Day in the Life of a Self-Published Author

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So, you have published your book. Now what? There is so much excitement that comes with publishing your first masterpiece and all the feels and thrills when you put your hands on your book. The feeling itself of touching your very first published book is a feeling like no other.

Your book is now live for the world to see; in book stores, to order online, for download, and for you to sign your first copy! I would love to hear and read in the comments if you have published a book for the first, second, or third time how you felt when seeing your book for the first time.

You are now a published author and what do your days look like going forward? I would say the days ahead are like no other and you have an extra spring in your step. You smile a little brighter. You speak with confidence and with intention. Doesn’t this feel great? As you walk this path, your days as a published author begin with you wanting to get the word out about your book. You want and need the world to see this masterpiece that you have worked so hard on for many months, years, or even decades. Think about what inspires you and your strengths when it comes to sharing your masterpiece.

There are many options to share with your audience and connect with others. One thing I will say is that having a business is not a requirement for you to share your story with the world. You are your own brand and you set the path for sharing your story. Here are 5 things you can do daily as a published author:

  1. Celebrate yourself each day as you are now a published author!

  2. Touch your book every day and have your book in plain sight.

  3. Connect with other writers, authors, and like-minded people and share your story.

  4. Start with one social media platform to get the word out about your book and promote, promote, promote!

  5. Always have copies of your book on hand for you to sign and send to people who want signed copies of your masterpiece.

These are just a few tips to get the word out about your book and there are plenty more. The main thing is to celebrate yourself each day and the connection with other writers and authors and people who inspire your journey will give you the drive to keep going.

Over the last year since starting the publishing side of my company, I have had the pleasure of working with some amazing first-time authors and some authors who are very experienced. I have learned so much and I am continuing to learn from writers and authors around the world. I encourage you to be open and do the same and connect with a community that supports you and offers true and authentic connections to inspire your journey.

Thank you for being on this journey with me as you write your story. One more note about publishing a book: You want to write from the heart and pour into the pages. Do not think about the number of words or pages; just write and let it flow.

I would love to work with you now and in the near future. Connect with me here on the blog and also join my mailing list for exclusive access to content and products to inspire your writing journey.

Selecting a Copy Editor

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Look at you; all excited and you have your book and you are ready to be published! And then, you think about this: “Should I have someone else read my book?” or, “Do I really need someone to read my book?” The short answer is yes. The job of an editor is not to re-write your book in their words. It is to make your book and you stand out in your own words. Your book should be a reflection of you and your authenticity based on your experiences and what you want to share with your audience from the heart.

I must have read my book 25 times (I know, a bit excessive) and I am very glad I did. After many drafts and a few revisions, I felt it in my heart to publish my first book A Life With A View - the first in the series. In order for me to move forward, I had to let go and allow someone else to read my book. It is funny the things we tell ourselves. “This book won’t be good enough.” Or, “Why am I even going down this path as a first-time writer.” As people we do have to let go and allow the help of others. Extending trust and grace to someone who can help you in your book journey goes deep.

Here are 5 quick and easy tips to get your book from the editing stage through the beginning stages of being published:

  1. Pull your book together in an editable format. (i.e. MS Word).

  2. Talk to friends, writers, and authors for recommendations on a good editor.

  3. Be open to feedback from your editor about your book.

  4. Ask questions of your editor and do the research on best editing practices with your editor.

  5. After working with a good editor, you will have clarity on the next steps in the book writing process.

While doing research for this blog post, I found a good number of articles, websites, and books on the editing process. Do your research! To capture the book publishing process to include selecting an editor, I created a best practices download about the steps to getting your book published. You can purchase your copy here and also on the website.

For more information on Resources and Publishing, be sure to stop by the website and check out our published books.

Happy Writing!

Outlining Your Book and Setting Yourself up for Success

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If you are anything like me, you began writing on strips of paper, notebooks, on the back of envelopes mailed to you, and anything your could find. Now, if you were ahead of the game in your writing you probably had a nice, themed journal and you were ready to get started. Maybe you had the nice, themed journal and wondered why the words did not map over to a polished manuscript. (Yes, this is me - I embodied the theme journals!) You know what though? Some of my best writing came from post-it notes all over the place, pieces of paper from multiple notebooks, and digital notes such as on my computer in Notepad. And guess what? It eventually did work out into my first book.

