Why I Wrote About Bullying
I didn’t start out to write about bullying
specifically, but I did want to write something that used analogies to show
ways to deal with emotions and issues in a teenager’s life. As well as having a
teenage daughter, I’m a casual (substitute) teacher in a local high school and
I see the kinds of emotional stuff that kids have to deal with on a day to day
basis. Often they have no skills to help them negotiate their minefield of
emotions, and they suffer a lot more than they need to. All they need are a few
tricks to help them see things in perspective and their issues become a lot
easier to handle. I’ve used the analogies in the book (eg seeing your life as a
movie) very successfully with teens, so I wanted to share them with a wider
number of people.
Initially, I planned to write a series of
short stories about the same people, but as soon as I took my main character
into a school setting, a bully appeared and shoved a fat boy against the wall. Carly,
the female lead, decided she had to do something to stop it, but when she
stepped in, the bully turned on her. He kept coming back in the following
stories and so bullying became the thread that eventually turned the stories
into a novella.
I guess the theme came out because I’m very
aware that it’s one of the main issues that face kids today. It affects
everyone, either as the one doing the bullying, the one being bullied or as a
bystander. I can’t stand seeing people being cruel to others, so if there is
anything I can do to stop it, I will. I hope this book will encourage
bystanders to do their best to stop bullying whenever they see it and also to
give both victims and bullies a way to handle the situation in a positive way.
The book follows Carly and her boyfriend’s
struggle to deal with a bully, and her triumph shows not only kids but also
adults a way that they too can triumph in a similar situation. Although it’s
fiction with a magical touch, it offers real solutions to a real problem. It’s the
emotional intelligence approach to life—Emotional Intelligence was a
term first used by Daniel Goldman in his book of the same name—and I wanted to
write a story that showed people actually using this approach because it makes
for happier, healthier and emotionally intelligent people.
These ideas are not only for teens; they’re
for everyone, because even adults have to deal with bullies, maybe a boss, a
spouse, a coach and so on. I wrote about it because it’s something that impacts
negatively on a lot of lives and people are looking for solutions.
Book Links
Purchase Links
Ebook
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/You-Cant-Shatter-Me-ebook/dp/B008DME8PAEpub files for Nook, Kobo, Sony etc: http://catapult-press/shop
Files for all devices: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/174488
Paperback
The
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Author Bio & Links
Tahlia is an avid reader, an extremely
casual high school teacher, an occasional mask-maker and has studied
philosophy & meditation for many years. After scripting and performing in
Visual Theatre shows for 20 years, she is now a bone-fide expatriate of the
performing arts. She lives in an Australian rainforest, is married with a
teenage daughter and loves cats, but she doesn’t have one because they eat
native birds.
Bravo to Tahlia for writing such an important book. I wish her the very best of luck with it!
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