About The Author

Sally J. Doran

Hello! My name is Sally Doran and I am the author of Crossing the Southern Border: Was it Worth the Risk? I live and work in Central New York. This is my first novel and it is a fiction book.

What makes me unique as an author is that I have lived in the USA, Spain and Puerto Rico, traveled to many countries, have many teaching licenses (English, English as a Second Language, Spanish, Spanish for the Elementary level), and have over 38 years in the field. I am bilingual (Spanish and English), and I have made my entire career filled with culture and diversity. I have been a member of the Hay House Writing Community for several years.

I was inspired to write this book after years of teaching students whose first language is other than English. One day, it occurred to me to really think about what those students might have to go through to get to where they are. I knew in my own experience growing up, I was able to choose where I traveled to and where I was to live. But up until then, I never really gave it deep thought about the students who had no choice—What had they been experiencing before they came? How did they actually get to be here? Why did they come? I realized that I didn’t have any real answers to those questions. I felt a desire to investigate their background histories, beyond the classroom where I met them.

After talking it over with my one of my previous undocumented students who had since moved on to another city, I decided to write her story and translate it for her—believing she would want it, cherish it, be appreciative of someone wanting to know her better... she was so brave and fascinating to me. It didn’t have many details. I still didn’t have them all at that point, but I typed up what I knew, what little she had previously revealed to me.

I handed the three-page draft to her for a keepsake—sort of a gift of endearment to keep her memories alive as I understood it. I imagined that down the road she might share with perhaps her own child someday. Surely I thought she would forget her past (as we all tend to do) if she didn’t have a written record.

But when I learned that she had misplaced it (accidentally threw it in the trash), I knew then that she couldn’t comprehend all she had accomplished. I was so proud of her and how far she had come, but she was too busy surviving to be proud. It was then that I decided to turn the few pages of her life into a novel, based on a true story—her story. I also realized that migrants of all backgrounds and reasons, must go through these types of things every day, whether it's poverty, economic inequality, domestic abuse, bullying, racism, or anything in between, fear of the unknown and being known as ‘the undocumented’ is a real issue.

My hope is that when other people-young or old-read this novel, they will be informed and enlightened at what some human beings, especially younger ones, go through to survive. Good or bad, right or wrong, we all make decisions and hope for the best. I hope this story will inspire all those who read it to rise above and use their voices and their knowledge when they need to, to create better situations for all.

The persons who have influenced my writing the most are my Puerto Rican students. After teaching English on that very festive, endearing and beautiful island for 17 years, after reading all my students’ essays, exam answers, research papers etc., the idea of how bilingual people think and communicate has played a major role in how I express myself. I am very conscious and careful of words, phrases, and expressions that one can use (like “big Sunday words” or “palabras de domingo”, for example), that might be common there and not in the States—and vice versa. Particular words and verbs, have different meanings in different languages, so I tend to always focus more on exactly the word I want to convey for the meaning I want to share. I joke around a lot saying sometimes it’s like having a fishing rod, where you throw the line into your brain and ‘fish out’ a word; if it’s not the one you want, you throw it back in your brain and fish around for a more fitting, more appropriate one, in the language you are using. Sometimes, I forget in which language I’m thinking or writing, and have to bring to mind what my purpose is and carry on. The Spanish language, in my opinion, can be more artistic and flowing, requiring more words to express the same sentiment you might want to say in English. So, I really have to remind myself of what I want to communicate and I give a lot of credit to my Puerto Rican students.

My favorite authors are the ones who use particular literary elements, such as symbolism, ironies, and metaphors secretly throughout their work—especially for the impact of their double meanings. A popular example, John Steinbeck who wrote Of Mice and Men had all of the characters’ names representing something befitting of the themes. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger and Lord of the Flies by William Golding also did this. In the poem “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, he secretly referred to the ‘confederate rose’ flower, yet it wasn’t even a rose but it had layers of meaning to the story. “Metaphors” by Silvia Plath has layers of double meaning—seven to be exact. The play by Luigi Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author, was a bit bizarre, but had symbolism throughout that called for deep analysis for its double meaning. Tennessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie had both plot twists and metaphors that were foundational to the play. But, my all-time favorite novel was A Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck. This novel, based on factual details of the time, uncovered layers of secretly hidden truths as it gave us a glimpse into real history. The structure had many shorter chapters, each one ending with the resolution of one conflict, and as soon as you turned the page, a new conflict began. With the exception of Solito, by Javier Zamora, I haven’t come across any recent literature that portrays the journey in the same way as my protagonist.

My experience publishing has been an arduous one. First, I must say that using Scrivener to more easily organize my notes, chapters, and all the other details in one software, then compiling into Word, was seamless. There was an initial learning curve, but once I got started, I was sold on that fantastic software. I tried for a few years to get traditionally published by finding an agent. I went down many ‘holes’ of writing (and re-writing), polishing my 30-page proposals, and perfecting my query letters—only to be ghosted by most. I used Query Tracker, Manuscript Wish List, Reedsy, and Publisher’s Market Place with the 25 dollar-a-month subscription. Ironically, I did receive two responses that were in total conflict of each other: one scolded me that my novel was pure fiction, gave me his hard definitions and reasoning, while the other response vehemently insisted it should be labeled non-fiction. I had been debating the fiction/non-fiction reference throughout the writing process, but ultimately, the fiction label won out due to the changes I had to make for my character’s personal safety. Eventually, I settled with hiring an editor, twice. I also recruited a service on Fiverr to help with the formatting and uploading of all the backdrop yet vital parts to both Amazon (ADP) and Ingram Sparks. That went fairly well. The idea of having this book distributed widely and to different countries—which are probably unaware of what is truly happening here on our Southern Border (as are, in my opinion, the majority of people), was very appealing. But ultimately, my goal to have this novel in our classrooms, to inform the future leaders of tomorrow, to bring back compassion and decency, and help spread positive messages to all people around the world, is priceless. And of course, shout out to Hay House Writer's Community!

Sally J Doran

About The Author

Sally J. Doran

Hope and hardship on the

road to a better life

We'd love to hear from you!

Subscribe to Sally's newsletter to learn more about taking back control using the subconscious.

About The Author

Sally J. Doran

Hope and hardship on the

road to a better life

We'd love to hear from you!

Subscribe to Sally's newsletter to learn more about taking back control using the subconscious.

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