Library Author Talk with Marsha Winters
-The following was first published at @Floyd Times on May 27, 2026
It took Marsha Haines Winters eight years to write her book, With Good Reasons: My Heartfelt Journey From Co-Dependency to a Self-Nurturing Life, a creative memoir that she describes as a true life story that has been “painful but also transformational in terms of who I became and the people that helped me along the way.”
At an Author’s Talk, held at Jessie Peterman Memorial Library on May 23, Winters addressed approximately 25 people. She thanked the local friends who helped with editing and formatting the book and noted that proceeds from sales will go to The Woman’s Resource Center of the New River Valley – a non-profit organization that provides services to adult and child victims of sexual and domestic violence — where Winters has volunteered in the past.
Writing the book began with a creative writing workshop that opened the floodgates to the story that Winter’s had been journaling about for decades. The book chronicles her 16 years of marriage that were often fraught with tension and discord, along with her own thoughtful explorations into untangling childhood experiences that set the stage for her responses, sensitivities and doubts as an adult.
Referring to her husband Lee, she wrote, “I believe he felt threatened by my growth.” The book recounts his controlling and emotionally demanding behavior that reached a climax when “he brought devastation falling down around us.” She was referring to a dramatic incident described near the end of the book that confirmed her intuition and her wisdom in ending her marriage.
She read from several of the book’s chapters, including the first chapter, set during one of the couple’s separations when she returned to the passive-solar home that she and her husband built together in West Virginia: “Seeing his car brought flashbacks of leaving, his anguish filled yelling, I love you. Don’t you love me? The reverberations across the mountains, up the front door slamming, and following me. Marcia, Lee’s gone. It’s okay! He’d made arrangements for his parents to drive him to Pennsylvania early that morning, and for me to arrive in the afternoon. He had planned to be gone for a week-long vacation. Hence, we wouldn’t see each other. My heart ripped into two camps: one wanting to flee this place of our winter turmoil, the other insisting I stop and embrace this place. Besides, our pets needed me.”
The book outlines her search for ways to better express her needs and set boundaries, along with counseling sessions, Quaker friendships, changes in living arrangements and jobs, interactions with her son, and her efforts to create distance from her husband so that she could safely navigate an independent and healthy life.
“I have struggled through hours of counseling, hours of soul searching in the wilds among nature, hours of sharing with family and friends, and hours of recording my thoughts and concerns in journals. Through those explorations, I’ve developed a healing path,” she wrote.
Winters’ hope is that her book will help others who are in abusive relationships. “The book gives insight into abuse that is not physical,” she said. “I hadn’t realized there was such a thing until I was immersed in it.” Audience members posed questions and Winters elaborated on parts of the story.
She spoke of the writing process and provided tips for giving support to someone in an abusive relationship. She stated that it’s best not to give advice that could further undermine a person’s sense of power and choice, but that feedback like ‘here’s phone number, I’m here for you, or I believe in you’ can be more helpful.
“It was a labor of love” Winters said about writing it, noting that the process of writing brought new tears but also brought her further healing. -Colleen Redman
Note: With Good Reasons is available at The Book House or contact Winters at mhw.reasons@gmail.com The Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley 24/7 hotline # is 540-639-1123.