Stacey Williams – ‘MY NAKED TRUTH!’

STACEY Williams will be the first to admit that she is not a writer in the purest sense.

But she felt she had a compelling story to share which she hopes will inspire other women in crisis.

Williams’ independently published book, Memoir of Keithie’s Number Seventeen, captures — for the most part — a life of spousal abuse, personal tragedy, self-discovery, and ultimately healing and triumph in 324 pages.

Like a mighty river, recreations of a turbulent life poured out of her and onto those pages in easy-to-read blog post format.

“Simply put, the book is my naked truth. It focuses on my life journey from age 16 to 32. It speaks to a relationship I had with an older, married man and all the ups and downs that came with that involvement.

“It also focuses on my struggles trying to survive in a foreign country undocumented. It highlights the highs and lows I endured while being in a very toxic relationship and not being financially independent, and eventually having to figure out life as a single parent,” she shared with All Woman.

Williams, 37, says the book may surprise many people who have known her for a long time as her personal conflicts were, in some cases, masked from the public gaze.

“There are a lot of things in this book that would surprise people. The saying, ‘You see my glory, but you don’t know my story’ comes to mind. I have met different people on different legs of my journey, so depending on which chapter they walked in on, this would determine how much of the story they knew,” she noted.

Williams, who works with National Commercial Bank as cluster lead attached to the Delinquency Management Unit, says she hopes battered women will be able to take a page from her book and turn over a new leaf in finding the courage to escape their abusive situations.

“I hope it inspires them to leave toxic relationships as soon as toxicity presents itself and not after staying for extended periods of time and enduring physical, mental and emotional abuse.

“I hope it encourages the single mothers, as I know at times it gets really hard trying to single-handedly support a child and cover all the other expenses. I hope it encourages teenage mothers to see that an unplanned pregnancy is not the end of their lives, but instead they just need to use the child as their motivation to constantly better themselves.

“It is never about how we start, but rather how we finish. I hope it encourages women to love themselves, so they don’t settle for less than they deserve,” Williams asserted.

The former Convent of Mercy Academy “Alpha” student believes her story is relatable as many women in Jamaica, and abroad, are going through what she had to endure.

“I survived a lot of what would have broken others mentally. They (other women) see me now and they are seeing someone who has overcome situations that so many haven’t.

“We all, at some point in our lives, have been in relationships that broke us whether mentally, emotionally, or even financially. So, my experience is one that many can relate to, but the difference is not everyone comes out on the other side successful.

“Unfortunately for some, the situation gets the better of them, so the fact that I have emerged this confident, independent and self-aware person and my trauma didn’t hold me prisoner, I am sure people would want to mirror the methods I used to cope and overcome,” Williams stated.

Putting pen to paper was not easy for the Southside-raised woman as she never saw herself as a genuine writer. Neither did she love to read.

“Whilst I enjoyed writing stories for my English assignments in high school, I really didn’t see myself as a writer. However, after the experiences I had and my life journey, I felt it was a story worthy of sharing. I felt this was the only way I could be understood; why I am the way I am, why I do the things I do, why my positions are what they are on certain topics.

“It was important for me to share how my journey has shaped and moulded me into the person I am today. It was also important for me to share my story of overcoming and to try and encourage others who may find themselves in similar situations,” Williams reasoned.

The University of West Indies graduate, who completed a bachelor’s in management studies, explains the quirky title of the book.

“ Memoir of Keithie’s Number Seventeen can be translated to Memoir of Stacey Williams. My dad Keith ‘Keithie’ Williams fathered 18 children of which I am the 17th and that influenced the title.

“I started writing in 2013, but as soon as I had started, I stopped. But after eventually completing this book, I went in search of the hardcover book I started writing in nine years ago as I was curious to see what I had planned on calling that book. As fate would have it, the title said Keithie’s Number 17.

“My father passed in 2014, and as much as how Memoir of Keithie’s Number Seventeen is my story, I wanted to able to honour my father’s memory somehow,” she explained.

Published on February 19, 2022, Memoir of Keithie’s Number Seventeen is available for purchase on Amazon in Kindle Direct Publishing. The paperback version is also available for purchase on Amazon, and locally.