About this project
Welcome to my kickstarter page.
I AM HAPPY TO SHARE THAT THE MEMOIR IS COMPLETE~ I am in the editing stages and am getting ready to publish this massive work.
Finding Your Force is a love letter to my daughter about where I have been. For excerpts from my book please visit my blog.How will I spend your money?
All of the money raised will be used to hire an editor and publish the first edition of my book to have available for the book release party this summer.
I will be blogging my writers journey and keeping you updated on the progress of creating this book. I will post excerpts periodically. Book release date is July 26, 2011, on my 40th birthday~
INTRODUCTION TO FINDING YOUR FORCE~
Our story is a story of LOVE~ its about loving where I came from… with all the scrapes… all the bruises… all the pain … but in the end how love heals everything… and as long as I continue to breathe I know that LOVE got me… love is my GOD… People pray to a God outside of them… I pray to the God that is my heart… love is my spirit… love is my guide… love is my companion… love is always at my side… love is all I need… so today my intention is to be LOVE in everything that I do and say… and so it is~
During one of my last therapy sessions my doctor asked, "What are you afraid will happen? What is your biggest fear about moving forward? What holds you back? What keeps you from achieving success and having what you want?" She asked me to imagine myself standing in front of a door with my hand on the door knob. “Alicia, close your eyes… you’re in this room… can you describe it? Are there windows? Go to the door in the room and open it. I want you to walk through the door and tell me what’s on the other side.” I started crying uncontrollably, “The room is white… there is a window… I see grass… the sun is out… it’s beautiful… I don’t want to open the door!!!” Then she asked, "What keeps you from opening that door Alicia? What do you think will be on the other side?" I got really scared when I imagined that moment, but my immediate response was, “NO ONE… my biggest fear is that NO ONE would be there! That the people I love the most in the world would not be there… that I would be all alone.”
Writing this memoir for you does not come easy. There are so many fears that come up for me; fear of failure, fear that our family will disown me, this idea that I have no right to tell my story if it includes people from my life. Fear that the people closest to me will not love me. Is my responsibility to write the TRUTH or filter it to suit others? Should I check in with society and my community? I feel like I'd never get any writing done. The writers I know have shared with me that when they stop to consider how their writing will affect their family the fear alone is precisely what keeps them from coming to the page. What has paralyzed me is the fear that if I air the dirty laundry I will lose people along the way.
Then I turn to you… I remember calling you up at Syracuse University and having a conversation with you about this book. “Courtney, you know that I am writing about really dark shit… I’m really going deep… I’m writing about you in this book and using your real name.” It was important for me to get your permission and blessing to write this story. Your response was, “Mom, I love you. I trust you with my life. Write the story. Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks.”
~
The rewards program to the right lists suggested contributions but all donations are welcomed. From $1.00 to whatever you are able to contribute… your LOVE, strength and support is greatly appreciated… walk with me on this journey. Thank you for supporting this project and please spread the word to anyone who might be interested.
What my readers have said:
“You really put your all into your writing, I feel you, I really do when you write, which is speaking. You inspire and I’m not just saying that. You inspire me and I’m sure others to BE, to be them, to be the person they need to be, you inspire them to have no excuses, you inspire them to get where they need to be by bringing them to where you are. And once we see you doing and acting in your moments--how could I/one/we NOT do us?”
“This process is going to help you write a how-to book on how to DO your dreams through all these emotions.”
“Thanks for letting us all hear your journey to healing.”
“I am so proud of you for standing up for your words... for realizing your worth, over and over again. I’m happy that you show your humanness and allow your readers to see where you hurt and to see you revive and gain strength again.”
“Alicia, thank you for sharing. I have so much respect for your spirit, strength and sincerity. Many people aren’t able to survive the kind of trauma that you are writing about. And, you have not only survived but you are a creative force and your energy is bringing together a community of artists and that is a beautiful thing.”
“So many parts in your writing touched me and made me feel as though, damn somebody else has gone through what it feels like I’m going through right now and they got out and are on the other side.”
ABOUT ALICIA
For the past three years I have been on a journey that has taken me from writing for magazines, and blogs to traveling to over 18 countries. I am the Writer and Co-Producer of AfroLatinos: The Untaught Story. http://www.afrolatinos.tv/ AfroLatinos is about the African Diaspora in Latin America.
Most recently, my play I WAS BORN was featured and came in top three in the ONE FESTIVAL. I WAS BORN: one woman show about a journalist who meets 7 women in Latin America and how they have changed her life.
For more about me, to read/watch excerpts please visit:
http://findingyourforce.blogspot.com/
FAQ
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on June 10, 2011.
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PDF version of first chapter of Finding Your Force~ *Access to project updates*
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E-book/PDF Version of entire book and your name added to the benefactor page~ *Access to project updates*
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Signed copy of Finding Your Force and your name added to the benefactor page~ *Access to project updates*
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Signed copy of Finding Your Force, your name added to the benefactor page, AfroLatinos poster, and a copy of the Best of Panic (Anthology)~ *Access to project updates*
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E-book version and signed copy of Finding Your Force, signed copy of I WAS BORN script, your name added to the benefactor page, AfroLatinos poster, copy of the Best of Panic (Anthology), invite to book release in NYC~ *Access to project updates*
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
E-book version and signed copy of Finding Your Force, signed copy of I WAS BORN script, your name added to the benefactor page, AfroLatinos poster, copy of the Best of Panic (Anthology), invite me to a book club skype chat with the author and an invitation for two to the book release party in NYC (transportation not included)~ *Access to project updates*
Pledge $1,000 or more Pledge $1,000 or more
E-book version and signed copy of Finding Your Force, signed copy of I WAS BORN script, your name added to the benefactor page, AfroLatinos poster, copy of the Best of Panic (Anthology), dinner with the author, and an invitation for two to the book release party in NYC (transportation not included). *Access to project updates*
Project By
Connected as Alicia Anabel Santos (3275 friends)
a proud New York-born Dominicana who is passionate about writing works that empower and inspire women to find their voices, speak up and demand that they be respected. A Latina Writer, Director, Performance Artist, Producer, Playwright, and Activist, who after reading one too many stories about women she could not wholly relate to, decided to write her own tales that would honor women throughout Latin America and at the same time be representative of the American-born Latina experience.
Currently, she is writing her memoir Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love, completing a historical fiction novel titled The Daughters of the Revolution, and work-shopping her one-woman show titled I WAS BORN.
Alicia's extensive writing experience includes hosting, writing scripts for, and serving as co-editor of Latina Source Podcast, featuring interviews with publishing industry power players and authors, as well as offering book reviews and writing tips. She's worked for renowned magazines BusinessWeek, Glamour and Domino, but it was an article published in Urban Latino Magazine, "Two Cultures Marching to One Drum," that gained the attention of Producer Renzo Devia. He invited her to partner with him on a project that will change the way the world sees color and race relations in Latin America, and in 2008, Alicia joined Creador Pictures as writer and co-producer of its first documentary, "Afro Latinos: La Historia Que Nunca Nos Contaron."
Alicia lives in Harlem, NYC with her eighteen-year-old daughter Courtniana. She works as a freelance writer and activist against sexual and physical abuse towards women and children. She attended New York University and Rhode Island College.