Do I recommend the above now that I have two self-published books? Probably not. It got me to where I am today and I am very proud of this and you should be proud you took the path you did - even if your book is in the process of being outlined, written, and published.

I am going to share with you 6 tips to get you started on the path to outlining your book:

  1. Pull together your notes, post-it notes, notebooks, and journals into one place to account for what you have.

  2. To enhance your creativity with your book, grab a storyboard or poster board and organize the ideas for your book.

  3. Identify the purpose for your book and ask yourself (Who, What, When, Why, How) and determine the purpose of your book.

  4. Choose a Title which resonates with you and encompasses your book’s purpose based on your ideas.

  5. Use your main ideas as the chapters for your book.

  6. Write an outline for your chapter using your main ideas and add supporting bullet points.

Once you have your outline, just write and do not worry about chapter length. You can go back and move wording or text around and, during your editing process adjustments can be made to your chapters. Some chapters may be longer in length and in text than others. Having your words in your voice jump off of the page is most important.

Have someone you trust take a second look at your book and securing an editor who has walked through the book publishing process, will propel you to success. Here at A Life With A View Publishing there is a digital download guide for purchase that is a roadmap to your success to publishing your book. There are free consultations available if you have questions about your book project and an editing service. I stay with you through the entire process from start to finish.

For more, please visit the shop for the book publishing digital download and visit the contact page to schedule your appointment.

Happy Writing!

5 Things You Need To Do When Publishing Your First Book

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Welcome to A Life With A View Publishing! I am so excited to share with you the very first blog post for the publishing side of A Life With A View. Thank you for stopping by the blog and the newly designed website so I can focus more on you and, getting your voice heard and your work out for the world to see. The next few blog posts will focus on setting yourself up for success while journeying through the book publishing process. There are so many tips to share and many paths to take. In a future blog post, I will share my story from the beginning and a day in the life of A Life With A View.

For this first blog post for the publishing side, we will focus on 5 things you need to do when publishing your first book. You may be thinking: “How did I get here?” and, “Yes, I want to write a book - where do I begin?” Believe me, I had all of those same thoughts about 5 years ago when I was writing and working to pull together content. The excitement alone kept me going as I was working to bring my personal blog to life and share my journey with the world.

Here are 5 things to get you started on the path to publish your first book plus a bonus tip to help you pull your book together:

  1. Create a Theme for Your Book: Identify your writing interests such as self-help, cooking, fashion, or sports. Write down words which inspire a theme in your heart and mind.

  2. Develop and Create Your Content: Once you have your theme, gather books, magazines, website content around your theme and begin writing. If you already have content, begin following blogs, websites, and other forms of media to enhance your content. Having content volume is good!

  3. Collect Your Writings in a Safe & Comfortable Location: There are so many digital tools to store and collect writings like Dropbox and Google Drive. Goal planners and journals are good to store writings especially when you are on the go and thoughts around your topic come to mind.

  4. Identify Your Audience: Who are you writing for? What do you want to share with your audience? Write this down as if you were having a conversation with your audience.

  5. Speak Your Book into Existence: Talk out loud while writing your book and pulling together your content. Don’t be afraid to mess up and speak as if you are talking to yourself and your audience.

    BONUS TIP: Depending on the length of your book and the number of days in a month, if you write one page each day you will have at least 30 pages of written content. Think of a Word document; single-spaced which equals at least 2 pages in an average-sized book (5x8).

So what’s next? Well, we have a nice long journey and partnership ahead and I am so glad you are here. The newly designed website has resources in our Resource Library to help you with all facets of the book publishing process whether you are a first-time author or if you have a few published books under your belt.

