Siobhan Curham writes amazing YA books, and I’ve read Dear Dylan and Finding Cherokee Brown and loved them to pieces. Siobhan is a brilliant writer, and she covers issues in teenage lives so well in her books. One main topic is bullying: and Siobhan has released a spin-off eBook-guide today, on beating bullying! The eBook is titled FINDING YOUR INNER CHEROKEE and is a non-fiction guide Siobhan wrote after Finding Cherokee Brown. Celebrating the book’s release, Siobhan has written a guest post for the blog today! It’s not like any other author post I’ve organised before- this is along the lines of a Dear Teen Me post. Siobhan Curham has written to her younger self on bullying and abuse, and I think it’s a really beautifully written letter. So, without further ado, I’ll hand over to Siobhan…

Finding Your Inner Cherokee

In March of this year, my novel Finding Cherokee Brown was published. Finding Cherokee Brown tells the story of a 15-year-old girl who finds the confidence to stand up to her bullies in her own unique way. After the book was published I received many emails from readers telling me that the book had helped them deal with bullying in their own lives. This made me want to do more to help and so the idea for Finding Your Inner Cherokee was born. Finding Your Inner Cherokee is a non-fiction e-book, full of case studies, exercises and advice, designed to help victims of bullying find their inner strength and become happy again.

In Finding Your Inner Cherokee I also talk about how I was bullied in a relationship. I hope that, by sharing in this way, it will fill the reader with hope that they will also be able to overcome their bullying and go on to live happy and fulfilling lives. I wish I could travel back in time and tell my younger self that everything was going to turn out so well. As I can’t do that, I’m going to write a letter to my younger self instead:

Dear Siobhan,

You don’t know this, but one day you’re going to look back on what you’re going through now and it will all just seem like a bad dream. You have so much joy and so many exciting adventures ahead of you. I know that right now it seems impossible to imagine feeling happy and free again but trust me, you will. I know that now, as you cry yourself to sleep yet again, you feel hopeless. Night time is always the worst – the fear is always magnified in the dark. But you know that seed of anger you feel deep inside, buried beneath all the fear and pain? That seed is going to grow and one day it’s going to help you say ‘enough is enough’. And you know that idea for a novel that’s just taken root in your mind? Well, one day you are going to sit down and start writing it out. Page after page after page. And some days you are going to cry from the exhaustion of it all. And some days you are going to want to give up, but you won’t. Because deep down you are strong. Stronger than you could ever imagine. And so you’ll keep on writing and hoping and praying for a better day and a brighter future. And one day you’ll do it – you’ll type those oh-so-glorious words The End and although you won’t realise it then, it really will be the end. Because that book is going to find its way to an agent who will love it. And she will send it to a publisher who will love it too. And you will get a call from them that will change your life forever. And it will make you cry – but this time you’ll be crying tears of joy. Because somehow, from the depths of your pain and fear, you have written your way into your very own happily ever after. There’ll be no more abuse. No more mental torture. No more stress. Instead, a prairie-wide life of freedom, joy and love – so much love.

So, sweet younger self, feel me reaching back in time to wipe your tears and hold you tight. And know that you don’t deserve what is happening to you – you don’t deserve it at all. But all of the pain you are going through right now is making you stronger. It’s making you wiser. And one day you’ll be putting everything you’ve learnt into a book – your tenth book – and you’ll be showing others how they can create their own happily ever after too.

With love and hope,

Siobhan

Finding Your Inner Cherokee will be available from Amazon Kindle and all other e-book stores from 18^th November and can be downloaded for FREE at my website: www.siobhancurham.co.uk