by Stan Ascher

Cindy Herb started off writing her experiences in a journal, but decided to publish a book when she realized others could benefit from reading her life's tale.

DESOTO — Cindy Herb says she was nine when she was sexually assaulted while delivering newspapers. "This man came up to me and asked me to help him find his cat, and then, the next thing I knew, I was being raped," she says.

Shortly after that, she said that her father fondled her. But according to Cindy, the worst part of the whole ordeal was being silenced by her mother. "My mother refused to talk about it -- it was like I was at war," she says.

DeSoto author Cindy Herb

Cindy writes about all of this in graphic detail and more in her new book Awakening the Spirit: The Open Wide like a Floozy Chronicles, published by The P3 Press, a division of Brown Books Publishing Group, an independent publisher based in Dallas. In the book, she writes about her childhood experiences and how, with the help of a local shaman she met at a psychic fair, she was able to reawaken her spirituality and regain a sense of emotional control.

She started off writing her experiences in a journal, but decided to publish a book when she realized others could benefit from reading her life's tale.

"It’s estimated that one in four women in their lifetime will have some kind of inappropriate sexual behavior thrust upon them -- and one in 33 men," she says.

Although Cindy's book contains graphic details about her past, it has an uplifting message and humor that almost everyone can appreciate. "People believe that when they are going through adversity, they are being punished, but they are really not," she says. "We need to learn we’re not alone."

For more information and to purchase the book, visit Cindy’s Web site.

Stan Ascher is an intern from the University of North Texas