I would love to work with you to get you started no matter where you are in the process of publishing your first book. Connect with me here and leave a comment below on where you need help. Feel free to click here to email me anytime. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Using Your Voice to Tell Your Personal Story

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Writing is very personal and it tells a story, your story. In this blog, I write quite often about using your voice to tell your story and more importantly being comfortable in your own skin and not letting fear determine how you walk your path. Telling and writing your story is more than saying a few words every now and then about what makes you happy, sad, passionate, or determined. It is also tied to walking in your purpose, your path to what makes you complete and whole.

When you first sit down and think about telling your story in written form, what do you think about? I find it best to approach this just like you are sitting down with friends and family and having a conversation in your own voice; being yourself because that is what people love most about you. Many people now say “being our authentic selves” and I say let yourself be vulnerable and it is ok to feel some discomfort when telling or sharing your story. This is what stretches us and makes us relate to people who may be feeling the same way about telling their personal story.

I think back to 6 years ago when I started blogging and looking back at those posts, I totally want to refresh them and expand on them. I am definitely doing this one day in the near future! In looking at those posts and reading them now, I sounded so tentative. Now, I am not being too hard on myself and what I am seeing now in my writing are areas for improvement and where I can be more transparent.

And then my first book came along in 2015. I thought about how I would write a book, get it published, most importantly get my book in the hands of people who were interested in topics of faith, love, and happiness. This was my theme and remains my theme today and using my voice to tell the stories around these topics are just as important to me now as they were back then. I am still amazed about how I came to publish my first book and then the second book followed by a book collaboration with 6 wonderful women.

With my first two books, A Life With A View and Inspiring Creative Passion I wrote those with a sense and feeling of purpose. Being around other people and telling my story in my own voice through book collaboration efforts enhanced my storytelling even more and has allowed me to share more about me, my story, where I stand today, and where I want to go. Have you had those thoughts and feelings? I am here to help since I have lived it and I am continuing to live through the process of using my voice to tell the world my story.

Having a voice for the things we are passionate about breathes life into our stories and they live on through us and helps other people. This is why A Life With A View Publishing exists to help you tell and share your story to the world.

Now, how can I help you tell your story? Leave a comment below and let’s chat about it and also stop by to book a one-on-one consultation and check out our Resource Library. Suggestions? Leave those below too as I am always looking for creative ways have our voices heard and our personal stories share who we are and connects us with all that is in store in our lives.

A Life With A View...My Story

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I am from a small family where my father was an only child and so were his mom and dad, my grandparents. On my mom's side of the family, my mom has one sister and her mom and dad had a couple of siblings each. I have one sister who is three years younger than me and we are pretty close. Only living about 15 minutes from each other, we mostly text and when we talk it is almost like we just talked a few hours ago. With busy schedules dictating our lives, family has always been important to me and I consider friends my family also.

When I was younger and living in New Jersey, I always wanted to write as I was very expressive as a child and talked a lot. {at least that's what my mom told me} I always had something to say and being expressive through smiling at others is always the first thing people say when they meet me. Most times I get asked: "Why do you smile so much?" Is it for me or to help others? Feeling naturally good is always something I've felt inside even when times were tough. I relied on my faith and feeling good internally to get me through any pain I may be experiencing. Smiling during those times was all I had at one point so I latched on and never let go.

Since 2009 only a year after my daughter was born, I found out my father was very sick. He passed away the following year in February 2010 and my life has been a bit of a roller coaster since that time. I have always been a very happy person; I get along with just about everyone that I meet and interact with in my personal life, at work, and people I meet in the grocery store and anywhere else in my travels.  There are always some exceptions…

Since 2010, so many trials and tribulations have come my way and I feel like I have handled them well - except coming to the realization that my marriage was over. My first thoughts were "no not me!"..."but I'm a nice girl!?!"... "we have 2 kids - what do I do now?!"  Going through my divorce only three years after losing my dad was pretty traumatic. 14 and a 1/2 years of marriage and 2 children, was the icing on the cake...and it wasn’t the pretty buttercream or chocolate icing that we are used to. My kids are now 19 and 12 and we are doing well (thank you for asking). They are great kids, strong and resilient and also full of energy. If it weren't for my kids, my family and friends who knows where I would be today. This journey called life brought me right here to A Life With A View.

