A local woman is seeing hundreds of orders come in after finishing the third in a four-book series, based on her upbringing in an abusive home and her personal journey to healing.
Now, Thorold lifetime resident Judy MacPherson is hoping to help more writers get published through her own publishing company and venture further into inspirational speaking as she takes on her next endeavors.
MacPherson grew up with three siblings in a home where she says she was subjected to abuse that would follow her long after she had escaped her tormentor; her own father.
"When you get out of a situation like that, you assume that it will all be okay, but psychologically it destroyed all of us," said the author in an interview with Thorold News.
Living alone in her early 20's and struggling to pay for her tuition at Niagara College's business administration program, MacPherson says she was just trying to keep herself together when adversity struck once more.
On a late night in 1987, her brother was killed in a horrific crash on the QEW, sending her into another deep spiral of anguish.
With a bleak financial outlook and in deep crisis, she could only see one solution.
"I figured my own suicide would be the only way to end it. I was just so fried emotionally at that time and just needed it to stop. That was my bottom."
But, as is MacPherson's core message, there was another way out.
In Judy's case, it began with a friend who prompted her to reach out for help.
A family program in northern Ontario became the first step, where Judy underwent extensive counseling and treatment for the lingering effects of her traumatic upbringing.
It was there that she discovered the impact writing had on her.
"An exercise was to sit down and write a 'hate-letter' to my father, but not send it. Everything just came out right there."
The release was so massive that it ended up spanning 300 pages; the foundation of the Yorkton-series, named after and set in the little Saskatchewan town that MacPherson visited and instantly fell in love with.
"It was over 10 years later that my girlfriend asked to read it, and afterward she told me that I had to do something with it," MacPherson said.
Never thinking of herself as a writer, she took note, but let the letter sit on the backburner.
It was in 2004, on maternity leave and feeling bored being at home all the time, that she sat down and looked it over again.
"It hurt pretty bad to read. The letter was just filled with profanity and raw emotion. I had pretty much healed up and had the time, and realized that I like writing, so I thought I'd give it a try," said MacPherson.
She says the main character is based on her own life and journey through adversity - and evidently many readers could relate, as the recently-released third book in the series has sparked an ordering frenzy.
"It is pretty shocking, but people are ordering the whole series. I'm not getting an order for just one book, they want all three. I have sold hundreds of books in the past weeks," said MacPherson.
Now the Thorold South-resident is working hard to finish off the series, as well as tieing up some side-projects that have materialized over the course of her writing career before she takes on her next challenge.
After starting her own publishing company, she says she one day is hoping to help bring similar stories to print from other writers.
"I have this fire in my gut that I want to inspire people. Life has this way of taking your childhood dreams, that you might want to become something like an astronaut or a professional athlete and pound them down. I am all about stirring those feelings and show them that they can do it. Once the series is done, I want to pursue my true calling that is personal development and healing."
For more information and to buy The Yorkton-series, visit MacPherson's website.
Quick facts:
Judy MacPherson - writer of 'The Yorkton'-series
Age: 56
Lives: Thorold South
Family: Husband, three children
Favorite Niagara spots: Thorold, Fonthill.
Reads/listens to: Self-help books, mental programming.
Honorable mention: Gillian's Place, a St Catharines women's shelter
