Life's situations led me to journal for my peace of mind, my sanity, and eventually, my sobriety. Then, after injuring my dominant hand, I was forced to journal with my non-dominant one, and all sorts of deep words flowed forth. Research has shown, in fact, that creativity abounds when one uses the non-dominant hand for activity such as writing. This was the case for me.

At the same time that I was journaling, I was photographing wrought-iron gates, and was becoming totally immersed in that activity. I had a body of gate images which I was preparing to sell to galleries. In the process of preparing them, I titled each image, using words from a list I had created of positive and negative emotions, ways to treat each other and ourselves better, and principles of living.

Then one day, I had an epiphany. I wrote in my journal, words which matched a titled gate, giving it voice far beyond the visual element. A search of my journals yielded prose that matched about 25 photographs I had already titled. It was at this point that I realized what I had was a book.

Since this discovery, I have developed the book, writing the remaining prose, as well as revising the ordering of the images to more accurately reflect my journey of healing. On 10-8-10, the book was officially published.