I talk about my journey in a lot of my blog posts since one post just won't do it. Right here on the blog, I highlighted Join Me On The Blog Journey and you can access the post here. Bringing everything together over the past 7 years has been a journey in itself - one where I would not change one thing. The constant thing about this journey is me, the girl behind the dream, behind the brand, and now in front for the world to see.

A Life With A View has grown and is still growing and expanding with more of a focus on you and what you want to see. Being an author of 2 books and a collaborator on 1 book, I see the need to share this knowledge and more of my experience as a published author and to help other share and tell their stories. Through this journey and the people who I have met while walking my journey, through networking events and by coincidence, I felt within my heart to share more through my work about the book publishing process.

Becoming a published author is not something that happens over night. After over two years of blog posts, I felt compelled to combine those posts into a book since the blot posts told my story and shared a peek into my experience as a writer. The first book, A Life With A View, is more of a short story version of my life through snippets of my written blog posts. The second book, Inspiring Creative Passion, dug deeper into my writing and the energy behind expanding my writing and growing as a writer shined through the second book.

On this blog and through our digital space, we will journey together so you can tell your story and be proud of what you are sharing in your own way. Our Resource Library has a host of people to help you get started no matter where you are in the process.

What’s your story? Are you still writing it? My story does not stop here; it keeps developing with me and the main thing is connecting with others and sharing our stories and continuing to grow.

A Change of Season

Where does the time go? Here we are in the last quarter of 2019. It is unbelievable how time flies and nothing or no one can stop time. This year marks 6 years as a blogger and it felt so good recently to take out the phrase "relatively new blogger" from my bio. I feel like the change of season and the time in the chair so to speak has allowed me to grow into a full fledged writer.

It took many seasons of change to get to this point. For the first two years, I would blog here and there and I had my writings all over the place. It wasn't until late 2014, early 2015 where I began taking my blog and writing seriously. At the time, I decided I was going to publish a book. I wrote a lot of blog posts and many of them I did not publish and kept them in my journals. The blog posts in journals plus the ones on my website I decided to turn the blog posts which I felt had the most impact on people into my first book, A Life With A View. These posts are near and dear to me to this day and I wanted to share them with the world. The sharing part did scare me quite a bit and I had to work hard to get over my fears with the first fear of publishing a book; something I've never done before.

I was scared to death and had no idea about publishing a book, how to do a book cover or anything. So I took to online research and reached out to friends who have taken this on before me and asked a lot of questions. The most common answer I received other than the helpful tips of getting started with editing, publishing and marketing was: This must feel right to you. I had to feel this in my heart - publishing a book wasn't something I wanted to roll out of bed and just do. I wanted it to feel right, be right, and have my personal touch.

After months of editing and working with a publisher, the final product, the first book was almost ready. I say almost because I still wanted to add a little more to my book; embrace the journey a bit more. After all of this, I still hadn't settled on a name for my book. So right now I will take you back a bit, a little history and back to 2014 to my very first blog. My first blog was called FIRE - Faith In Renewing Each Other. I loved the name and still use it in some of my writings today. I felt I wanted and needed something more and I asked myself what did this look like to me. What was my personal touch? What defined me in this life?

One early Sunday morning in the Fall of 2014 - 5 years ago as I sat down with my coffee, it finally came to me... A Life With A View. There it was, my personal touch. My very own masterpiece and it was well worth the wait, patience and perseverance as I looked deep within and did not rush the process. The meaning behind A Life With A View held so much in the past and present. There was a time in my life where I could not see past the very moment I was living in and I thought the bad moments and experiences I was having were permanent.

Soon after my first book was published, I thought about what I would do next. I knew I would continue writing and I wanted to do some sort of outreach and connect with others. My action word for this year (and last year too) is Connected. Last year seemed to fly by and I felt my work was not done in terms of connecting with other people. After the many connections I've made over the years I was able to get some good ideas for next steps to compliment my writing. As the seasons changed, the ideas flowed and I connected with like-minded people and continued to set goals for myself.

