Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannon Symonds.
Hi Shannon, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am a Cedar Fort Author of women’s fiction and young adult cozy mysteries with a twist. Currently, I write in an old house by the sea, where my 6 children, their children, 30 or 40 of my closest relatives, and dogs come and go constantly. I began my life a few blocks away from our beach house, moved to Utah in my teen years, and return often to see my family.
As a child, I spent my summers at the beach in a house named Lassie Hame with my loving, extended family. It was magical. And yet even in that beautiful childhood, I became a survivor of a very rare, stranger assault near our Portland home. Fast forward to age 27. My entire life changed in one day, and not by choice. I left my marriage and found myself sitting on the side of I-15 in a VW Van with 5 kids. My oldest was 6. Luckily, I had something many women don’t, a dear friend and supportive family.
These painful moments and the challenges that came with them ignited my white-hot passion to improve the experience of survivors of abuse. I recognized that when I desperately craved kindness and sanctuary, my family, church, and friends were also overwhelmed by my experience and needed help to support me.
Since that time, I’ve worked with several thousand women and children. I received the Davis County Child Abuse Advocate of the year before I left my family behind in Utah for a safer location. I remarried, and he adopted my children. We had another baby together and bought a house a block off the beach in Seaside, Oregon.
I’ve tried many avenues in my quest to support survivors. I worked for over 20 years as an Advocate serving survivors of abuse alongside law enforcement, as a home visitor supporting new mothers, volunteering, and speaking about causes I am ridiculously passionate about.
In the past, I also authored articles for Deseret Digital Media, blogs for the Hilary Weeks Billion Clicks project, and the Operation Underground Railroad’s volunteer newsletter between 2017 and 2020. Cedar Fort published my debut novel, Safe House, A Witney Award Nominee, and a Christian fiction about an advocate and her work with survivors in 2017. I self-published, Finding Hope, a novel about sex trafficking in a small beach town in 2019.
Utah’s Cedar Fort Publishing and Media launched 4 of my young adult novels in the By the Sea Cozy Mystery Series, which are the winners of the 2022 Author Ready, Author to Watch Award and include Murder Takes a Selfie. These clean mysteries allow readers of all ages to visit the beach, laugh, love the characters, and solve a mystery. Readers also learn to look closer at their own friends and community. I work to make readers suspect and hate someone one minute, and the next I will peel away the layers of the suspect’s life. When the mystery is solved, readers tell me they grow to love and appreciate the same people they initially suspected.
From my small town on the edge of nowhere, I’ve learned that it is possible for one person to make a difference. I received the Oregon Trial Lawyers Public Justice Award 2002 for the Tiffany Alvera Case that changed housing for domestic violence victims nationally, and the 2002 Star Advocate Commendation from the Oregon Department of Justice. In 2020, I was the Operation Underground Railroad Volunteer of the Year for the Authors for Freedom Event, and my work organizing a 5k Run to Break to Chain.
When we experience trauma, we need sanctuary, kindness, and allies to walk beside us. It is my hope that when you meet survivors of any trauma, you will receive them with kindness and recognize the strength it takes to survive and journey on.
(You can find them at Deseret Book, Costco, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and bookstores on the Oregon Coast.)
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Personally, living in a rural location meant that I had to learn the art of writing and publishing alone. Thankfully, my daughter who lives in Farmington, Utah, has been a wonderful support and even co-authored self-help articles for Deseret Digital Media. My sister, Stacy Farmer, was my biggest cheerleader and supporter. She edited, read, and pushed me every step of the way. I was able to show her my first novel before she passed away. My sister also introduced me to Richard Paul Evan’s books and was on the Christmas Box House board. I am now a member of Author Ready, Evans Gold Founders Group, and a part of Author Ready’s writing group, which meets virtually.
The biggest barrier to ending abuse is the secrets we keep and our fear of educating ourselves and learning to understand the dynamics of victim blaming.
Our communities can overcome barriers to healing and reduce abuse through education.
Victim blaming, or blaming the victim for what happened, keeps survivors stuck and feeling shame. It creates a barrier to seeking help. As survivors, we often blame ourselves for what happened to us. Then, our loved ones want to help us so they give us advice like, “Why don’t you just leave” or “Why don’t you just hit them back?” These common suggestions only reinforce our feeling that we are somehow to blame for the abuse.
Why do we blame ourselves or blame others for what is happening to them? Because if the abuse happened because of the way a victim looks or because their house is a mess, then we still have control over the outcome. Survivors may think, if I just get the house clean and keep the kids quiet, then everything will be okay. We are a reminder to others of the possibility of abuse. Family members or friends who want to separate themselves from our experience may say or think things like, that happened to them because their house is always a mess. My house is clean, so that can’t happen to me.
Survivors know their story better than anyone else. If we listen and avoid shaming them, we will learn about the strong and intelligent ways they’ve tried to end the abuse they are experiencing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an author for Cedar Fort Publishing and Media in Springfield, Utah. I created the attached photos with Haley Miller of Restoration Prints in Utah for the launch of my first novel.
Haley Miller is a very talented artist and has allowed her photographic art to be used for free by anyone who would like to print the photos. Our goal is to inspire others to think deeply about the strength of survivors.
Any big plans?
I plan to self-publish a new series, and two more installments of the By the Sea Cozy Mystery Series. In short, I plan to write, volunteer and speak in support of survivors.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cozymysteriesbythesea.com/
- Instagram: Cozy Mystery Page: https://www.instagram.com/cozymysteriesbythesea/ Instagram Author page:: https://www.instagram.com/shannonsymondsauthor/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shannon.symonds FB Author page: https://www.facebook.com/shannonsymondsauthor FB Cozy Mystery Readers & Writers: https://www.facebook.com/cozymysteryreaderswriters
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/shannonsymonds7
- Youtube: In process: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtjwp6jP67o8t1GTLHz3KZw
Image Credits
https://restorationprints.com/pages/about-the-artist Haley Miller Restoration Prints, and Sara Eskelson Fish
