Edgewise: An Assignment To Remember
by Darlene F. Wofford
is full
of courage and honesty.
Edgewise:
An Assignment To Remember
by Darlene F. Wofford(ISBN: 9781425982997) is full of
courage
and honesty.
Darlene
F. Wofford is a wonderful writer whose personality and
charisma is vivid in every word and sentence
in her new book, Edgewise: An Assignment To Remember.
This is the most honest, heart-inspiring book I have
read all year. Darlene Wofford has enjoyed several
successful careers including interior design, marketing,
image development, and mortgage finance. However, life
hasn’t always been so blissful. In 1984 her son, Collin,
drowned in their backyard pool, and three weeks later she
was abducted by two men, sexually assaulted at gun-point,
and abandoned. As a defense mechanism her mind shut down
and blocked out those traumatic events, leaving her in a
deep state of denial and emotionally drained.
In
Edgewise: An Assignment To Remember, Darlene
writes “I was content enough to go right on sitting there…”
Fortunately for us she did not just ‘sit there’ but put her
emotions and experiences in her book.
Edgewise:
An Assignment To Remember
opens with Delaney at the Oakwood Institute where she writes
“I loathed the damn place…” Delaney is Darlene’s
alter-ego as a fictionalized character. As the author
explains, “The book is “based on true events,” however I categorize it a
novel rather than an autobiography because I have exercised
certain creative liberties. I was never actually
institutionalized like Delaney. I “placed” Delaney in the
fictional “Oakwood Institute” to produce for the reader a
vivid setting in which her psychiatric sessions would take
place. My description of the doctor’s office, however, is
authentic in every detail—dilapidated desk, water-stained
ceilings, putrid green walls and chipped black tile floors—a
dingy old under-financed county facility. The occasional
roaches scurried across the floor and up the walls in bright
daylight, so I could just imagine their boldness in the
darkness of night. One afternoon I nervously studied a
roach as it crawled across the floor, up the wall and onto
the ceiling, only to lose its grasp and fall back onto the
floor. Then it scurried behind the old black metal filing
cabinet. More than twenty years later it still makes me
shudder to think about the place.”
During the
author’s actual psychiatric sessions she was given the
challenge of writing about her first memories. The book is
the result of this therapy, as a great example of how the
mind and heart can be released from pain with just a pen and
paper. “It helped me
acknowledge that even though I have gone through some
awfully rough times in life, I’ve also experienced some
amazingly wonderful times, too. I was able to laugh at
Delaney as my alter ego during humorous situations, and
sense her emotions during sad, sorrowful or angry times, as
well as be touched by the tender moments and love that
surrounds her/me. I now look at life as a progression of
events. Negative experiences from our past do NOT define
who we are—unless we dwell on them. We were created to
live and enjoy life, not just endure it! The events
upon which Edgewise: An Assignment to Remember is
based have made me stronger and more compassionate of
others, and I thank God I’m here today to share my story.”
Edgewise
is an
example of how one woman wants to live in the past but
realizes she can’t. It is about confronting reality. It is
about emotions. It is about communication. It is about life.
“Emotions are simply human
reactions to life events. There is no shame in crying over
the loss of a loved one, and it is okay to shed tears when
our hearts break because of an ended relationship, or
touched by tender moments. It’s alright to show emotion
when our lives are abruptly interrupted by tragedy or
traumatic events. However, it’s important to talk about
these things, whether we talk with a professional or someone
who loves and supports us by caring enough to listen. It’s
emotionally unhealthy to pretend these events away as though
they never happened. Writing about our memories is one of
the most cathartic forms of therapy to bring us back around
and out of the darkness.”
Edgewise:
An Assignment To Remember
will
change the way you think about reality, emotions and
communication. This may be the most important book you will
read this year.
Reviewed by John Weaver, Weaver Reviews
Edgewise: An Assignment To Remember
by Darlene F. Wofford
ISBN: 9781425982997
Darlene and her
husband, Carl, will be celebrating their 40th
wedding anniversary in
June, 2007. Both Georgia natives from Atlanta, they
along with their sons have been Cherokee County
residents for over 30 years, and currently reside in
Acworth.
Darlene has been involved in the mortgage finance
industry since ’89, and she is Marketing Director
for Mortgage Consulting Services, Inc.. A Certified
Image Consultant, she is a member of the (AICI)
Association of Image Consultants International, and
a graduate of the highly acclaimed London Image
Institute, where she is Director of the Institute's
Graduate Division. As an author with her first
novel, “Edgewise: An Assignment to Remember,”
recently released in ’07, she is a member of the
National Association of Women Writers and the
National Association of Baby Boomer Women. She is an
active member of Toastmasters International, which
she joined to develop her speaking skills and to
become a more effective communicator.
She states her mission as “making a positive
difference in the lives of others,” and further
states that “the more people’s lives I touch in a
positive way, the more positive my life becomes.”
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