“It’s time to write.”
I was lying in bed, alone in my home, half asleep. A man’s voice, outside of my own consciousness, said very clearly into my right ear, “It’s time to write.” I jumped out of bed, scrambled to find my robe, brushed my hair out of my eyes and called out, “Hello? Hello? Who’s there?” There was no reply. I stood perfectly silent, listening. I was not as afraid as I might have been had I not felt something familiar and soothing in the tone of the voice. It was soft-spoken but firm and definitive. I walked into my bathroom and peeked around. I looked in my closet. No one was there. “It’s time to write.” This time the voice was in my mind, replaying the words just spoken to me. I picked up my phone. It was 4 am. I texted my therapist. I think I might be schizophrenic. I just heard a voice outside myself. I walked into my living room. On the bookshelf was a stack of unused journals. I picked up the first one and grabbed a pen from the kitchen. I lit a candle, sat down in a small, grey velvet swivel chair, crossed myself and opened the book. I poised the pen over the page with no idea or particular word in my mind. March 1, 2020 The date was as good a place to start as any. Leave the Little Light On By Sonia Palleck
Leave the Little Light On
This was a title I had thought of many times if ever I were to write something. I took a deep breath and just sat for a second with my pen hovering on the first line. The story began itself, Athena hugged the wall as she took the grey painted stairs one at a time. An hour later, my pen stopped. I got up and went to work. The next day, my eyes opened at 4 am and the process repeated itself. This happened daily. I had a lot of resistance putting down a story that I quickly recognized was something based on my life. I was Athena. I didn’t want to relive it much less share it with anyone. But the voice was relentless and writing was the only remedy. I promised myself that I would commit to writing the story to completion. I wrote from 4 am to 5 am every single day for 15 months. It took 9 more months to dictate and type the journals into the computer. What I thought was one long book in four parts was actually four books. The books are not a memoir, nor are they entirely fictitious. My understanding is that they are a story, which is the best way that people know to pass information along. The books are about love. What happens when a human being suffers trauma as a child? When we are raised in a racist, classist and sexist society? We learn to adopt the warped meaning of the word “love” and live with the fear and anxiety that exists in us without an example or understandings of what love really is. Athena is flawed - but she means well. The books fly in the face of “cancel culture”. The past simply strings together the beads of the present into a creation. When you see the bracelet, you can turn it around but you can’t just cut one of the beads out. Together, they make the whole possible. Such are the moments in a life, the steps in our journey. They just are. I don’t want to give away the ending! I hope you can relate to Athena, her longing for love and her search for acceptance. The books are a modern day love story. The voice speaks for love, and speaks to all of us, through us. We are one and my deepest prayer is that everyone stands and basks in the light that they house inside of themselves. Peace to all. Sonia
About the author….
Sonia Palleck was born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. She went to school at Western in London, Ontario and graduated from Dentistry in '93 and Orthodontics in '99. She pioneered the use of digital orthodontics in practice and has lectured all over the world to share her knowledge with others.
Sonia has written the Leave the Little Light On series, designing and painting all the book covers, editing and self-publishing her contribution to the world. She is an advocate for love.
If you are interested in having Sonia Palleck speak at an engagement, whether related to the field of orthodontics, literature or humanity, please contact…
Be One
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