“Webs of Fear”

The first image in my multi-award-winning book, "Opening the Gates of the Heart: A Journey of Healing" is "Webs of Fear." It is the image that allowed me to realize I had a book in the making. You see, I was journaling every day to deal with my new-found sobriety and my long-standing history of anger and bitterness - in short, my angst. At the same time, I was titling photos of gates I had taken. I planned to submit them to art galleries. One morning, I wrote in my journal, "I have spent a lifetime spinning webs of terror and shame between the spires of the sentinels to my heart." This stopped me up short! These words described an image I had just titled a week ago, "Webs of Fear." The words gave voice to the image! I began to wonder if there were other writings in my journals that would describe other gate images I'd titled. I found several. It was at this point I knew I had a book-in-the-making, and started putting it together. Six years later, this book was published and quickly became an award winner in many categories. Three-quarters of the book's verses were taken verbatim from my journals. They were written before I photographed the gates! I attribute the whole discovery of the book to Divine inspiration and creation.