What Do You Do when the Good Times End?

             My advertising career started in London and ended in Mexico City in 1990 when my boss persuaded me to take early retirement. I heard “corporate takeover casualties,” but he was so smooth that for several minutes I didn’t understand that he meant “you’re fired.”

After I agreed, in exchange for a hefty sum, to resign, he asked, “What will you do next?”

“I’ll get rid of my high heels, give away my business suits, let my hair grow down to my waist—and strangle you with my pantyhose. Then, I’ll open a restaurant.” I’d been toying with this idea for a while. Just needed the money to get it going. With my severance package, marketing savvy, and cooking expertise, I knew it would be a success. Provide me with an income for life. At forty-six, I had high expectations.

Handling millions of dollars of other people’s money was easy compared to handling my own. There’d always been someone to go to the bank for me and help with my accounts and investments. Now I had to do them myself. Maybe I had a flutter of unease when I invested all of my money in this venture, took out loans and used credit cards up to the hilt, but I never expected I’d lose it all. My heart was not in this business; it was more like a romance on the rebound after the end of a long-time relationship.

The restaurant folded after a year, leaving me broke, rudderless, with no idea of where I was heading except, it seemed, downwards.

One morning a sudden urge woke me before dawn and I wrote the first chapter of a novel that would become my companion for nine years. I completed a full draft in four-and-a-half months, right before my fiftieth birthday. Set in both contemporary and 18^th century Mexico, my book had two protagonists and two plots. Overambitious, perhaps, but it kept me going through loss of business, money, status, and my home of 16 years. Gave me a goal. By my mid-fifties I’d be a published author and over this economic hump.

Catering provided an income though not enough to keep up my former lifestyle. I sold half my belongings and moved to an apartment with a view of the Valley of Mexico. This inspired me to enter a world of mysticism, witches, brews, spells, and past life experiences that all became fodder for the book. I taught business English and catered events until one afternoon an earthquake rocked my building and sixteen trays of hors d’oeuvres slid off tables and smashed on the floor. Lost my best client, my income plunged, and I fell behind with the rent. My landlord agreed to take my living room furniture and most valuable painting in lieu of what I owed him.

I downscaled to a bungalow, former servants’ quarters, and plodded through a second draft. I wrote my frustrations, disappointments, fears into the pages, and the book became Gothic dark. An aching hip slowed me down.

A friend offered me a three-month housesitting job in Santa Fe, New Mexico with the bait that I’d have time to write. I ended up stranded, sleeping at her home between housesitting gigs until she turned unfriendly. Tried pet-sitting. A client asked would I sleep with his basset hound, meaning on the bed with me. A large, solid, tank-like dog that dribbled? My refusal didn’t bode well for my career as a pet-sitter.

My computer conked out, so I wrote the old-fashioned way, by hand. My protagonists faced significant obstacles as did I. A doctor diagnosed degeneration of my hip. I needed an operation. When? A year at most depending on my tolerance to pain.

My hip deteriorated; I couldn’t walk without a cane. I exchanged Santa Fe for life as an invalid in my son’s apartment in Tijuana, a city on the Mexican/US border. A doctor promised treatment to help regenerate cartilage. For eighteen months I believed I was making progress, even as the biting pain in my thigh grew worse. I wrote another two drafts of my book, a masterpiece of drama, supernatural happenings, and sex. Since I wasn’t getting any, it helped to write about it.

My mother died and left a life insurance that covered a hip replacement. Within weeks, I set out on a job search in San Diego. With no business contacts there, no car, no phone, and almost no money it meant, at fifty-six, trudging the streets looking for work instead of inhabiting an executive suite.

First I interviewed in ad agencies where I came face-to-face with young MBAs bristling with Internet knowhow and new marketing techniques. Next, want ads. Not computer savvy. Not qualified. Overqualified. A “We’re Hiring” banner offered a stopgap measure—a job as a phone researcher. $8 an hour. What a comedown, but the 1 to 9 p.m. shift was convenient for commuting across the border.

I became Susan—my first name – J. Whatever happened to Penelope who worked in solitary splendor in an elegant office? Now one of the hundred interviewers in the phone room, I sat in a cubicle wherever supervisors placed me. Another low-wage worker.

For four months I commuted four-and-a-half hours until I saved enough to move to the US. My new home was a hotel room. I wrote an eighth draft of my book. Gave my protagonists some happiness. They deserved it after all they had gone through.

Easy work, easy life. A two-year trap in a nothing job. An offer to work as a Hispanic research report writer put me back on track. In two weeks I made the same as in three months in the phone room. A new career beckoned. I could afford an apartment with a view of San Diego Bay. I shelved my book and started writing a riches-to-rags memoir.

Time to move on to the next stage in my life.

 ***

 ***

PENELOPE JAMES: Anglo-Mexican-American. Born in England, moved to Mexico City at 10. Worked in advertising agencies in New York, London, and Mexico City and in Hispanic Research in US. Author of Don’t Hang Up! What Do You Do when the Good Times End? to be published this autumn. Co-writer of Barriers to Love, a memoir by Marina Peralta. Currently lives in San Diego, CA.

