Natural Resources

I am so blessed with resources.

My book goes to print in a few weeks and I’ve been under deadline to complete any final tweaks I might want to make to the manuscript. (More about the book in a minute. First I want to brag about my awesome sister.)

As far as final editing goes I was stumped. I’ve read through the material so many times that I can’t see simple errors. I needed fresh eyes to look over the book before I sent it back to the publisher for formatting. But who could I ask such a large favor of?

Before you think I’m completely delusional to ask my sister to edit (for free and with only a few days notice) 15,000 words of text, let me give you a little background first. Mary is a literary genius. When we were kids she would say she liked to read Stephen King novels because they were such an easy read she could finish one in an afternoon. (She’s the fastest reader I’ve ever met. And she remembers what she reads, as well.) She studied the Reader’s Digest “Word a Day”. She read everything she could get her hands on, including cereal boxes. She is a Russian linguist. And she was my first editor for Evolving Woman magazine. So I knew she was qualified but worried I was asking too much.

When I sent Mary an email asking this huge favor of her, she wrote back, “A favor is a cup of sugar—a HUGE favor is a spare kidney. This is an honor.” I am truly blessed. Thank you, Mary. Not only did she find those little niggles that hide from the repeat reader, she did it in less than a day. Wow.

Now, back to the book. I originally started this blog as a means for getting essays I’d previously written back into my computer. My old computer crashed years ago so all I had were the published versions of these essays. I used this blog as a way to type in one a day rather than trying to do it all at once. And it worked. I compiled these (and other) essays into a PDF file and sent it to a book publisher. PublishAmerica accepted the manuscript and it should be printed in about four weeks. Yeah!

The book is called The Joyous Journey: Living Life On Purpose, With Purpose. It is a compilation of essays about conscious living, self-awareness, finding a purpose and determining core values. The Joyous Journey follows the path of my personal growth with reflections on living life on purpose, with purpose. I’ll keep you posted!