End the Silence

Dorothy Read

Most of my life I’ve mentored the writing of others—as a high school English teacher, as an active member of the Whidbey Island Writers Association, as a critique group member. Now it’s my turn, and what a whirl!

Short stories are such fun. I’ve published seven of them, and the minute I get time, I’ll list them and let you know where to find them. The big thing, now, is Ilse Evelijn Veere Smit’s memoir, End the Silence.

It all started at church. Ilse told her story about a handkerchief that she treasures—all that she has that belonged to her beloved mother. It hit me square in the heart. I connected with this little girl whose war years were a world apart from mine. Of course I’m talking about World War II. I’m old enough to remember what it was like, so I gave Ilse credit for remembering what it was like, and I set out to write it as she remembers it.

When I’m not knee deep in End the Silence, I do things like help put on writers conferences  and chair a writers association. (Voluntarily of course; I haven’t done anything that pays actual cash since 2003.) And then there’s Altar Guild and the Banners and Paraments Committee and choir.

I do it all on Whidbey Island, an hour from Seattle including the ferry ride. And I do it in the supportive company of Dean, my husband and best critic. He has put up with my compulsion to volunteer and get in over my head for over fifty years now. I hope he’ll put up with it for another fifty.