Now this process wasn't always perfect. I had my ups and downs and wondered what I should be doing and the thief of comparison to others kicked in. Thoughts would enter my head like: "Make sure you post 3 times a week and send emails twice a week..." It took me a while to realize that was not me and I had to do what fit me, my schedule and what was best for my audience. I first I had to find out who my audience was and how I could better serve them with my writing. I tried everything from creating courses to doing webinars and realized that's not me at this point in my life. I am a writer and I best connect with people with words followed by actions, networking and connections.

And speaking of connections, I am taking A Life With A View in a new direction and starting the Publishing side of this journey to help others tell their stories through published books. With this change of season, I thought it would be the perfect time to start the book consulting and editing process for the books you are writing, want to write, and look forward to writing in the future. Whether you are a first time author or you have several books under your belt, I am here to help you through this process. Through the Resource Library on the Publishing side of the website, you will find some of the amazing people who I have worked with over the years to bring your stories to life. We have everyone from life coaches to graphics designers to people who specialize in branding and website design. This is a huge step for A Life With A View and I look forward to continuing to take this journey forward. Stay tuned!

What does your season of change look like? Do you know what season you are in? Share in the comments and I'd love to continue to conversation.

You are Beautiful, Strong, and Worth It

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I love this phrase: "You are Beautiful, Strong, and Worth It." I have had to tell myself this over the years even when I didn't feel so beautiful. Lack of self-esteem used to kick my butt for years and I decided to turn things around and kick its butt! When thinking of beauty, I do not focus on the outer beauty; I focus on internal beauty, strength and self worth. There was a time when I would go about life kind of clueless thinking everything would be beautiful all the time and being strong was only for people who were going through something where they had to draw from the strength of others or their own internal strength. Who would ever think that would be me one day...

After very low points in my life from 2010-2012, the last thing I thought about were positive affirmations to make me feel good about myself. I was so caught up in the every day hustle and bustle and just trying to survive as a single mom of two children. By 2012, I really hit a low point when my divorce was on the horizon and all I could think about at the time was how to survive the days, weeks, and months to come. I began to feel unworthy since all of my friends were with their husbands, boyfriends, or significant others. At one point, I said: "Why me?" Little did I know at the time this was the best thing that could have happened to me and it set me on my path of discovery and healing.

By 2013, I could feel the pain and struggles beginning to lift and I began to come out of my shell a bit and started writing. For me writing was the first step to healing. Then, I had to look in the mirror and tell myself over and over that I was beautiful, strong, worth it, and not broken anymore. My very first blog post focused on faith and it was more of a walk-through for me since I wanted to have faith and I just wasn't there yet. I used the first blog post as a blue print to where I wanted to be. You can find my first blog post by clicking here.

As time moved forward, I began to get stronger and surround myself with people who could help me - lift me higher and support me. Even still I had to want to be strong and know that my self worth lives within me and it was up to me to make things happen and live the life I wanted. In 2016, I began to venture out even more and I connected with some wonderful and genuine people on social media who really knew how to put what I was feeling into words and actions. The key here for me was action. I needed to be in a space where I would thrive and know I was worth it. Feeling good inside and out is everything to me. I don’t want to just look good on the outside since what you are feeling on the inside always finds a way to shine through.

I wrote my first book A Life With A View in 2015. In this book, I touched on the areas of faith, love, and happiness and this book was clearly a collection of blog posts to help me on my journey. Two years later in 2017, I expanded on A Life With A View with my follow-up book, Inspiring Creative Passion. This book took the subjects of faith, love, and happiness and expanded on them with actionable steps people can take to achieve the internal beauty, strength, and worth they deserve.

In the present day, I am part of a movement with great connections to people all around the world who are journeying to their areas of peace. Take time to think about and practice your beauty, strength, and worth - from within. Share with me the first action you will take to reach the level you want. Secondly, and if you need help, click the button below to purchase your signed copy of Inspiring Creative Passion to get you started.

A Little Girl's Dream

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I have always dreamed a little; and then a little more, and then a lot. I wondered if my dreams as a little girl would come true and what it would take to make them a reality. From an early age, I always found ways to write and my earliest memory of my writing was when I was 9 years old and living in New Jersey with my mother and father.

