The Woman Who Changed Everything
(And Why I Can't Thank Her Now)
An Unlikely Editor and Sacred Courage
Dear friends,
Sometimes the most important people in our stories are the ones we meet for just a season.
Twenty years ago, when I was a terrified first-time author clutching a stack of handwritten pages about my cancer experience, a friend connected me with an editor. "She's brilliant," he said, "but fair warning—she's been through some controversy."
Her name was Lavinia, and when I knocked on her door, I stepped into what felt like a time capsule.
Her home was filled with artifacts from a different era, and she herself seemed to carry the weight of having taken a stand that cost her everything she once held dear.
Lavinia was one of the "September Six."
“—women who had courageously challenged the position of women in the LDS church. Anderson's work documenting instances of the church's treatment of intellectuals and feminists led to her excommunication in 1993, a pivotal event in the history of dissent within the LDS Church.”
Upon reading the first chapter of my book, she said, "I only had to read the first five lines of your first chapter," she told me, "and I knew I needed to work with you."
For hours, we sat at her kitchen table with highlighters and red pens, she in her wisdom and me in my inexperience. She taught me that vulnerability on the page isn't the same as emotional dumping. That readers need hope, not just honesty and that my story mattered not because it was mine, but because it could light a path for someone else walking through darkness.
Recently, as I prepared for the relaunch of Revealing Grace, I wanted to reach out to thank her again and let her know her name would still be in the credits. That's when I discovered she had passed away two years ago.
The grief surprised me. Here was a woman I'd known briefly, but who had shaped not just my book but my understanding of what it means to use your voice courageously, even when it costs you.
Lavinia never got to see the impact Revealing Grace has had over the years—the emails from readers who found hope in its pages, the book clubs that discussed it, the cancer patients who carried it into treatment rooms, but her fingerprints are on every page.
She taught me that sometimes the most sacred work we do is helping others find their voice. Whether it's through editing a manuscript, offering a Reiki session, or simply listening without judgment—we all have opportunities to midwife someone else's healing into the world.
As October 18th approaches and this book finds new readers, I carry Lavinia's courage with me. Her willingness to stand up for what she believed, to use her gifts in service of others' stories, to remain generous even after loss.
That's the kind of legacy worth leaving.
In honor of unlikely teachers and sacred courage,
Amy
P.S. - Pre-orders for Revealing Grace will be available soon. This relaunch edition includes new reflections on how cancer treatment—and cancer survivorship—have evolved over twenty years.
