Food For Thought: Post Numero Uno!

Welcome, friends, to my pink, girly, new blog. Think of this little forum as our clubhouse, with our little pink sign posted on the tree trunk: Girlz Only! (Okay, but actually, I'm totally cool with guys poppin' in, too... as long as they're not too manly to read a pink blog.)



I want this to be a safe, supportive place of encouragement for any of us who are on this journey toward wholeness, who desire to break out of the Golden Cage (little nod to Hilde Bruch) of disordered eating and body loathing, and embrace the truth of God's Word regarding our bodies, ourselves.



PLEASE NOTE: This is NOT a pro-ana or pro-mia blog; your comments will be moderated, and anything deemed to be triggering or discouraging will be removed. Cool? Thanks!



So, here's the deal: I wrote this book, entitled "Hollow." As of this posting, it is currently in committee with a publishing house (yeah, I'll keep y'all posted on that), and I am working on a recovery devotional to accompany it upon its release. I didn't write the book to be a show-off or to help other women learn eating disorder tricks (it seems like a lot of other ED memoirs were written just for that purpose, doesn't it?). I wrote it because I feel someone needs to step up and tell the truth about this stuff -- deglamorize it, strip away the frills, lose the phony-baloney tidy endings, and get real about what eating disorders really are: evil lies, sticky traps, and life-destroyers.



I went to this writer's conference recently, where I got to meet my rockstar literary agent and pal around with some super cool Christian writers and speakers. Way cool; loved every minute. Anyway, my friend Millie, an author whom my agent also represents, enjoyed taking me by the arm and introducing me to folks, and saying, "Tell them, Jena; tell them about your book!" And I'll be real -- at first, I didn't want to. Other folks were there promoting these deeply moving spiritual works, uplifting Christian fiction, life-giving devotionals. I had this secret notion lurking in my mind that a book about my experience with a three-decades-long eating disorder was frivolous, unnecessary, maybe even a little self-important. I had NO IDEA how wrong I was.



On multiple occasions, during that conference, when I would shake someone's hand and (at Millie's prompting) say, "I've written a memoir about my struggle with an eating disorder," the person would say something along the lines of "Oh, honey -- we have to talk!" It seems I've touched on something of a hot button within the community of Christian women. I was able to have lunch with three women at the conference who themselves are or had been sufferers, and because I am still alive, I was able to encourage them (and they, me). And I gotta say, I think that's kinda cool.



So my agent, herself also aware of the relevance of my story (which is certainly not unique or rare, not even in the church), has encouraged me to put up a blog dealing specifically with these issues of anorexia and bulimia (or, really, any other variety of "food weirdness", as I call it) and/or struggles with body image. I was tentative at first, because these little groups can go sour rather easily, and become not-so-positive. So, this will be something of a challenge; if we can't do it, can't keep the climate recovery-focused and edifying, the blog goes dark. Got it? Good. :-) *spit shake*

I'll be posting random thoughts and encouragement regularly, and probably rambling on a bit here and there about my day. (I do that. You'll get used to it.) I'll probably clue you all in on what God is teaching me through His word, because that sort of thing gets me pretty jazzed these days.

Oh, and one more thing: for Petey's sake, PUH-LEEZE leave me lots of comments and feedback. I really dig it, and it will make my agent happy. 'Kay? Coolio.

So, there we have it: post number one, posted. Welcome to the clubhouse! Next time, bring a friend! :-) More to come, my pretties...

Blessings!
Jena