VISIBLE

VISIBLE
Friday, June 14, 2024 by DARLENE CORBETT

Categories: Friday's Fiction / GUEST AUTHORS

PLEASE WELCOME

DARLENE CORBETT

FICTION FRIDAY

THE AUTHOR’S STORY

My Creative Journey

When did it begin?

It started with the creation of me. A specimen with unique DNA, and like every other human being, a miracle. At least to my parents and creator.

Not only did I push through the birth canal, but I arrived with other elements endowed by God, precursors for a developing mind, including an unfolding imagination, and the ability to create.

Notice infants and toddlers how they navigate their world with curiosity and wonder. Well, my curious nature never departed, and the desire to create emerged at a young age.

Drawing people became my preoccupation. I used to stuff the papers in an open compartment of a nineteen sixties school desk, when I needed to attend to other tasks. Somehow, I navigated both art and schoolwork.

Along with drawing, the written word lured me throughout the latency years. One spectacular memory stands out. At nine years old, I arrived home for lunch, eating my toast with melted cream cheese, concocted by my father, who worked nights while my mother worked days. During that noontime hour, I wrote my assignment. A short story. Jonathan and the Roman Shoes, allowing my imagination to describe a young man wearing winged high tops and flying to ancient Rome. I included an illustration of Jonathan and a decorated Roman citizen, wearing a toga and headpiece, referred to as a civic crown. Now, fifty-seven years later, I still visualize the two figures I penned on lined paper.

At age twelve, I involved myself in a project for my seventh-grade, catholic-school classmates.

My idea? Survey the students’ future occupational goals and create a snippet to go with it. I have little recollection about what I wrote, but I know pleasure and accomplishment streaked through my veins as I tapped into a powerful imagination.

My drawings of people and storytelling about people led me to serving people, which I’ve never stopped doing.

Without a doubt, God guided my journey along the river of life.

That creative stream remained steady as it flowed in one direction, offering individuals a strong listening ear and helping them with solutions as needed.

Training as a hypnotherapist sprinkled into the larger stream of psychotherapy, and as a novice, learning techniques from my mentors prompted a more experienced me to change or create my own patented visualizations.

As the pages of my life story, turned, I never stopped reading books, remaining faithful to my first love of fiction. Yet, throughout those early and mid chapters of my unique narrative, I didn’t give a second thought to penning a novel. When the idea fluttered across my mind. I’d bat it away. No way. You don’t have what it takes.

After several years of providing hypnosis and therapy, my creative waters rumbled. Something roiled within me, and a yearning to fill my river of life required more. I observed, listened, and opened myself to God’s whisper again.

Write something. Go ahead. The opportunity arose for me in 2011, when I wrote an article for a social work newsletter. My nerves frayed, wondering if the editor would accept it. She did, and my published article appeared in print for the entire community of the Massachusetts National Association of Social Workers.

That began my journey of posting nonfiction, inspirational articles. An Administrative Assistant of a small publishing company read them and asked if I ever considered writing a book. Some day…After communicating with the publisher, someday arrived in November 2018 when Sound Wisdom published my book Stop Depriving The World of You: A Guide For Getting Unstuck.

For a long time, my articles satisfied my thirst for writing. My dedication to help and provide inspiration with my articles as an instrument of hope remained my primary goal.

But three years ago, the river flowed in a different direction, and I navigated my next route to follow. Should I dip into unfamiliar territory?

Yes, echoed within me, so I did. I wrote short stories. Although written well, as told to me, I would soon discover nonfiction writing didn’t compare to the delicate nuances of fiction. My first attempts at writing a novel revealed my lack of understanding these differences. Especially telling versus showing and displaying too much narrative versus dialogue.

What did I do? Immersed myself in courses, podcasts, and live events, a practice I continue and will always maintain.

After several rewrites, my first novel, Visible, a romantic women’s fiction, made its debut on May 15th. Just the beginning, I hope. As I continue to submerse myself in knowledge and writing, I’ll ask God for inspiration and listen to whispers for the rest of my life’s journey, until he calls me home.

ABOUT VISIBLE

Therapist Rachel Karem is accustomed to helping emotionally wounded individuals navigate the murky waters of dealing with complicated family dynamics, relationship issues, and life transitions. When individual therapy hits a brick wall for five successful professionals, she persuades them to engage in a ten-week group therapy program. But working through these sessions with her clients reveals Rachel's own brokenness.
Widowed, childless, and estranged from her family, Rachel wonders if she will ever have a second chance at love. She is amazed when her own therapist advocates for her to "get back in the game." To her surprise, Rachel enrolls in dance classes where she learns the Tango. Romantic, passionate, intense, sensual, dramatic, the Tango embodies everything that is missing in Rachel's life. As she grows more confident in her dance steps, her life becomes more entwined with her handsome dance partner, Michael. But past betrayals haunt Rachel's emotions, and current rivals for Michael's affections feed past rejections.
Even as her clients in the therapy group learn to support each other in their quest for personal wholeness, Rachel yearns for a deeper connection within herself to propel her into the next stage of her life. But will it be with or without Michael?

ABOUT DARLENE CORBETT

Darlene Corbett views herself as a lifelong learner, a pursuer of excellence, a work-in-progress, and a seeker of the truth. She is also referred to as the "Unstuck Expert" in many roles. Why? Because for over thirty years, she has been assisting people in getting unstuck. Darlene's primary roles are now Therapist, Hypnotherapist, and Author/Writer.

Because of her wealth of experience, Darlene began putting her thoughts on paper. Many of her blogs and stories are on BizCatalyst 360, Medium, Sixty and Me, and DarleneCorbett.com. Penning these articles set the stage for her book, "Stop Depriving The World of You," traditionally published by Sound Wisdom.

Being a believer in pushing oneself as long as one has life, Darlene wrote her first novel and hopes to have it published in the next several months.

Over the years, Darlene has been described as animated or effervescent, which contradicts the perception of a psychotherapist. She firmly believes in the importance of authenticity and discusses platinum-style authenticity in her book.

Darlene lives with her husband, Steven, and beloved Shih Tzu Churchill in Central Massachusetts, and she remains excited about the next chapter of her life.

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