About the Author

J. Lauren Sangster was born and raised in Kentucky and has also lived in Tennessee, New York, and Maine. She began writing to help process her trauma and has won national and state awards for her work, including the 2018 Richard F. Snow Nonfiction Award for her story, “I Love You, I Miss You Already”, about her husband's struggle with a terminal illness.  On her podcast Flying Over the Hedge she discusses more in depth certain topics she raises in her book such as generational trauma, parental/family estrangement, gut instinct, and flashbacks with the hope to further educate from the trauma victim's viewpoint.  She is a member of The Authors Guild, Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, and International Women's Writing Guild.  As part of her healing, Lauren embraces the opportunity to practice compassionate understanding working as a volunteer online reader for the Freedom to Choose Project in California, which provides a self-help program geared toward incarcerated women and men. Today, Lauren lives in Maine with her partner John.