When does our journey to achieving a dream really start?

My journey to becoming a published author

The Day of Self-Discovery workshop on October 22^nd 2011 was great, thank you to all the women who participated, shared, opened their hearts, created their own action plans and are now on their way to achieving something wonderful!

The workshop got me thinking about my own journey in writing Ask Others, Trust Yourself. I realized that this journey started long before the idea came up to write this book. I remember that as a teenager, I would go with my little sister (10 years younger) to the club, stay by the pool, and I would come up with stories for her to keep her out of the pool so I could sunbathe (I know, horrible! But she forgave me. I think). Years later, the first book I attempted to write was a fiction one, but it was never published or appreciated.

The second one was about living abroad, and who knows, one of these days I may work on it again. Over the years, new experiences, new goals, new journeys, new lessons learned provided me with the intuition and knowledge to write Ask Others, Trust Yourself.

I had never stopped to think about the journey that helped me become a published author until now. When people ask how long it took to write this book, I always share that from idea to publishing it took approximately 2 years. In reality, it may have taken a lifetime.

• I made up children stories when I was a teenager;
• I worked on two other books that I never finished as an adult;
• I had amazing real life experiences: worked in my family’s business for many years, got my MBA, had coached hundreds of entrepreneurs prior to publishing the book;
• I got very negative feedback from the few people who read portions of the first draft of the first book – got stuck for a few or many years;
• I have mentors who published their own books and were ready to help, brainstorm, connect;
• I have a friend from college who gave me a can that said “Escreva um Livro”, or “Write a Book”, with a very special gift inside, and it was encouraging;
• I attended a series of calls based on the book The Artist Way by Julia Cameron, and hosted by Persephone Zill, and that was really crucial and inspirational in getting unstuck;
• I wrote and still write morning pages;
• I got stuck more times than I like to admit;
• I have friends who were able to encourage me and offer a helping hand or proofreading eyes;
• I wrote an article that was published in  a major newspaper in Brazil once while still living there (over 12 years ago);
• I had been writing articles for WomenandBiz.com for six years before the book was published;
• I read many books and articles on how to write/self-publish/publish/promote/write/write/write;
• I had self-doubts, I had faith in myself, I lost faith, I trusted myself, had ups and downs, but made it to the other side;
• All along I had to hear this question in my head: Who do you think you are? I never quite got the answer, but I just kept writing.
• Afterwards it is easier to answer the question “who do I think I am”? Well today I know that I have my own voice, intuition, opinions, and life experiences to share! 😉 Oops, maybe one or more of my friends and mentors told me that once or twice.

These are just some of the things I could think of that I experienced, over the span of 20+ years, that led me to become a published author. As you can see, I had failures, I had successes, and most of all I had invaluable support from old and new friends.  I invite you to take an inventory of one of your journeys or life goals you accomplished. How long ago did that plan/goal/dream really start? And how about taking an inventory of your journey towards a goal you haven’t yet accomplished? You may realize that you are ready now, and you may be just one action away to creating/making it happen.