Writing While Healing - Indie Author Interview: Pertunia Lehoka

Welcome to the newest post in Writing While Healing, a series where I speak with indie authors who’ve found light through writing during their darkest times.

Today, I’m honored to feature Pertunia Lehoka, an indie author.

   

Please introduce yourself!

My name is Pertunia Lehoka.

Please tell us a little about yourself and the kind of stories you write.

My stories explore the complicated spaces where love, relationships, psychology, culture and society collide. 

My fiction work moves across psychological drama, mystery, suspense, romance and supernatural storytelling, often examining how unresolved wounds, secrets and human choices shape the lives of individuals and the people around them.

Please share a bit about your mental health journey, as much as you are comfortable with :)

I would describe my journey as one of growing self-awareness. For me, mental, emotional and spiritual health are not separate compartments. They speak to one another, because what happens emotionally can affect the way we think, what we think can affect the way we relate to people, and our spiritual life can influence how we understand ourselves, our struggles and our purpose.

Over time, I have become much more conscious of the things that trigger me, the emotions underneath certain reactions, the importance of communication, and the need to take responsibility for my own responses. I have learned that emotional maturity does not mean that you never become angry, hurt or disappointed. It means becoming more intentional about what you do with those emotions.

My spiritual journey has also been important because my faith gives me a framework through which I process some of the things that are difficult to understand purely from an emotional or intellectual perspective. It reminds me that healing is not always instantaneous and that becoming a healthier person can be a lifelong process.

So, if you ask me about my mental health journey, I would say it has largely been a journey of awareness, accountability, reflection and growth. I have learned to pay attention to what is happening within me rather than simply looking at what is happening around me.

And perhaps the most important thing I have learned is that we can be functioning, successful and productive while still carrying things that need our attention. For me, taking care of my mental and emotional wellbeing means being willing to stop, examine myself, acknowledge what hurts, learn from my experiences and continue growing.

I don't see mental, emotional and spiritual health as destinations that you reach once and then remain at forever. They are part of an ongoing journey of becoming more whole. 

Being mentally healthy, emotionally and spiritually healthy helps us to retain our balance, especially in a world that keeps testing that balance, as well as everything that made us who we are. 

How has your mental health influenced your writing process or creativity?

Writing one of my books Beyond the Outburst was particularly significant for me because I had to look honestly at anger, resentment, hurt and the ways in which unresolved experiences can follow us into other areas of our lives. 

I was not writing about these things from a position of having everything figured out. In many respects, the writing became part of my own process of examination and understanding.

Do you find writing to be healing, challenging, or a bit of both?

Very much healing for me, although it can also be challenging, depending on the subject I have chosen to tackle in a particular book. Writing gives me a space to process, explore and sometimes make sense of things that are difficult to articulate in ordinary conversation.

At the same time, I don't approach heavy or sensitive subjects casually. I do thorough research before I tackle them, particularly when the subject involves psychological, social, cultural or other complex issues. Research helps me understand the subject beyond my own assumptions and experiences, and it allows me to approach it responsibly.

That is important to me whether I am writing fiction or non-fiction. Even when I am creating a fictional story, if I am dealing with a serious subject, I want to understand it properly. I want to be able to explain and defend my approach, including why I chose to present the subject in a particular way.

So, for me, writing is both healing and challenging. The healing comes from being able to explore the human experience honestly, while the challenge comes from having to confront difficult subjects, do the necessary research and sometimes even confront my own understanding of them in the process.

Has your experience with mental health shaped the themes or characters in your stories?

In a way, it has. My own experiences have certainly influenced the themes I explore, particularly around emotions, relationships, communication, anger, resentment, healing and the things people sometimes carry beneath the surface. 

However, I don't necessarily write my characters as versions of myself. I draw from life, observation, research and human behaviour, and then develop those elements into their own stories. My experiences have also made me more conscious of what may be happening beneath a person's outward behaviour. That is something I find particularly interesting as a writer. 

A person may appear angry, difficult, withdrawn or even strong, but there can be a much deeper emotional story behind what we see. This is where my mental, emotional and spiritual journey has influenced my writing. It has taught me to look beyond the obvious and to ask what may have brought a person to that particular point. That doesn't mean excusing harmful behaviour, but it does mean trying to understand the human experience behind it. 

So, yes, my experiences have shaped my themes and, to some extent, the way I develop characters. They have encouraged me to write about people with greater depth and to explore not only what people do, but why they might respond to life in the ways they do.

Are there any writing routines, boundaries, or self-care habits that help you stay grounded?

