For my first seventeen years I was what I call a cult orphan, having been essentially abandoned by my parents whose full devotion was to the cult/commune I grew up in. I spent those years wondering what was wrong with me and fighting loneliness, anxiety, abuse, depression, and fear. My memoir, titled I’m Telling This Story tells the story of my life in the cult and how I found freedom through escape into stories, then power from those stories, then ultimately escaped onto a path to a new life. And later found true freedom – yes, through stories.