Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope …
My book is published today, April 26th 2016! My book, This Way Up: Seven Tools for Unleashing Your Creative Self and Transforming Your Life, my very own book! This Way Up took ten years to write, 10 years. There were plenty of times when I was in the dark and all I had left of this dream of publication was stubborn hope. It was not an easy journey. I began the book because my son Lukas, at age 12 challenged me to. I felt backed into a corner, I knew I had to put my money where my mouth was or I would feel like everything I had been saying to my sons for years was a lie. So I started writing.
I started writing and deleting; and feeling not good enough to write a book and feeling like a fraud. When I finally finished my first draft about 5 years later, I started looking for an agent. Oh my God – talk about sitting in the dark with nothing but hope! I had months and months of rejection letters, too many to count, the darkness got darker, the hope fainter.
Then finally I found an agent in London, I signed a contract and I was over the moon! Now, I thought, now the hard work is over, I have someone else to do my work and get my book out there. It took over a year, lots of frustration and more darkness, but finally my agent was able to land a publication deal with a small publisher in London. I was thrilled. I celebrated and believed the time had come.
About a year later, after jumping through hoops, working with an editor and inching closer, my agent decided he didn’t want to be an agent anymore, that the publishing landscape had changed too much and was not working for him anymore, so I lost my agent and lost the deal with the publishing company that he had handled. I was back to square one, and decided I couldn’t do it anymore.
Then about two weeks later I heard a small, still voice in my head while I was meditating; the voice instructed me to ask an old college friend who lived in LA for help. I wasn’t that close to her, and had not been in close contact with her for years. But we were friends on Facebook, and I have learned to trust that small voice, it rarely leads me astray. So I messaged her and she messaged back the next day. She recommended She Writes Press. I had never heard of them, but when I read about them, my pulse quickened. They sounded perfect – the website describes SWP as: A publisher of books – for, by and about women! I contacted Brooke Warner, one of the founders of SWP, and we scheduled a Skype. She said my book sounded like a good fit for SWP. I signed a contract and I started working with the amazing women at She Writes.
I still had a steep climb though, luckily the climb was accompanied by some truly magnificent women: Brooke Warner, a power house and visionary; Annie Tucker, editor extraordinaire; and a host of truly talented authors. The fellowship of authors at SWP is fantastic, they are generous of spirit, freely give advice and tips and we cheer each other on every step of the way. I am grateful beyond measure that I ended up with such a wonderful publishing house.
And now, today April 26, 2016, my book is here. It is truly a labor of love; and an extreme act of faith that kept me going. I believed that if I just kept showing up and kept moving in the direction of my dream that the dawn would come. And it did. So I am here to tell all of you – Don’t give up! Keep moving in the direction of your dreams, whatever they are.
I’d like to close with a video that is very close to my heart. My very first video that I’ve ever uploaded on to You Tube. It continues to be a steep learning curve!
I’d love to hear about your dreams and what helps you to keep moving forward. And as always thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it.
This Way Up 