The Secret Truth

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Nearly 15 years later and I'm releasing a second Silent Reality anthology. Something that was so far on the back on the list of projects that I forgot it for years.

For those that don't know The Silent Reality is a collection of short stories and poetry of reality and hard life covering dozens of topics from; smoking, addiction, depression, abuse, suicide, homelessness, etc. I started writing it at 13 years old with the first poem The Unspoken Side and finished it at 17 and published at 18.

Upon the release there were some remnant stories and poems that never made the cut years ago. Many of them I concluded I wasn't old enough to find the right words to do the topics justice;

Dedicated to an Illusion , The Breaking With, About the Author, are the ones that come to mind. Slowly I would write a poem here or there. Maybe stumble into writing a few short stories but like The Silent Reality after release it was put to the side and overlooked for years.

When I decided to review the collection of stories in January/February I realize for the most part is was ready for release. There was a lot of stories that needed to be written or finished but I was closer along than I thought.

When writing this style I don't really start with a story concept. I more tap into an emotion or feeling and write the words corresponding to the emotion. The Breaking Within is an interesting story for this single point.

I tapped into a very interesting emotion, it was like all despair and resentment becoming compacted into a single spot that my mind could see on my arm. My heart and emotions wanting to purge it out of me. Around 16 I knew I couldn't write as strongly as I felt it so this story was shelved for later. When I decided to go back into these works this story about Cutting is one of the main priority story to be added. Years later that feeling still resided when I began re-working what was there. Another story I recall having this sort of encounter with is Back Door to Life in the first book. Breathing I could feel smoke in my lungs and the calming release when I exhaled. (No i didn't smoke nor was there smoke in the room.)

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Ultimately what made me decide to take a more serious look at creating The Secret Truth is because people that actually read my first book have recently been approaching me and telling me how it's helped them in their life. It's something that still surprises me. Some young adults have come up to me and told me how it's impacted their life picking it up as a teenager. Then you look at life today it's tough. There's a lot uncontrolled, unchecked emotions, reactions, stress, self-loathing, and people thinking they know themselves. I think one of the struggles society has came about by asking the wrong question. Regardless if it's political or not a lot of people focus on changing the world rather than changing themselves. Change how others speak, live, and talk to create self-comfort at the cost of others expense.

When it came to creating the cover I didn't entirely know what direction I wanted to go in. There is a picture of a fallen tree that I've hoped to use for years but when it came to pulling the picture that Pascha took I couldn't find it a digital copy anywhere so I decided to experament with various pictures she's taken over the years. The entire book cover for The Secret Truth was figured out in a single night.

This is the second non-picture book I've ever formatted. The first one being Spy Over There. Looking over this book I'm slowly figuring out and learning how to format. I find myself improving while still having a lot to learn.

Thank you for your time

Chance Hansen

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