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.