Tell us a little about your background and how you became interested in writing.
My first foray into writing was in middle school when I joined the yearbook staff. One day while laying out a yearbook page, I learned that I had won the Outstanding English Student Award for my school. A gigantic trophy and tons of writing confidence followed. I grew up in Oklahoma and Texas and developed quite a memory for people I had met and places seen. All those memories came in handy years later when I put a magazine editing career on hold to become an aspiring novelist. It was a good thing I knew how to write because it helped channel my feelings about living with progressive hearing loss into words for others to read.
What led you to write Confessions of a Lip Reading Mom?
Biographies and memoirs are my favorite genre of books, and I wanted to write one for years. A writing instructor once asked what was so special about my life that it warranted a book. It took eight years for my life story to materialize into Confessions of a Lip Reading Mom. I had to live life, not just write about it, in order to have a story worth telling. My book is about living with hearing loss while taking care of children, living with depression, and trying to make sense out of a progressive health issue. Writing this book was my therapy. Each chapter invites the reader on roller-coaster experiences that may surprise, educate, and inspire them.
What is Confessions of a Lip Reading Mom about?
In 2001, I became a new mom to a healthy seven-pound boy. While on maternity leave, I noticed a persistent ringing sound inside my ears and went to a doctor. The diagnosis: progressive hearing loss in both ears; cause unknown. My book spans the first six years of my life as a hard of hearing mom. How could I take care of my babies if I couldn't hear their cries from the other room? Would I become completely deaf and, if so, how would I communicate with my children? The doorbell's chime, the phone ringing, and my toddler's first words were silent to my ears. After two years of denial, I began wearing hearing aids---but I didn't like them at first. They magnified the sounds I didn't want to hear---temper tantrums! Eventually, I learned to navigate the uncertain waters of hearing loss with my sanity and humor barely intact. I became an online hearing loss community advocate, known as Lipreading Mom. This wasn't my lifelong plan in the beginning, but it is something I have come to embrace now. Besides being a wife and mom, I believe my purpose on earth is to tell this story.
Shanna also has some hearing loss awareness projects she'd love to bring to your attention: Find out how you can help in these causes.
- Show Me Your Ears: This is my online photo gallery of people who wear cochlear implants and hearing aids, children with hearing loss, and even a few animal ears! The goal is to make hearing loss awareness a fun and visual experience. To date, there are more than 200 'ears' on display at LipreadingMom.com/Show-Me-Your-Ears.
- Lipreading Mom Captions Campaign: I have partnered with the Collaboration for Communication Access via Captioning (CCAC) to develop an email campaign to encourage networks and websites to caption 100-percent of their online videos so that people who are deaf or hard of hearing have full access to them. Visit the campaign page atLipreadingMom.com/Lipreading-Mom-Captions-Campaign.
- Stop Hearing Loss Bullying: As a person with hearing loss, I have experienced teasing, name calling, and outright bullying---and I am not alone. In schools, communities, and the workplace, people with hearing loss may experience ridiculing and prejudice because of their hearing ability. This campaign has an online petition and is working on a series of videos to heighten awareness that people who can't hear deserve respect and that hearing loss bullying is wrong. Learn more at LipreadingMom.com/Stop-Hearing-Loss-Bullying.
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Shanna Groves was diagnosed with progressive hearing loss after the birth of her first child. She was 27. In the years since, she and her husband added two more children who provide creative fodder for writing. Her books include Lip Reader and the just-released Confessions of a Lip Reading Mom. The philosophy, "One person can make a difference; it takes many people to make the difference permanent," inspired a blog, LipreadingMom.com, that advocates for hearing loss awareness through projects such as the Lipreading Mom Captions Campaign, Show Me Your Ears, and Stop Hearing Loss Bullying. She speaks and teaches classes on hearing health, lip reading, and creative writing to people of all ages. Learn more at ShannaGroves.com.
BLOG ADDRESS: http://LipreadingMom.com
WEB ADDRESS: www.ShannaGroves.com
FACEBOOK ADDRESS:www.Facebook.com/AuthorShannaGroves
TWITTER ADDRESS: www.Twitter.com/LipreadingMom
EMAIL: sgrovesuss@msn.com
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