A Mishicot native is now a published author.
Sara Smet is the author of “Pull of the Ocean”, which tells the story of Betty, who moved to the beach to help her process her grief.
Smet has used writing as a form of therapy her whole life, whether that be journalling, keeping a diary, or simply writing her feelings down on a piece of paper and ripping it up.
“I kind of just used that to take my feelings and get them out and so that they’re not just sitting there,” she explained.
And that process is how the writing of “Pull of the Ocean” began.
Sara found a job as a special education teacher in the Fox Cities following her graduation from Mishicot High School in 2002, a position she held for 17 years.
She became close with one of her students, whom she taught from Kindergarten through 4th grade.
However, he tragically passed away due to a myriad of medical conditions shortly after that school year.
“I carried a lot of that with me and I couldn’t like get it out,” she admitted. “It started as this as me just trying to assess my feelings, process, what I was going through.”
Sara explained that when she went back to the classroom, she had a hard time dealing with the memories of that very special young boy.
She would find items of his and remember the time they spent together.
She admitted that this caused her to lose the passion for teaching she once had.
So, Sara quit her job, packed up, and moved to Florida.
If that sounds strikingly similar to the main character of her book, that’s because, as Sara explained, the book is semi-autobiographical…as it “starts about how she has the student and how she built that relationship with him, and then it goes through like the loss that she has and then that depression and the heartbreak and how hard it was to walk in that room every day.”
Betty then moves to the beach to find herself, and that, Sara says, is when their stories split.
“As I’m writing this story, Betty becomes her own entity,” she explained. “Then there’s other characters that she meets in the story that are also dealing with loss. She starts tutoring a little boy whose mom died of cancer, and they bond over that and like being there for each other.”
Sara added that this book is important not only for her own mental health, but it also shows people that there are many ways to address their own mental health struggles, because “Not everyone grieves the same way. Not everyone heals the same way.”
“Pull of the Ocean” is available for purchase on Kindle, or hard copies can be found on Amazon.
