Here you can find info on Crystal Crawford's published memoir-style books!
I don't write many memoirs (I only have one life, after all!), but I truly poured my heart into the ones I did write. Though writing memoirs can be uncomfortable (and vulnerable... and sometimes painful!), my dream for these books was to
get my inner thoughts out on the page so I have a record of what I've learned and experienced to look back on and to share with my kids and others
and
reach at least one reader who, after reading them, feels a bit more hopeful and a little less alone.
Completing these memoirs was hugely cathartic and soul-calming (goal #1 completed!), and I've already had comments from readers on both my published memoirs that confirm I've accomplished the second goal, too. If you decide to read either of these, I hope you'll find them at least sincere and real... and that, if you relate to either of the scenarios, that you'll also know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are not alone.
Unbreaking: How Giving Up Saved Our Marriage
The first memoir I wrote was co-written with my husband. It is also my first published book ever, and it is not for the faint of heart. It tells (in sometimes excruciating detail) the story of how my marriage fell apart... and then how God put it back together. My husband and I debated for several years on whether to write this book, before finally deciding that if our vulnerability and transparency could help even one person find new hope for their struggling marriage, then it would be worth it a thousand times over. The book is written in a journal format alternating my point of view and my husband's point of view, and walks you through the story of our marriage from when we first began dating, through our struggling marriage as it all began to crumble, and then through the couple of years afterward as God helped us put the marriage -- and ourselves -- back together. We've been told by a few people that the book is a bit too raw, or reveals a little too much personal info about our struggles, but we felt strongly that in order to see the true depth of the transformation in our marriage, you'd need to really understand the reality of our marriage at its worst. This book is our testimony and declaration that there is always hope for a marriage, and that God is capable of exceedingly, abundantly beyond anything we might ask or think.
The Unspoken Language: An Animal Trainer's Memoir
My second memoir is much more lighthearted, and some of my pre-teen and teenage former Animal Psychology students have read it and said it really motivated them to pursue their dreams... which makes my teacher heart happy! This memoir was initially written on Wattpad, got a Featured spot, then took off with over 30,000 reads and won me my first-ever Watty award. It's about my journey to re-find myself and pursue my dreams--specifically, my dream of working with animals. One reader left a review on Amazon that it was all about me and hardly anything about the animals and that I was only an animal trainer for two years. It is a memoir, after all, and I'm only in my thirties (as I write this), but that's sort of the point... I had a dream, I took the risk to chase it, and this book is the story of how I landed right in the middle of my dream-job with a bunch of awesome animals. But there actually is quite a lot of detail about the animals, too! The book includes photos, where possible, as well as bonus info about some of my favorite animals and my experiences with them.
If you read either of these and would like to chat with me about what you read, you can always reach me via email at ccrawford@ccrawfordwriting.com.