[Wilmington, NC – May 28, 2008] Elaine Williams, author of ‘A Journey Well Taken –

Life After Loss’, was recently interviewed at the Total Success Now blog regarding a

subject that holds interest for all women in America – widowhood.

According to the U.S Census Bureau, there are approximately 700,000 new widows

every year - they will be widows for an average of 14 years. According to AARP,

in 1999, there were over four times as many widows (8.4 million) as widowers (1.9

million). What is even more surprising is that 32% of women aged 55 and older are

widows, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. As the foregoing statistics illustrate, this is a

situation that affects a very high percentage of the population of the United States.

“In today’s world, with our military men in foreign countries, support is crucial for the

women who will become widows when lives are lost,” stated Ms. Williams, “my husband

was ill with esophagus cancer, but it has to be an even more incredible heartache to find

out your once healthy loved one has died far away from family on foreign soil.

“There are many unique and varied reactions to grief and loss,” stated Ms. Williams, “we

may all react differently and yet the end result, many times, is the same. There is a sense

of a gaping hole in our chest, a deep emptiness that at first nothing can fill. A support

system, whether formal or informal, can help us.”

Elaine Williams understands this intimately, as she found the support she needed through

“not only talking to other widows, but through my writing also. I wasn’t able to

communicate via writing for several years, and that worried me. I spoke with a counselor

and she just let me talk and vent, getting out whatever was stuck on my mind. I had pain,

worry about the kids, and just trying to figure out who I was anymore. Talking about your

grief experience is one of the biggest healers, as I have learned.”