Everyone has a story.
On March 14, National Write Your Story Day challenges you to tell your story in written form. You may think to yourself, “There’s nothing in my life to tell.” It will surprise you once you put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard and the words start filling the pages. Words have a way of triggering memories. They form a moment in time, and before you know it, there’s a story flowing from your fingertips. Even if you never share your story, it can be empowering to know that your life has been filled with richness and you can really get to see who you are and where you’ve been.
Today, stories are everywhere - they fill blogs, inspire magazine articles, and yes, even novels. More importantly, they are treasures to family and loved ones.
I did it! I wrote my story: "If You Really Knew Me: The Life, The Lessons and The Legacy". That is my story. I wrote my story in 2018 but I felt like I had more. So on this National "Write Your Story" Day, I am releasing the second edition of my book which includes BONUS CHAPTERS and BONUS LESSONS!
Here is an excerpt from Volume 2 of my book, "If You Really Knew Me: The Life, The Lessons and The Legacy" - a chapter on "Becoming an Author".
CHAPTER 22
BECOMING AN AUTHOR
I didn’t set out to be an author. I guess you would say that being an author found me. How? Let me tell you….
As I developed my business and began to not only prepare workshops for my clients, I also actually began to deliver workshops for my clients. I am a true believer in the power of “stories” as a way to not only teach a lesson but to reinforce a lesson. So, as I conducted my workshops, I would tell stories. Stories from my life. Stories that taught me lessons. Stories that reinforced the concepts that I was teaching.
I’m sure that my girls would roll over if they realized how many stories had been shared about them in my workshops! But stories make the speaker more believable, more credible, more human. Participants feel like they can relate to your stories and begin to compare them to situations that they have had where they then can learn the lesson that is being taught.
The more that I told stories in my workshops, the more that I realized that I needed to write those stories down (my memory isn’t what it used to be!). As I wrote the stories down, I began to realize that not only were the stories relevant and could teach a lesson, they were my autobiography of sorts! THAT is when I realized that these stories could become a book.
Would it be a best seller? Maybe not. Would it be sold world-wide? Maybe not. My goal was not for fame or fortune, but to share the stories, help someone else learn a lesson and hopefully make a difference in someone’s life.
Interestingly enough, the “author” bug bit me and now I am hooked. I want to learn everything there is to know about writing about being an author and even about publishing. I want to make a difference in other prospective author’s lives. I have come across so many people who have told me that they either wrote a book, are writing a book or want to write a book, but they don’t know where to start. I want help them. They have value inside of them that needs to be shared with others.
So, on to the next chapter – stay tuned for more books from me and more books published by me and my company, Enhanced DNA: Develop Nurture Achieve, LLC.