me think I have anything to offer the very sick, the dying, the people whose treatment takes all their time, concentration and energy? I have been bedridden only once, and I am certainly not yet at death’s door—so if I haven’t been there, I can’t write about it, can I?

Well, no, not directly, but I can offer my own experience. I write about my reaction to the diagnosis: fear, pain, incapacity, loneliness, regrets—things I want to tell the world but have hitherto lacked a voice for. I invite readers into my inner world without ever suggesting that I can tell them what to do or that my experience should also be theirs. My hope is simply that this little book may become a companion. My aim is for it to help people living with cancer, and those who care for them, to feel less alone, less afraid.

Despite my illness, I am remarkably privileged. I own the house I live in, and I have enough money to pay for my treatments and medications. Most importantly, I have the luxury of time. Time to make sense of my experiences, to inscribe them with a meaning that can be a force for good in my life. And time, also, to share them with others.

So, what does give me the right to speak? Is my cancer real even though I am so often well? Or am I a bit of a fraud? Have I suffered enough? These are complex questions. To represent my right to speak, I first must feel it.

The diagnosis was only the first step in a very long journey of feeling I had something to contribute. My cancer is a very rare one. It is incurable and can bring with it a seriously reduced life expectancy, progressive levels of pain and disability, and some disfigurement—sometimes severe. But it doesn’t necessarily do this all at once. For me, after the first 6 months during which my drugs did their job, life carried on much as usual. In terms of my right to speak, this is the first stumbling block—almost a form of impostor syndrome.

About the Author

Jo St Leon is a musician and writer living in Hobart, Tasmania. Receiving a cancer diagnosis in 2016 prompted her to transition from being a full-time musician who loved to write to being a full-time writer who loves to sometimes play the viola. She shares her house with two very pampered felines. She loves reading, cooking, swimming and yoga.

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Giveaway Alert!

Jo St Leon will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.