Former Spanish-English translator, copywriter, report writer, columnist “Insights into Mexico” for The Baja News. Has published nonfiction short stories. A judge for the San Diego Book Awards 2010 to date. Website: http://www.donthangupbook.com

SONIA MARSH SAYS: What a life you’ve had Pennie. I admire your courage and determination and can understand the frustrations you faced, and how you never gave up. Your passion for writing will pay off. I know how hard you’ve worked on your writing career.

***

Friends of the Los Alamitos Library inviting me to speak on 6-9-13

It’s taken me many years to figure out that I can take charge of things myself.

Perhaps being a “mostly” stay-at-home mom when my kids were growing up, made me believe that others knew way more about how to ——— (you fill in the blank) than I did.

Seven years ago, I decided to write my memoir, and throughout the years, I’ve been learning new skills:

• Social Media
• Writing
• Blogging
• Starting my publishing company
• Marketing
• Book promotion
• Publicist
• Networking
• Public Speaking
• Event planning

I realize how much a person can do, if they try hard.

Gladys Ingle of the 13 BLACK CATS changes planes in mid-air

Now here’s one Gutsy Woman from 1924, who did something I could never do, even if I tried hard.

I know many writers, bloggers and authors who are working 60+ hours a week to achieve their goals, and I applaud them. I follow them daily on Gutsy Indie Publishers, on National Association of Memoir Writers, and on their own personal websites.

As a proud baby boomer, I’m amazed at how our generation keeps moving along, doing their best to keep learning new skills that seem so easy for my children’s generation. (A quick aside. Do you know how happy I am when I ask my twenty-something sons a social media question and they don’t know the answer and I do. YES!)

 Chris Guillebeau wrote about “The Challenge and the Opportunity.” What struck me as interesting was his comment:

“To me it seemed simple enough: something needs doing, I don’t see another way to do it, so I’ll just do it myself….I’ve had this attitude all my life, and it’s helped me accomplish a lot of things. Whenever I wanted something done, I’d find a way to make it happen.”

But what happens when you get too busy, or you just can’t figure things out yourself?

As Chris points out, everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and there comes a time when you have to question your abilities. Are you wasting your time trying to figure out something that someone else can do better than you?

I know what I enjoy, and what I’m good at, but I also know what doesn’t interest me, and what would take me years to learn. Those are the tasks I delegate to others. Three good examples are:

• hiring a tech guy like Jay Donovan to fix my website problems
• hiring a professional company 1106 Design to design and format my book(s)
• hiring a copy editor like Eve Gumpel to go through my manuscript

In my case, I try to do as much as I can myself, and once I understand my limitations, I ask for help. What about you? Do you struggle with trying to do everything yourself?

***

 Next post Monday June 17th. “My Gutsy Story®” by Penelope James.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THE SPECIAL EVENT TO LAUNCH OF OUR FIRST “My Gutsy Story®” ANTHOLOGY, ON SEPTEMBER 26TH, 2013, IN ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. Click here for your invitation.

Do you have a “My Gutsy Story®” you’d like to share?

NOW is the time to submit your “My Gutsy Story®.” Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.

You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here

Breaking the Silence

 In horror, I stared at my 11-year-old daughter as she, with tears running down her rosy cheeks, recounted the times and places my own father had molested her.  I was torn from my place of denial with a vengeance that knew no mercy.  A war waged inside of me.  The little girl in me, who never faced her own issues, and being the mother who was always overly protective, fought for freedom from reality.  The very thing I thought I had so protected her from had happened.  I was in shock.   The stark realization of it began to sink in as I tried to make sense of everything I had been thrust into.

I was 35 years old and had never told a soul that I, too, was an incest survivor.  I was totally convinced I would go to the grave with the “secret”.  Now, because of my silence and denial, my own precious little girl, whom I thought I had protected with my life, had fallen victim to the very same thing I had endured.  “Dear God, how does one survive so much pain,” I prayed.  I honestly thought my heart would break.  My whole foundation of belief was shaken to the core.  I had convinced myself that I would never again have to deal with what happened to me as a child between the ages of 7 and 12 years of age.

I had very vivid memories of every incident down to the details but, until then, I felt nothing emotionally.  I had blocked out all feeling but remembered everything.  I taught myself as a little girl to separate from my body when I couldn’t deal with the trauma.  The real me floated on the ceiling playing with the butterflies while watching what was going on below.  I would feel sorry for the little girl below, because she looked so sad. But I was just glad it wasn’t happening to me.

Interesting enough, I had been in ministry for years, teaching and praying for the needs of other women when the force of my own past hit me like a ton of bricks.  I slowly realized that I, just like the women I ministered to, must begin the journey of walking through the pain of what happened to me to reach the shores of deliverance.  I had been in denial for so many years.  I had no idea where the journey would take me and I was scared.   I knew I had to break the silence.  I started with my daughter.

I went to work immediately to give my daughter all the care and love that I had so desperately needed as a child, but never got.  My mom instincts took the place of my own victimization.  I listened, validated, and comforted her with assurance that I totally believed her and would be there continually as she worked through her emotions.   I didn’t realize it at the time but I found that in validating her, I was also validating myself, as no one else ever did for me.

