United States
I have won over a dozen Awards and Honors for my writing, including Georgia Author of the Year, two William Faulkner Short Fiction Awards, and a Writing Fellowship to Rockvale Writers' Colony. My published work includes newspaper and magazine articles/columns, online media content, curriculum materials, and fiction. I also create resources for people who are grieving.
My life has revolved around words, whether I was working in a library or as a newspaper reporter or from home on freelance projects. I taught college English in the Atlanta Metro area and have helped other writers and authors start projects and build marketing strategies.
This book offers simple, easy-to-read suggestions for surviving in the immediate aftermath of suicide. When people die by suicide, confusion, misunderstanding, conflicting emotions, and undeserved shame can paralyze those who loved them. But healing is possible. Start here. (Available in Kindle and paperback)
This small book expands on practical suggestions and inspiration drawn from the author's own grief experiences. Topics include: When Will I Feel Better? How Do I Explain to My Children? How to Find Purpose...and much more.
Where do you find peace after the death of a loved one? Grieving is a journey on which you may feel completely alone. Healing, while carrying the love you still feel, is possible. We can grow stronger and learn to live with dual realities: sorrow and joy. Peaceful Moments is a companion journal to Way for Hope and will help you look into your own heart through prompts and passages designed to help you remember your loved one as you gain strength to move forward with a life of your own.
The aftermath of loss, especially loss by suicide, is traumatic, confusing, and exhausting. The author's own experience with loss and her work with thousands of other survivors inspired her to create this book with the hope that it will help others begin to understand how they can rebuild happy and fulfilling lives after loss.
This New Life is a selection of some of the many columns the author contributed to the Alliance of Hope for Survivors of Suicide Loss through the website's blog. Visit the Alliance to find many resources that can help at www.allianceofhope.org.
Telling Your Story Through Writing provides simple steps and coping strategies for moving through the complicated grieving process that follows a suicide. It includes calming techniques for mind and body; journal prompts to help create a personalized healing plan for reintegration into normal life; and suggestions for writing your own story.
Jan McDaniel lost her husband to suicide in 2007 after 33 years of marriage. In the years following his death, she helped build the Alliance of Hope for Suicide Loss Survivors, facilitated local support groups, and created materials to help those who are grieving rebuild their lives.
Text of Human Interest newspaper article Jan wrote