A few years later, when I was almost 12 years old, my mom and dad separated and later divorced and my mom, sister, and I moved to Maryland to live with my maternal grandmother. At that time, I thought my dreams of wanting to be a writer would stop before I actually got started. Being a writer was always something I wanted to do and I would play teacher as a little girl and assign writing assignments to myself and anyone else who would listen.

Sharing this story of my dream as a little girl has come true over the last year. A good friend of mine, Michelle Hammond of I Am 2 Inspire TV, put a call out for women to share the dreams we had as a little girl and how we have made them a reality. My dream of being a teacher never went away although I decided to pursue a different field as I grew older. Having the chance now to share my story with other women and 6 co-authors as we came together for this vision of sharing our dreams is so inspiring. After reading the stories of my co-authors, I was even more inspired and still want to do more to encourage others that it is never too late to start following your dreams and pursuing your passion.

I was 41 years old when I started this blog and 43 when I published my first book, A Life With A View. I still see sharing my stories, my dreams, and helping other people along the way as teaching. With meeting so many wonderful women along the way, we have continued to encourage each other and lift each other up so we can continue doing the work that excites us on a daily basis. The key here is doing the work to make your dreams come true. We need good, positive people in our corner to stand with us side by side so we keep going and remain inspired.

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On June 8, 2019, the 6 women came together for our book signing for Little Girls Dreams Metamorphosis to Women Realities at the Wiley H. Bates Legacy Center in Annapolis, MD. The rich history of the Wiley H. Bates Legacy Center made this journey come full circle as we embraced history and connected with people who were a part of the legacy of this historic location. This made the book signing and sharing our stories connect and resonate even more with those who attended as our stories are and were relatable to each person who attended the book signing. The kind words we received along with the hugs, laughter, and tears meant everything to me especially having the opportunity to share and be embraced by the women who I now call my sisters.

Our journey is just beginning and your journey, no matter where you are on your quest to follow your dreams, you are still here and can make your dreams a reality. Here is an excerpt of the book and a glimpse into my journey:

“After the move to Maryland and settling in, the first three years of high school was a blur to me meaning the time went by so fast and all of a sudden I was in the 12th grade. What was I going to do with my life after high school? I had a job where I could put my writing skills to work and this inspired me to read more and write on purpose, for a purpose.”

To read more about my journey and the journey of my co-authors, you can purchase your copy of Little Girls Dreams Metamorphosis to Women Realities here on my website and on Amazon. You will love the book and our stories will touch your heart and ignite your journey. We would love to hear your thoughts on collaborating with others to help you reach your goals and follow your dreams. Share in the comments a dream you have and one you want to pursue or, how you have or are following your dreams. One winner will be chosen from the comments to receive a free copy of the book. Look forward to hearing from you!

The Gift of Inspiration

I am inspired by so many things. When I think back to almost six years ago and why I created this blog, I was inspired by faith and hope. I wondered back then if I could get through the pain of separation and then eventual divorce. Here we are just about six years later and I am in a different place; a much better place. The outlook on life is clearer and brighter and definitely more positive. I am all for positive surroundings in this life.

When starting A Life With A View, it looked much different than it does today. The more I read books and magazines, and eventually connecting with other writers, bloggers, and storytellers the more comfortable I felt about what I wanted out of life; to be happy and to fulfill my purpose. I had a story to tell and not only the good stuff; the not so good stuff too.

I began with a theme. Ten words to get me started and I centered my blog posts around the ten words which mean the most to me: Faith, Love, Happiness, Friendship, Honesty, Integrity, Trust, Respect, Openness, Acceptance. Next, I began to write and could not stop writing. For months, my blog posts centered around these topics and then I began to expand in my writing. In 2014, I had an idea of turning these posts into my first book, A Life With A View. I kept feeling something move internally within me and this fire kept me going even when I didn't feel like writing.

Now what was it that moved me to keep writing? It took me a few years since starting this blog to figure it out. I knew I wanted more and to express more and tell my story. Sharing my feelings out loud through my writing has never been a strong area for me. I have had to grow over the years and come out of my shell. Was I afraid to step out of my comfort zone? Oh yes! It is a scary thing sharing your deepest thoughts and opening up to the world about the things that trouble you in life.

