Author Names:
Gail Champion Barber and Alice Sullivan
Book Title: Fleecy Clouds: One Woman’s Story of Surviving and Thriving after Childhood Abuse
Website URL:
Social Media Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicewrites/
Link for Gail’s book on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75675431-fleecy-clouds
What is your book about and when was it published?
Gail’s family was poor but rich with love. When her mother was in the hospital giving birth to the youngest child, their house burned. Before leaving the hospital, Gail’s mother was diagnosed with cancer.
When her mother passed, Gail and her siblings went to stay with family, eventually living at her grandmother’s house. Although warned that this was not a good decision, Gail’s father felt it was his only option. However, it was nearly fatal for little Gail. Her father—her hero—saved her in the nick of time.
The Welfare Department soon removed Gail and her two younger siblings and placed them in foster homes. They were ultimately placed at Childhaven, an orphanage for fortunate children.
Despite great sadness and pain in their early years, Gail and her siblings grew up to be strong, loving, and faith-filled adults. But those early traumatic childhood events weighed on Gail’s body, mind, and spirit until she was in her forties. Finally agreeing to seek help, she started seeing a Christian counselor. That was the beginning of her healing journey.
No matter how much hurt you’ve endured, there’s always a path to healing and wholeness. In Fleecy Clouds: One Woman’s Story of Surviving and Thriving after Childhood Abuse, Gail’s story is evidence of the resiliency of the human spirit, the power of love, and the never-ending mercies of a loving Father.
What inspired you to write your book?
Alice Sullivan: As a ghostwriter, it’s a privilege to be chosen to help someone write their book. When I spoke with Gail and learned about her story, I was so intrigued and touched that she had endured so much hardship and abuse but was still willing to walk through it all again to tell her story, so it could help others heal.
As someone who also experienced childhood abuse, I had a deeper interest in understanding how and why she survived, and why she chose the path of healing, especially when so many others never find freedom from the past.
What success did you achieve with your book that you’d like to share?
Gail and her husband, Jerrie, have done excellent work with marketing the book. They’ve sold nearly 1,000 copies, which, for a self-published book, is a huge feat to be celebrated! They’ve also shared that on Kindle Unlimited, readers have read 18,919 pages since it was released, which is 38 times through the book. They are currently working on the audiobook with their daughter, Christi, reading it.
Gail has continued to tour and speak about her experiences. Frequently readers will contact her sharing their own stories, after having been encouraged by hers. Jerrie Barber says the book, “has blessed us and many others.” Honestly, I have been blessed immensely by working on the book alongside them and seeing firsthand the encouragement and hope it continues to bring to readers.
How long did this take to achieve? What steps did you take that helped?
Gail and I began video interviews in the fall of 2021 and by the spring of 2022, we had a solid first draft that was ready for multiple rounds of editing and beta reading. It was published in January of 2023.
Gail has kept written journals for years, and one of the first things I needed to do was to transcribe her journals so I could have them in a Microsoft Word document. I wanted to use as much of her original writing as possible, since she has such a beautiful gift of storytelling that brings you right into the moment. Being consistent with our interviews and making steady progress on drafting chapters was the key to creating such a compelling memoir for Gail.
Was there anything about the process that didn’t help?
My cursive reading skills were dusty. It took me a little while for my eyes to adjust to cursive writing again, but after I learned her script and style, I really enjoyed reading her journals and I found the transcription became much easier.
I would have loved to have had in-person interviews, but it was still the time of Covid. Video calls worked well. Gail and I had a great time talking each week, becoming friends in the process.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently ghostwriting a book proposal for a memoir about mental health and am excited to see where that book lands. I’m also finishing edits for two additional memoirs—one is a medical memoir discussing a near-death experience, and the other is for a medical device inventor.
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