Feeling Excited to Share Positive Messages on Prelaunch Platforms

As part of the marketing plan for The Healing, Anne O’Connell, my partner publisher at OC Publishing, has been hard at work approaching reviewers and bloggers. Last week she sent me a Q&A from Al @ Indie View. It was a great experience, an opportunity to reflect on my author journey. He has replied that he plans to run the interview on launch day, April 23, 2021.

During the process of completing the questionnaire, I realized how important making time for mindfulness and reflection is towards making good decisions. It got me thinking, and in a discussion with Mister, we agreed that our culture is so production and career-success oriented, there isn’t time for quiet consideration factored into our lives, especially when we are young, building our careers and starting our families. The time when we likely would benefit from contemplation on whether our decisions are working for us or not the most. 

Currently in the works is a possible live interview on Expat Radio, based in the UK, next week, still to be finalized. I’ve sent an application to Angela Jeffreys at Blue Crow Apothecary, to be a guest presenter in July on the Inspiring Womenseries, a quarterly live event. It would be an honour to be a part of something that brings voice to the strength and resilience of women, in overcoming trauma and living a full life. Fingers crossed, it will all come together.

As I set my mind to preparing for possible upcoming interviews, I decided to spend some time considering the question, what are the key messages in The Healing that I hope to convey? This is a short summary of what I hope to manifest. My greatest wish, though, is that readers will be inspired by The Healing to begin their own healing work, whatever that looks like for them.

One of the most important messages in The Healing is to love and accept yourself for who you are. The story opens with Cate about to embark on a healing journey after finally summoning the courage to leave an abusive, dysfunctional marriage. She finally gets that when you truly love yourself, you don’t accept disrespectful behaviour. You don’t settle. You don’t allow anyone to belittle, judge, or criticize you. It doesn’t mean you don’t have work to do, but it means you are good enough just as you are. 

Another core message is that the healing isn’t a place you arrive at, it is a place you discover deep inside. On Vancouver Island, Cate begins her healing process; writing in her journal, practicing yoga and using affirmations. Inside the grounding energy of nature, she finds the space to quiet her mind, to receive the wisdom that arises during reflection and meditation. Her mindfulness practice expands. She learns to trust her intuition. She practices gratitude. She learns the value of detachment, of creating healthy boundaries and the power of her beliefs. The learning continues to evolve and expand right to the very last chapter.

Along the way, Cate learns to enjoy the highs and endure the lows, to let go of the ties that bind and the fear that controls. Life throws Cate some curve balls. She is diagnosed with Lyme disease, her daughter struggles with mental illness, and there is an earthquake in Nepal where her daughter is trekking. As she struggles, she learns that it isn’t about avoiding the curve balls, it’s about catching them, then adapting and finding your resilience, to survive and perhaps even thrive. She acquires the awareness that it is through braving the struggles that we find our strength.

The Healing is also about love. Having lived for 26 years in an unhealthy relationship, Cate doesn’t know what true love looks like. When she meets Ethan, it is the first time she experiences being cherished exactly as she is. At first it is sticky and uncomfortable. She doesn’t know how to receive, to be seen without judgment and criticism. But she wants to learn. And that’s where the magic begins, with the awareness of something more and the desire to discover it. You have to be willing to do the work to change yourself and challenge all limiting beliefs and behaviours. Cate’s experience of love is transformed when she has the epiphany that true love doesn’t judge and it never asks you to be someone you aren’t.

As launch day approaches, my healing journey continues, and so does my self-growth and awareness. In December, I was bemoaning the need to engage in social media to facilitate the marketing of my book. I confided in my good friend, Christina Forgeron, and she offered me some great advice. She encouraged me to shift my perspective and see the social media gig as just another platform on which I can communicate the positive, optimistic and uplifting messages I want to share.

So yeah, I’m feeling excited to share positive messages on prelaunch platforms.