Author Profile: Marion woman writes book based on her trauma to inspire others

Marion author Dawn Marie Bailey never set out to be a writer. She was more concerned with securing her own health and security after being affected by trauma, suicide and depression. Now she hopes a fictionalized version of her story will inspire others and bring them hope and redemption.

Her debut book, 'The Fear of Being Seen,” is now available at Barnes & Noble in Cedar Rapids. She will sign copies from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on May 13 at the bookstore.

'I started writing it about 15 years ago based on my journey in life,” said Bailey, who is also a physical therapist assistant, in a recent phone interview. 'But something inside said it just wasn't time to take it any further. So I disregarded it and didn't think it about for many years. And came back to it after I had a chance to grow as a person and meet more people who shared my same struggles.”

In the novel, Angel, an adolescent girl, 'battles things in her life that are out of her control, but yet she has this will inside of her to keep fighting. Once she realizes that strength she finds her worth and her purpose.”

'It's a story about redemption and overcoming things that are really difficult. Giving people hope was what my goal was in writing it.”

Angel was inspired by Bailey's own story as well as the stories of other people Bailey connected with over the years who faced similar circumstances. Angel's path includes 'father loss, some trauma and just some bad circumstances in life and finding out that even though we lose our earthly father, I found Christ in light of that.”

The book is set in Iowa and includes photographs from southwest Cedar Rapids and North Liberty, as well as notecards written in Bailey's own hand.

It's ironic, Bailey says, that her book release coincides with the debut of the Netflix series '13 Reasons Why,” where the 13 episodes address a different reason for a young girl's suicide. '(The show's) got everybody up in arms because it's not really portraying that kind of journey correctly. It doesn't give a true picture of what suicidal thoughts are, and what self-harm is.”

'I think my book does an accurate job of describing the struggles that these kids go through. And how they can find their way back to themselves, even when it doesn't seem like they can.”

Bailey, who also teaches high school students at Kirkwood through the nursing program, finds inspiration for her writing and her personal journey in Proverbs 13:12: 'Hope deferred makes the heart sick; But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

'I believe that if we don't know where we came from and respect ourselves, roots can't get in the ground.”

'A plant can't grow if it doesn't have sun or water or the right amount of oxygen. We have to tear off the dead, sprinkle new things on it, like the friends Angel meets in her book. Those are all part of the water and sun and oxygen that makes that tree peek out of the ground a little bit.”

Once the roots are repaired and reestablished, 'now I can take it from here. I can do this from within myself. If you don't have that hope and that one thing to hang onto, your tree won't get as beautiful as it can.”

So while Bailey didn't anticipate becoming an author, she's grateful for the journey.

'I have this ache inside of me to help somebody not fall as far as you can fall. It's always been on my heart.”