Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Story.
Hi Susan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was a stay-at-home mom in Georgia for 30 years. I have five grown children. My husband was always very manipulative and verbally and emotionally abusive and we were actively very involved in the Baptist church where divorce was frowned upon. As our children grew up and each had graduated high school and went off to college and the youngest two joined the military. I had hoped to have time to pursue my writing and perhaps my husband and I would be able to travel but my husband wanted me to go back to college and take nursing. Nursing was something I had considered when I was very young but I was no longer interested in. I also was unaware of how much money was going into our 401K so I thought – it was necessary for me to get a job, previously he had not wanted me to. Because of these and other family difficulties we separated in 2014.
I had been writing poetry for a few years prior. I had also written poetry as a teen but I did not save them. In 2015 I self published my first book of poetry: “The Seven Story Tree” I moved out of our large house in 2016 and moved into our smaller house which we had previously rented out. I memorized several of my poems and would say them for people and at open mics in middle Georgia. I continued to look for a job and applied for many and various positions. I began donating my blood plasma twice a week. I also hired a paid publisher to illustrate and publish one of my poems called, “What Elephant?” which is in “The Seven Story Tree” but this didn’t turn out well and I didn’t receive proper royalties. I wanted to sue them but I was paying for my divorce. In 2017 I began renting out rooms in my house on Airbnb. I had many interesting characters who stayed at “Red’s Airbnb” and I am going to write about that experience also. In 2018 our divorce was finally final. In July 2019 I stopped doing Airbnb because of different issues I would have with guests. Things were very tense with my three daughters, and they were not speaking to me and had mostly sided with their dad: because of this I was very depressed the Summer of 2019. A friend I had met through my Airbnb was relocating to the St Louis area came to stay with me again before moving here.
I wanted to leave the state of Georgia to move away from my ex. In September 2019 I discovered that rats had got under my house and then into my house and I now also had to get those pests out. I formed a plan the end of 2019 to downsize significantly, get rid of the rats, sell my house I got in the divorce all paid for, buy an RV to live and travel in until I decided what state to settle in. I began selling most all of my possessions on Facebook Marketplace in December 2019. In January 2020 I got my ex to sign the house over to me and I killed the last rat in a trap behind my dryer. When Covid had hit in March of 2020 I did not know if I could continue with my plan and I started to become depressed again. But I decided I would still try and I only stopped selling stuff for a month and began again in April. In June I listed my house and on the same day found out that the shady publishers (Page Publishing) who had ripped me off were trying to sue me for 1 Million dollars! LOL, I had spoken out against them on social media and caused people to not hire them and also back out of their contracts.
I sold large things like furniture and tiny nicknacks. I sold some books, DVDs, my TV, my sofa, my dining set, my bedroom sets, my barbeque, my birdbath, ETC, I donated approximately 1500 books to the friends of the library, got rid of most of my clothes to Goodwill, I put some very special things: photo albums, family heirlooms, my children’s many awards in a storage for my oldest to go pick up when I sent her the key after I left Georgia. I sold my house on August 28th. I left Georgia on September 22, 2020 and came here to Belleville Illinois. I bought my RV in October and I sold my car and left in my RV in November and I went first to see my son in Denver Colorado. I went to Los Angeles in December and stayed for a bit to help my brother because my sister-in-law had breast cancer and was dying. In January 2021 my sister-in-law passed away. I was having repairs made on my RV in California and I came back here to Belleville to house and dog sit for my friend for a month. (Feb-March 2021) When I got back to California I got back into my RV where it was parked on my brother’s property. In April I started traveling in my RV again. I had also started on YouTube in early 2021 and started going live in March. I went to a few YouTube meet-ups and stopped by here a few times to get my RV fixed. In the Fall (September-October) I went to the East Coast (Georgia and Tennessee) I had gone 10,000 miles when I came back to the St Louis area at the end of October 2021.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not at all. I’ve had so many obstacles but I am grateful to have made it through!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a spoken word poet and I memorize my poems and say them to people. I say them at open mics. I’ve said them at churches and I’ve said them for people just when I am out and about and we’re talking and the subject comes up. Now I say or read them on YouTube. I don’t have all of them memorized because I have alot of poems! My second book of poetry is finished. It is called RED POEMS.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Oh, so many things! Life is short- so love hard- play hard- work hard and try not to waste any time. If you go with God, you will always have Him/Her even when everyone else has gone.
Contact Info:
- Email: redheadedwritinghood@gmail.com
- Website: RedheadedWritingHood.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redheadedwritinghood/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Redheadedwritinghood
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/RedheadedWritin
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RedheadedWritingHood
