My residency project is a 40,000-word non-fiction book, tentatively titled, Broken, about my physical, emotional, and spiritual experiences using cold water swimming to combat serious depression and PTSD following a traumatic accident. Broken is about finding peace and wholeness in nature while responding to life-altering trauma.

Broken is going to be a vastly different book than what I have written in the past. I’m not sure what the format of the book will be. Maybe a memoir. Maybe a collection of essays. Maybe a graphic non-fiction format. It could even be a multimedia story. The title refers to my broken leg, my broken spirit, and also to the outdated, overburdened, and deeply unequal US healthcare and social service systems.

Swimming regulates, calms, cleanses, and renews. It challenges me, and it makes me better. It restores something essential about me, something I can’t reach at other times because I’m still struggling with decades of disability-related trauma. When I’m in the water, I feel more like the old me I know and love.

I hope to use my residency to reflect on my swimming experiences, meet other open water swimmers, and develop key themes into essays/chapters. If you would like to swim with me while I’m in residence, please get in touch.

BIO

Erika Dillman is an author based in Seattle, Washington USA. Her past titles include: The Little Yoga Book, The Little Pilate Book, The Little Strength Training Book, The Little Abs Workout Book, The Little Butt & Thighs workout Book, The Little Book of Healthy Teas, The Little Soy Book, The Little Footcare Book, Outdoors Online: An Internet Guide to Everything Wild & Green, and The Party of Your Life. Her books have been translated into more than than eleven languages.