To expand the blog a bit more, I published A Life With A View in 2015 and I began to think of ways to inspire other people to follow their journey and go after what they dream about the most. Doing this for other people also helped to inspire me and I realized in 2016 that I outgrew my blog and moved to a website which gave me the flexibility to expand A Life With A View and also grow with my readers. This is when the excitement kicked in! I am able to have a blog and also share my book, and events, and people can get to know me a lot more.

Then in early 2017, it came to me: I have been holding back my story. I promised my readers I would have a second book out in the near future. What did the near future actually mean? Well, it certainly didn't mean take forever to get it done so I had to take my own advice and get busy, step out on faith, and get it done. I needed a push to feel comfortable and what came to me when needing the push was inspiration. I needed something I could feel and see which expresses my deep roots and also how I am feeling. So I had t-shirts and mugs designed to inspire my journey and also the journey of others. The tree of life lives on within me and the t-shirts and mugs were designed in honor of my father and grandmother. I know they would have loved to see their gift of inspiration which also lives within my children and I know our lives have a view.

What is your gift of inspiration? For me, it is the journey to where I am today and I am still going and sharing my story and journey. A good friend reached out to me recently and asked if I would participate in a book collaboration with six other women and share my story of when I was a little girl and what I dreamed of at that time. The story never stops I thought and as long as we are still here, we will journey through life and have a story to tell. Click here for more details on my latest writing journey and the book collaboration. Stay tuned for more as I journey with six wonderful women sharing their stories of how they used their gifts to follow their dreams.

Inspiration Behind the Brand

Who knew this would become a series? The Girl Behind the Brand, Finding Color Inspiration to Write, Why I Blog - all of these themes came to mind and what do you know, a series was born. This certainly was not planned. I write from the heart and I wanted to share more about my journey and why I am inspired to write. My writing has definitely developed into more storytelling as I continue to share more about me and this detour I took in my early 40s. Did I ever thing I would be a writer or even publish a book? No way, that's for sure.

Even still and as this "series" developed, I wanted to share more about what inspires me: my family, friends and new found freedom with the connections I've made since starting my blog. Internally and deep down in my soul, I crave good authentic connections with meaning. This goes back to my childhood and being surrounded by family where we would get together just because it was a Tuesday and not necessarily for anything special. Although my family went our separate ways, I still held onto to the belief in deep roots and still think about my father, grandmother, and great-grandfather; my roots.

The deep down inspiration which I feel and see daily comes from within and it took years to pull this out in a visual sense. I wanted to keep it bottled up as I sometimes do with my writing. Since I read more to become a better writer, I realize that I must release all of the bottled words, phrases and this is where visually I wanted to do more with color. Blues, greens, and a logo to show what roots mean to me - the tree of life; A Life With A View. Inspired by my family and our deep roots and to my family members who are no longer with us, my father and grandmother, I created this brand in their honor based on what was already living inside of me.

My vision came to life and I am sharing with you my inspiration behind the brand, through all of life's challenges, there is a sea of good and not only in color. I created The Shop right here on the website with the hope to inspire your creativity when you put the shirt on or take a sip out of your mug.

I would love to hear what your deep down inspiration is and how you plan to share visually the reasons you keep following your dreams and navigating through your journey.

Viewing Life Through Images

My life through images speaks to my self-care and self-love journey. I recently did a photo shoot with Jeanette of Jean B. Photography and Consulting. Hope of @focusonmebeauty did an amazing job on my makeup and I could not be more thrilled!

I love sharing and experiencing life through pictures. And look at this, I am smiling in each picture and this is a representation of how I feel on a regular basis. We all have good and bad days and my journey to self-care and self-love has me right here where I want to be.

So what's next on the horizon for me? Well, I plan to pick up my writing on the blog, host an in-person networking event, and continue updating the website social media with the new photos. I am loving the royal blue I will incorporate this into my brand.

Want to check out my writing on some of my favorite topics all in one place? Check out my latest book, Inspiring Creative Passion where I expand on topics of Faith, Love, and Happiness and many more topics to inspire your journey.