Over the rainbow: Local author uses the pain of his youth to help others
By Todd South
Staff Writer
04-14-2008

Don Winston walks Oxford Lake to get inspiration for his writing. Photo: Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star
OXFORD — Don Winston remembers screaming and crying.
He remembers something not quite right about his mother and his young life.
Winston knows the pain of a jumbled youth, a fractured family and not feeling wanted.
Despite all that, despite troubles that might send most to the bottle or jail, he smiles.
He smiles in a way that makes others want to smile.
He laughs, and his eyes show a joy that most take for granted.
And through his books he shows others that they can get through the emotional rollercoaster of foster care just as he did.
When Winston was 6 years old, he and his three brothers were taken from their mother.
His mother had mental illness, he says, perhaps schizophrenia, which made her paranoid enough to lock the boys up at home and leave for what seemed like days.
The neighbors heard their cries and worried. Finally, someone called social services.
Winston remembers that day — the police cars, all the neighbors watching, his mother screaming and crying.

Self-published author Don Winston writes at Oxford Lake. Photo: Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star
His youngest brother, Brian, an infant at the time, was adopted. He hasn't seen him since.
Winston and his other two brothers, Tramale and Brandon, shuffled together between foster families for the next eight years.
He was separated from his brothers when he was 14, after tension building between him and the family boiled into an argument.
Over the years, Winston bounced between seven different homes in Anniston and Bynum. He attended most of high school in Saks before finishing in Gadsden.
On the advice of an influential counselor, he wrote through the pain. The writing helped to release the sadness and fury that had grown inside.
But when his foster family found a journal, they didn't like what they read. They didn't like his criticisms of the life he had.
So he quit writing until late in high school, when teachers pushed him to express himself.
First he filled spiral-bound notebook pages front and back with his thoughts, wishes and pain.
Then, with a little more encouragement, he focused his written emotion into essays for scholarship contests.
He won those contests.
The scholarships paid for him to learn welding at Gadsden State Community College. He was hungry for knowledge and finished the program six months before most of his classmates and made the dean's list.
With a semester to burn, he took psychology, English, and courses heavy in reading and writing.
As he worked two jobs and finished courses that would help frame a reference for his experiences, Winston began writing a memoir.
In about four months he'd finished 302 pages.
Winston's first book, "I've Found the End of the Rainbow," chronicles his life in foster care, what he remembers of the early years before, and how he overcame crushing circumstances to educate himself and remain independent.
The book helped him sort through his turbulent life, but Winston felt a pull, a drive to share his words.
He wrote, called and e-mailed every major publishing house he could find.
And like many first-time authors, he was rejected.
He was rejected, but undeterred.
Winston did the math and realized he'd worked this hard for this long, why bother to let someone else profit from his work?
So he self-published the book. Using the same determination that got him through his childhood, he has sold his book to anyone who is interested.
And he's started work on a second book that picks up after his high school years with a working title of "Everything That Glitters Isn't Gold."
At 23 years old, a published author four chapters into his second work, Winston sees writing as his chance to lend some hard-earned wisdom to others.
He's not yet a wealthy best-selling author, but Winston hopes he's on his way.
To order Doneareum Winston's book "I've Found the End of the Rainbow," call 343-6756 or e-mail doneareumw.yahoo.com