I am an RN, Author, Coach, and Speaker. I write novels about relationships to help people find insight into their own. I guide people to create comfort, clarity, and connection in their lives. By combining metaphysical tools with over twenty-five years of nursing experience, I infuse the 'art of nursing' into my practice by providing partnership and resources help people compassionately honor their health.
I have set a goal to sell at least 1000 copies of my book, ONE BRAVE THING, by my birthday (May 28th). I am open to suggestions on how to accomplish this (please leave your comments below!).
I have one idea that I got from the shampoo commercial (see above video!)…if you have read my book and liked it, please ‘tell two friends’. Hopefully they will also tell two friends, and so on, and so on… 🙂
Also, please consider leaving a review on Amazon.com. Getting at least 20-25 reviews helps boost the visibility of my book A LOT! I am currently at 14. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS ALREADY WRITTEN A REVIEW! It is very much appreciated!!
I have recently become aware of some minor formatting issues with my book, which I will be addressing in the next printing.
😀
Wasn’t that mature of me? An amazingly calm reaction, since my inner critic and inner perfectionist are usually hard at work full-time, preventing me from letting anyone see my fiction writing, never mind noticing that, hello? It’s not perfect. Indeed, they worked quite successfully in tandem to prevent me from publishing One Brave Thing… for years.
After I first published it, I had this nagging feeling of…I don’t know. Something. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Until one day, suddenly, I could: I felt like my slip was showing! When you put your art of any kind out into the world, you are taking a risk. You are revealing parts of yourself that you have never before revealed. People will tell you what they think of your efforts. Some will not convey this information in a nice way at all. But some will do it in such an amazingly caring, wonderful, loving, joyful way that it will make you want to weep.
The latter more than outweighs the former.
I have found these words (I am paraphrasing Jack Canfield here):
Some people will say yes, and others will say no. So what.
Maybe there are times when you are feeling imperfect, too. Here’s a motivational audio by David McGraw based on Jack Canfield’s Success Principles that I love. Maybe you will, too!
So thank you to my friend, Kathy, who did One Brave Thing and let me know that I had a tiny bit of spinach in my teeth. And for now, my first book shall remain perfect in its imperfection.
In case you haven’t heard, I’ve written a novel, One Brave Thing. My novel is (of course, by definition) a work of fiction. In case you haven’t heard, fiction is a work of the imagination. Like Barney the beloved dinosaur before her, Bebe is an imaginary character.
I have included a definition here for your reading pleasure (of fiction, not of Barney).
I have been reading and reviewing books for years.
Years.
I haven’t loved all of them, but with only one (to my knowledge) notable exception*, I was not ever unkind to the author in my review. If I liked or loved a book, I said so. If I didn’t, then I moved on. Just because it wasn’t for me didn’t mean it was okay to ruin it for anybody else.
So, I was not prepared to deal with the negative feedback I got about one word that I chose to use in my book, One Brave Thing: ‘fleusy’. The first objection was to my repeating the word. Repetition is a tool that I use in my writing. I like to have my characters repeat words for emphasis. I am fairly sure that I am not the first writer in history to use this technique.
The second objection was to how I chose to spell ‘fleusy’. She wanted me to spell it ‘floozy’. I thought about spelling it that way, but I didn’t like how much it reminded me of ‘boozy’, so I decided to spell it differently. ‘Fleusy’ reminded me of ‘fleur‘ and I liked that better.
Hello? I am a wordsmith. If a word doesn’t work for me in my writing, then I change it up or make up a new word, if necessary, to get the feel that I want.
So, shut up. I can.
*The notable exception: Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper. I wasn’t critical of her actual writing. I just hated how she chose to end the book. Just an artistic difference of opinion.
I had the good luck to be Chris Ann’s guest on her live radio talk show last night on unitedpaganradio.net (WUPR). What a great experience! Chris Ann made me at home from the moment I entered her studio. We talked about my book and my other writings and doings.
We also discussed ways of manifesting things that you want in your life. I mentioned different methods I had tried over the years on my path to publishing my book, like making vision boards, meditating, creative visualization. A big one that I forgot to say was MIND MAPPING. I will talk more about this in a separate post.
I was shocked to hear how many listeners we had! There were 20,089 listeners in 129 countries. What the whaaaaatttt??? Isn’t that amazing? 🙂
I’m happy to share that my book One Brave Thing is now available at Chris Ann’s store, Elemental Energies with Chris Ann and Jeff, 27 North Berwick Road in Wells, ME! Stop in and buy one! While you’re there, pick up a crystal or two, just because!
I found out at the last minute New England Authors Expo having an author event last Friday night. Fortunately, it wasn’t too late to participate! I had fun and met some very nice people!
I brought my books and my daughter came to help me.
Highlights:
One woman said my book is “exactly the kind of book she loves to read” (unfortunately, she said she had already spent all her money before she got to my table! Oh well. Maybe she’ll buy it on Amazon. Maybe you will too! Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/One-Brave-Thing-K…/dp/1523347899)
I got to see how the more experienced authors set up their tables and how they talked to the customers. I got to talk to other self published authors about their process compared to my own.
I also tested out my second (not yet published) book’s title out and got some great responses.
Everyone loves chocolate. 🙂
Overall, a wonderful way to have spent a Friday night!
My husband and I usually go to the Portland Flower Show every year, but as you many know, there wasn’t one this year. We hadn’t been to the Boston Flower Show in, um, decades, but we both had fond memories of all of it except the getting there and getting home part. We thought about going this year and were lucky enough to find a bus to drive us almost all the way there and back.
Yay! Alpine Leisure Tours. Based on our experience, I would recommend them highly.
As for the flower show, it was fine. It was smaller than we remembered. It seemed like half of the show was made up of vendors, maybe more than half, and there were fewer actual exhibits than I expected. I only noticed one lilac! And it was half dead!
My favorite exhibit wasn’t a flower at all. It was the fountain and stone carving in the photo above. I kept going back to look at it. So beautiful.
Anyway, we had a great time being there and loved the bus ride. Our tour guide, Claire, was the best-est tour guide ever. She printed out a word search for us to do on the ride! It was hard! But I finished it! (Full disclosure: my husband thought it was easy).
The bonus was the surprise stop at Kelly’s Roast Beef on the way home. Heaven. I may have liked that part more than the flower show. What can I say? It’s all about the food.
It’s been a busy week! I was at Will’s Copy Center yesterday, ordering some bookmarks (Maine Author!!) and flyers and such, when I ran into my friend, Denise. She was saying that it must be hard, putting the book out into the world. I said, “Yes! Thank you for validating that! It’s terrifying!”
This is true.
But what I wish I had also said was, “But it’s also a lifelong dream come true! I’m so happy!”
Becausethis is also true.
What helps in both cases is this: all of the people who have messaged me to say that they loved my book and (even though they were busy) they read it in two days, and oh, when will my next book be out?
Today I was lucky enough to learn that Nonesuch Books in Biddeford, Maine will be selling my books!
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