 |
| My first booksigning of Navigating Life's Roadways in 2011 |
Life is a message – listen to it. Life is a belief – trust it. Life is a gift – accept it.
Life is love – think about it. Life is an adventure – dare it.
Northern Sotho proverb, South Africa
My first book, Navigating Life's Roadways: Stories of Insight From My Odyssey and Inspiration for Your Journey, was a charge and
blessing from above.
Writing it had been on my radar
for a while.
I
remember first mentioning my authorship intent to family and friends about 16
years ago. Then I started writing—capturing life’s glories and challenges as I
saw them. A few years later as I exclaimed this vision to others, the comments ranged
from supportive to discouraging—but I wasn't necessarily deterred. Continuing
to write, I cataloged more stories as my life’s map unfolded.
Just speaking the words of my writing goal
gave this project life – sprouting the seeds. God gradually put a series of
experiences in my life—some great and some not so great with professional,
spiritual and personal accounts—to get me to this point. Responses and residue
from the issues of family and friends gave me new insights for addressing the
travails of my odyssey. Participants in my workshops—through their comments and
questions—validated my thoughts of writing this book and alerted me that so
many of us are struggling and looking for answers. The rollercoaster nature of
the social, political and economic climate of this country pointed to a need
for new maps to circumvent these troubled times. My own life's missteps started
to reveal instructive destinations…and this book evolved.
Through
the years I stayed on Persistence Parkway—revisiting what I’d written,
attending writer’s groups and keeping the goal alive. I also stopped at Waiting
Wall to assess where I was on my path and then tweak my manuscript. The original
writings focused on everyone else's story. When I showed this manuscript my
oldest brother, he asked me why I didn’t share more of my life. He said, "People like to read about other people’s
lives…” and I'd done many positive things in spite of our rough beginnings and
he was proud of me. My brother reemphasized the fact that we all have a story
to tell. Not long after that conversation I attended the funeral of a saved
saint—an old friend of my family's. The choir sang her favorite hymn, "Tell
it When You Get it Right”.
God was allowing me to tell my
story and the time is right.
Along with the other teachings from
my journey’s wanderings.
I
also penned the major parts of this book in the year of some personal and
extremely pivotal life events.
My
mother passed away on March 10,2010 and the agonies of the grieving process were tremendous;
a surreal event that’s been devastating on all fronts for me.
In this process I discovered that we give to fill a void. I am single and don’t have
children, so birthing this book is one of the ways I hope to leave a footprint
on the world. Since my mother passed, I’ve felt a chasm of many emotional
proportions. Yet the process of grieving her transition gave to this book in
ways I couldn’t recognize at first. She left a legacy in the circle of life.
Once I was led to and committed to writing,
energies from everywhere cooperated—seems like phrases, memories and lessons
abounded at every corner. My mother knew of my writing aspirations and I feel
this creative force was her way of working through God to stir up my spirit.
While out walking, ideas would flood my head as I looked at the sky or the
landscape around me. I’d hurry back to my office and quickly capture the
thoughts—adding fresh words to the manuscript on my computer.
This journey to publication continued and I've since written four other books, they too part of a birthing process that started over 20 years ago. Remember birthing can be painful, but the yield worth it. Keep pushing on! Be clear on a destination for the results....
Excerpted from my motivational autobiography, Navigating Life’s Roadways: Stories of Insight from My Odyssey and Inspiration for Your Journey in print and Kindle eBook http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008FQDPYE
.jpg)
