When I was a little girl, I used to love writing. I would make up stories about imaginary animals. English was my favourite subject. I chose it as an A Level as I got an A in my GCSE English. What I didn’t love was discursive essays. I remember having to write a paper about Princess Diana and the Royal Family. I got an F. I remember my teacher asking me if I had a boyfriend at the time. He said this wasn’t my usual quality of writing. I realise now it was because I was afraid to write what I really felt. I was afraid to speak my truth. I couldn’t face conflict. It was safer to live in an imaginary world and create fictional stories. I was great at those.
Fast forward nearly thirty years. I have written several books and self-published them. My drive to write came down to one thing. I wanted to help other people. Having lost my friend to cancer then going through an emotional breakdown of my marriage, I felt lucky. Lucky that I had some tools which helped me, which could help others in a similar situation so I started to share parts of my journey and the tools that helped me. I remember saying if this book helps one person, I have done what I needed to. I continued to share my journey in my next two books, mostly of a spiritual nature. Any experiences I had, any new knowledge that came my way I wrote down to share. Channelling spirits of past leaders such as Winston Churchill, Princess Diana and William Wallace in 2020, I knew I had to share their words as they were important. I write so people don’t feel alone with their experiences. The one thing I hear most often when I meet people is, you are going to think I’m crazy. My standard response is I won’t.
I was listening to a Clubhouse room about five things you need to know before you publish your book. As I was listening, I thought this doesn’t resonate with me at all. You see they were talking about how you need to think about your book as it being part of your business model. As I was listening, my very good friend and fellow author called me up. I was telling her how I didn’t feel that a book should be part of someone’s business plan. She told me I was the second person to say the same thing in a week. For me, books which are written as part of someone’s business plan lack that certain something. If you feel called to write, then write, not for your audience but for you. If you love it and feel passionate about it, do it. This doesn’t just go for writing by the way it can be anything, dance, art, teaching. Several years ago, I attended a Hay House workshop with seven Hay House speakers. There were several amazing speakers, one who I could tell was going through the motions and one lady who walked across the stage with A4 paper in her hands speaking monotonously. I wrote in my notebook, “Not all writers are meant to be speakers” and I stand by this. If you aren’t comfortable speaking to a large audience you don’t have to do it. If you aren’t passionate about your book and have written it as part of your business plan, that will come through. Have passion for what you do and what you create. Listen to your heart and see what is coming through. Is it to write a book because you feel it is a calling? Or because your business coach is telling you to? I do believe there is a book within all of us. If it feels the right time to write yours, do it, if not don’t. I am passionate about allowing space for women to share their stories an speak their truth, whether through books or speaking. This is why I have set up Temple Woman Publishing with my editor.
We want women to share their stories and write from the heart, not because it seems the best way to grow your business. Stories from the heart read so much differently than those that aren’t. You can feel it. Anyway, it’s a while since I wrote as I got lost in the noise of social media and life. I’m back. I will continue to share my thoughts and opinions with the world on a range of topics and knowledge that comes into my life as and when. I can’t promise you exactly what it will be about as sometimes it is about politics, sometimes foraging, sometimes spiritual. What I can promise you is that this will be my truth, I will speak from my heart and I hope you enjoy it. You can find my books over on my book page here
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The Journey 
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