My writing routine is probably a little unusual. I am actually at my best from about 10 p.m. onwards. Once the world becomes quiet and the distractions of the day disappear, my mind seems to come alive. I can write well into the early hours of the morning when I am really immersed in a story. 

During the day, I tend to work differently. I use that time to delve into the architecture of my stories: the plot structures, the characters, their motivations, the whys, hows and whens, and how everything will eventually come together. I have a very powerful imagination, and I literally imagine my characters. I see them in my mind, and that helps me develop and describe them in considerable detail. 

Sometimes I feel as though I am getting to know real people rather than simply creating fictional characters. I have also grown tremendously in terms of the subjects I am prepared to tackle. When I wrote and published my debut novel, Providence – Mystery of the Soul Ties, in 2016, I was much more cautious about certain aspects of the story, particularly when it came to intimacy and some of the more difficult subjects. At that stage, I was introducing myself to readers, and I was not yet ready for the masses to see certain things I perhaps could have explored more deeply. 

The novel eventually grew to 654 pages, but even after completing it, I knew there were areas where I could have been braver. That said, I absolutely love Providence. I sometimes read it and literally pat myself on the back and think, “Pertunia, you really wrote a beautiful story!” 😂 Even if I do say so myself. It is a beautiful story, and I remain very proud of it. It was an important beginning for me as an author, and I don't look back at it with regret. 

I simply recognise that I was a different writer then. I think that is part of the beauty of a writing journey. You don't remain the writer you were when you published your first book. I have grown tremendously since then, and today I don't shy away from difficult, deep or even taboo subjects. However, I believe there is a difference between being provocative for the sake of being provocative and handling a difficult subject responsibly. 

Whatever I write, whether fiction or non-fiction, I want to approach sensitive subjects with thoughtfulness, research and care, while still being clear enough for the reader to understand and appreciate what I am trying to communicate. I have also become much more confident in my own voice. I don't want to write like another author because I believe every writer has a unique voice, perspective and way of telling a story. I love my work deeply, and I believe that love and authenticity come through in what I write. 

Thankfully, my readers seem to feel that too. As for self-care, if I have written until very late or into the early morning, I make a point of allowing myself to rest. I will sometimes sleep during the day because I know I need to recover after those long writing sessions. The funny thing is that my mind does not always understand that it is supposed to be resting. 🙈🙉🙊 

I can literally wake up with a new plot, a character, or an entire scene in my head! So, perhaps my biggest challenge is not getting my mind to work, but occasionally convincing it to switch off. 😂

What advice would you give to other writers who have similar struggles as you?

I would tell them not to be afraid of their own journey. Every writer has struggles, and every writer develops at a different pace. Don't compare your beginning, your process or your struggles with another writer's journey. I would also encourage writers to give themselves permission to grow. 

When I look at Providence, I can see the writer I was in 2016, and I can also see how much I have grown since then. That doesn't make the earlier version of me a lesser writer. It simply means that I continued writing, learning and becoming more courageous. Don't be afraid to tackle difficult subjects, but don't tackle them carelessly either. 

If you are going to write about something deep, controversial or sensitive, do your research. Understand what you are writing about. Research gives you confidence, but it also gives you the responsibility to approach your subject with sensitivity and integrity. Most importantly, find your own voice. I don't believe that writers should spend their lives trying to sound like someone else. We all have different experiences, imaginations and ways of seeing the world. 

Your story needs your voice. And don't underestimate the emotional side of writing. Sometimes the very subjects that challenge us can also become the subjects through which we heal, understand ourselves better or connect with other people. You don't necessarily have to have everything figured out before you write. Sometimes the writing itself becomes part of the journey. Finally, be patient with yourself. 

Write, read, research, learn, rewrite and keep going. You may look at something you wrote years ago and realise that you would approach it differently today. That's not failure. That is growth. I think the greatest thing a writer can do is remain honest about who they are, courageous enough to keep exploring, and humble enough to keep learning.

Have you ever taken breaks from writing to focus on your mental health?

Not really a break in the deliberate sense. There have, however, been periods when I had to step away from my usual writing because my body and mind simply needed to recover. 

One of the most demanding periods was when I was developing a school series for children. There was enormous pressure to produce, coupled with deadlines that, at times, felt almost impossible to meet. I was constantly tired, my sleeping patterns were completely disrupted, and there was even a period when I went for two days without sleeping. It was not because I didn't want to sleep or wasn't trying to sleep. 

