Donna Siggers extends a warm welcome to her site and hopes you find what you are looking for.
NEWS FLASH
BOOK SIGNING
Donna is very humbled to have been invited along to Avictus in Southend-on-Sea because of her willingness to speak out about her trauma and survival through her books LOST SOUL and SOUL SEARCHING. Donna's connection to Avictus comes through a lady named Trish who she met through mutual friends. Trish has kindly arranged this book signing through Angie who provides self-defence classes to ladies at Avictus. Donna will be available from 10:30 onwards to sign books at this truly special event. Donna is thankful to be in a position to speak up through the written and spoken word in order to step up to make a difference to those suffering the affects of trauma.
Avictus are a dedicated fitness and wellbeing hub in Southend-on-Sea. The company is owned and managed by some of the UK's most talented and accredited self-defence professionals. Avictus is located along Southend's Eastern Esplanade near to the seafront (opposite Sea).
Welcome to the literary and speaking home of Donna Siggers!
This is what one of Donna's readers had to say about her debut novel, BROKEN...
"one of the creepiest stories about a serial killer I have ever read"
How absolutely cool is that! There are lots of other reader comments spread over the website, so please feel free to have a browse. There is also a lot of news being shared, some set out below and also on the News and Tweets page.
Despite writing being a healing process from severe injury and trauma, Donna has had immense fun during the process of producing her first trilogy. There are, of course, more than three books of hers published. As she embarks on her new psychological crime thriller, she's been reflecting on her writing journey--on relearning our wonderful language after memory loss and using the power of writing as a tool to submerge herself inside her lost mind to re-find her soul. Although this might seem a complex (and she assures you it is) process, its one that has proven both positive but also traumatic. Placing her thoughts and memories, in their twisted story forms, into books has helped Donna heal. Creating complex characters from the people who contributed towards her life, in ways they'd never recognise themselves has been, in a way, her sweet revenge. For those of you who knew Donna back in her equine days and were shocked with her storytelling as a forty-something year old, and for everyone else who have enjoyed her work, she is upping her game for her new writing for she has undergone more years of healing and undertaken numerous writing courses too. Her storytelling will be deeper for Donna is without boundaries now that her memory is functioning much better than it was first time around--now she's in her fifties she is out for full impact.
'SOUL SEARCHING: To PTSD Hell and Back Twice' has now been published and is available in paperback only. It is Donna's follow-on book to 'LOST SOUL: Broken Soul to Soul on Fire'. Donna was been humbled at the support and feedback from those that read this book pre-publication and wishes to thank those who have taken part--for she didn't want to send this book out until these trusted friends had given their views. Now she is beginning to receive photographs and feedback from others who are enjoying (if that's the correct word) her narrative. There has already been two radio interviews, one in Kent and a further in Essex. The latter is well documented further in the website.
Distributing 'SOUL SEARCHING' hasn't come without complications and Donna would like to thank Jay from Angel Eye for sharing his knowledge in helping her getting the listing seen on Amazon. This book touches on Donna's Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder journey. She chooses to share her personal insights, a task that has been healing as much as challenging for her. More importantly she has found that, over the years since her first autobiography, 'LOST SOUL' was published that it helped so many others. With that in mind, Donna has created a book this time around that also speaks out about brain function as well as her personal journey in hope that it holds many benefits for her readers. This is the book that Donna will use to influence change for those at the hands of domestic abuse and also stalking. More often than not those suffering are not heard, are not able to speak out or not believed. Donna wants to use this book--her story--in order to make a difference.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
Born in rural Essex, United Kingdom, Donna Siggers grew up surrounded by beautiful countryside and some very interesting characters. Add to that the stories she could share from her time around horses and stable yards she could seriously have chosen a completely different genre. Her life with horses gave Donna an advantage, as it taught her to fly and to fall, and that when the latter occurred there was no option other than to stand back up again. It was a good life lesson and one that she leans on regularly. Who knows, maybe horses will feature in a book one day.
More recently, Donna has taken up residing in the wonderful county of Kent--the Garden of England--which is where some of her sailing stories took her to many years ago. Additionally, she's not too far away from where she worked as a photographer back in her thirties. It seems she was destined to find her feet in Kent at some point in her life.
Having experienced a series of life events that exposed her to the harsh reality of survival, Donna set out to learn what it took to take back control of her life. Qualifying as a psychotherapist she gave up a successful photography career and was able to help many others strive. By 2013 Donna was working within an environment that changed her life in a way that shocked her entire family to the core: an assault at work resulted in a serious head trauma, personality changes and complexities that are detailed on her mental health page. Not many people understand the notion that because she experienced such extreme life-changing injuries she has become the person she is today: that her ability changed from scientist to creative and that she is thankful for who she has become–-an award winning crime thriller author and mental health advocate. To date she has published The Warwick Cooper Thrillers Trilogy, comprising of 'Broken', 'Betrayal' and 'Bound' and also two autobiographical books in her "Get Your Life Back" series. Her recovery story 'Lost Soul: Broken Soul to Soul on Fire' takes you through her journey of head trauma recovery and "Soul Searching: To PTSD Hell and Back Twice" is her journey through PTSD, that includes the scientific understanding of why the condition continues to devastate the whole body as well as the mind in cycles that continue. Additional to these books, Donna has also published a self-help book 'Free Spirit' that gives a basic guide on mental health and how to overcome the hurdles that might be holding you back. Proud to be a mental health advocate, Donna gives 'Free Spirit' to all guests as part of any public speaking booking (paid events only).
More recently Donna has been sharing her love of history through her Soul2ink blog on this website (occasionally jointly with her partner Dave, who is from Kent) as well as personal book reviews as a way of promoting fellow authors. This is an aspect of writing that Donna enjoys immensely.
"…that until you’ve almost lost it all, you don’t truly appreciate what you have in life…" are words Donna wrote early on in her survival from brain trauma and they still ring true to her to this day. Despite it not being possible for her to speak openly about every aspect of her life, the sights she has witnessed or people that she has worked with--and indeed each of her personal experiences--Donna has found her voice and ability to share her story in a way that gives you authenticity.
For many years after the assault, the only memories Donna had were from physical records she held. These records are all negative, which was quite the burden for her to recall. Therapy intervened. She had two therapists that are detailed in both in Lost Soul and Soul Searching. It was through her second therapist, Gary H that progress was made, that and with the help of time and hard work Donna has been able to reclaim much of her past, thankfully. The year she set out to reclaim her life (2018) was the year Donna's writing life also lifted. It saw her physical arrival in the USA, and a sudden stage presence. At the start of the year Donna had struggled to make a short bus journey in her local town and by the end of it she'd flown four thousand air miles to speak to four hundred people on stage and to win an award for her debut novel, after which her live audience was one million. When you are determined, it truly is amazing what you can achieve!
Donna claims that in spite of her brain trauma she is now a better version of herself and that's because of the opportunities she's created through her writing and the new people in her life. She is under no illusion, however, of how gruelling the journey has been for her and her family to get to where she is and that acceptance has been the largest hurdle to overcome. All be it a double edge sword, Donna's head injury has been, in part, a blessing because of the people she now has surrounding her.
The photographs below are from Donna's younger years, when horses were her life.