My mind was simply under so much pressure that I could not switch off. I was, quite honestly, a wreck. The project eventually came to an end after I had produced 19 children's stories, but the exhaustion did not disappear immediately. My body wanted to rest, my mind still wanted to keep going, and my spirit had simply had enough. Even my prayer time was affected, and for me, that was a serious warning sign because my spiritual life is very important to me. 

I realised that I had allowed the pressure to produce to interfere with an important part of my own wellbeing. I wanted to return to my novels, but I found that I simply couldn't. I was too tired. I ended up taking what was essentially about a month's hiatus from my normal writing, although it wasn't something I had consciously planned. And here is the funny part: I experienced what I jokingly call withdrawal symptoms! 🙈🙉🙊 

When I don't write or even read for an extended period, I genuinely struggle. During that month, I found myself feeling restless and even physically shaky because I was so accustomed to writing and reading. That experience taught me something important, though. Loving what you do does not mean that your body has unlimited capacity for it. Sometimes you have to recognise when the passion is still there but the person carrying that passion needs to rest. I eventually understood that taking time to recover was not abandoning my writing. It was actually protecting my ability to continue writing. 

So, I wouldn't say I have taken many deliberate breaks for my mental health. Rather, I have learned that there are times when I need to listen to my body, my mind and my spirit and allow myself to rest. I am still learning that lesson.

What’s something you wish more people understood about being a writer with mental health struggles?

I would actually phrase that differently because I don't consider myself a writer who struggles with mental health. Like anyone else, I have experienced periods of enormous pressure, exhaustion, emotional strain and disrupted routines, particularly when I have been working under demanding deadlines. But I don't want to label those experiences as a mental health struggle when that is not how I understand my own journey. 

What I would like people to understand, however, is that writers are human beings. We can be passionate about what we do, deeply committed to our work and still become exhausted. Sometimes the creative mind is so active that it becomes difficult to switch off, and sometimes the emotional weight of the subjects we write about can require us to step back and recover. 

I also think there is a misconception that because writing can be therapeutic, a writer must somehow be struggling in order to write deeply about difficult subjects. That isn't necessarily the case. Writers draw from many things: personal experiences, observation, research, imagination, conversations, history and the experiences of other people. For me, writing has been much more about exploration, reflection and expression than about writing because I am mentally unwell. There have certainly been times when writing has helped me process difficult experiences or understand something more deeply, but I see that as part of being human rather than defining myself by a mental health struggle. 

Perhaps the biggest thing I would want people to understand is that we should be careful about putting labels on creative people simply because they write about difficult or emotional subjects. A writer can explore darkness without living in darkness. We can write about pain without being broken, and we can write about difficult human experiences while still being emotionally and spiritually grounded ourselves.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with the readers?

I would simply say to my readers: thank you for allowing my stories into your lives.

Every time I write a book, I am aware that I am not writing into a vacuum. There is someone on the other side of those pages who will bring their own experiences, emotions, beliefs and memories to the story. That is one of the things I love most about being a writer.

I also want readers to know that I don't write to tell them what they should think or feel. I write to make them think, feel, question, reflect and sometimes even have uncomfortable conversations with themselves. If a story stays with you long after you have closed the book, then I believe it has done something worthwhile.

I have grown tremendously as a writer over the years, and I know that growth will continue. I am not afraid to explore difficult subjects, but I will always try to approach them with care, sensitivity and honesty. My stories may take readers into places that are uncomfortable, mysterious, emotional or even controversial, but there is always a human being at the centre of them.

And finally, I want readers to know how much I appreciate them. Their support allows me to continue doing what I love. I love my work, I love telling stories, and I love the fact that people are willing to take that journey with me.

There are still so many stories in me. So, to my readers, I would simply say: stay with me. I am not finished telling them yet. ❤️

Where can readers connect with you and your work? (Socials, website, books, etc.)

Readers can connect with me through my website, my social media platforms and my Amazon Author page, where they can find my published books and follow my work as an author.

My website is my central hub for my books, writing, speaking, coaching and other creative and educational work.

Readers can also find my books on my Amazon Author page.

I am also active on social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and LinkedIn), where I share my writing journey, upcoming books, speaking engagements, thoughts on relationships and communication, and some of the things that happen behind the scenes as a writer.

And for those who are interested in developing their own writing, I am also building The African Writer's Academy, which is very close to my heart because I believe Africa must write its own stories.

I would love to hear from readers, so please connect with me, tell me what you are reading, and share your thoughts about my stories. I genuinely value that connection.

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Thank you for reading!

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