Confronting and exposing within my childhood family was the hardest thing that I ever had to do but I knew if I didn’t the incest would continue.  I felt like a wicked person at having to make my mom look at the truth.  It was horrible and heart breaking for me to watch her pain at my disclosure in detail.  But she soon accused me of lying and regressed into denial of which she was always good at doing.  Our relationship, faced with truth and not pretension, was never the same.  She could not accept the truth.  She did confront my dad.  But somehow they excused themselves of any responsibility and continued living as if it never happened.   I eventually had to release any expectations of her and accept the fact I could not change her, nor make things better for her.

The moment I released her from any of my expectations was the beginning of freedom for me.   And when I realized I would receive nothing emotionally from either of them, I released myself from the responsibility of protecting anyone ever again from this kind of violation, nor would I keep their secret.   I ­was the victim. But that is the day I became a ‘survivor’. And that was the day the generational pattern of incest was stopped in my family.  It was at that point that I knew my grandchildren would not be victims to the same crime.  The darkness had been exposed to the light.  The power of the “secret” was gone.  I felt empowered and free from the entanglements and emotions of the past.

Today, my daughter and I both are still learning to “live loved” by our real “Father” in Heaven.

DIXIE DIAMANTI  is a Certified Life Coach, author, speaker, and teacher, Dixie has reached out to women and men on the Central Coast of California for many years, leading them into freedom. She believes that every child of God has a distinct calling, and through her work, she assists and coaches them in finding their unique purpose in life.  Dixie loves to encourage and challenge clients to move forward in uncovering and making use of the hidden treasures within themselves through the coaching process of self discovery.   She is a wife, mom, and nana, to a large and supportive family. Website:www.reflectionsofgracehome.com

Dixie’s book: “Climbing Out of the Box,” My Journey Out of Sexual and Spiritual Abuse Into Freedom and Healing, can be purchased on Amazon.com.

E-mail: Dixie@reflectionsofgracehome.com

SONIA MARSH SAYS: Dixie, thank you for opening up and sharing your story of how you broke the cycle of incest within your family. Your strength and courage in confronting your mother and releasing the “power of the “secret,” will help others see how you have healed and stopped the cycle of abuse within your family.

We are going to be in this theater. Please invite your friends.

I know this is early, but I’m so excited to let you know about the special location for the launch of our first Anthology on September 26th, 2013.

“My Gutsy Story®” Anthology.

Thanks to Larry Poricelli, Regional Manager of the Regency Theaters, and President of Southern California Writers Association (SCWA) we are inviting all 64 authors and the general public (up to 500 people) to attend this special event starting at 7 p.m., at the South Coast Village Regency Theater on Thursday, September 26th, 2013.

Larry Poricelli

We are putting together a panel of four indie authors, including Jason Matthews, Larry Jacobson, TED-x speaker and “My Gutsy Story®” contributor,  myself and one other panelist. We shall announce the final panel and a well-known moderator in a few weeks.

We are contacting sponsors, and part of proceeds will benefit a charity. Your suggestions regarding potential sponsors are greatly appreciated.

The Regency South Coast Village theater is located in a fabulous area, close to Orange County Airport- aka John Wayne airport (SNA),  South Coast Plaza, the largest shopping mall on the west coast (if you’re a shopper you won’t be disappointed,) and many hotels and restaurants within walking distance of the theater.

The Regency South Coast Village Theatre

Inside the Regency South Coast Village Theater

(714) 557-5701

Sonia checking out the lobby of the theater

 Please check back and mark your calendars for this event. If you cannot make it, let your friends know about it. We shall update you on panelists, sponsors, and the event, as we move along.

“Breaking out of the Library”

 This is a story of escape—though a slow release from sucking mud rather than a daredevil exit down castle walls on a rope. How I released my imagination, that’s the story.

It began the day I was returning from a sabbatical to the college where I’d been teaching for ten years. As I looked round the familiar setting, the sun-filled lobby lined with mailboxes, the green upholstered chairs grouped in the common room, one powerful thought—or was it intuition? –transfixed me: I shouldn’t be here.

It was alarming. I’d given my life to education. Scholarship girl, Oxford, PhD. That meant a certain limited kind of writing. Correcting papers, marginal notes, final comments to help my students. And in the vacations—only then—writing and research of my own. Ever since the day when I was given a shiny green fountain pen for my sixth birthday, in a secret, unknowing kind of way I’d set out to be a writer.

But where had writing as a professor got me? How muffled and anxious my voice was. I can see that now. My first book, Writing by Numbers: Trollope’s Serial Fiction, was about the way the Victorian novelist, Anthony Trollope, worked. He kept count of the number of pages he wrote every day, anxious not to be lazy, not to be in the wrong, anxious to please his editors with the correct word length.

Only after it was published did I begin to wonder how much of his fears I shared. And why wasn’t I writing novels of my own? For three days I sat paralysed at my desk. I wanted to write a story but I couldn’t do it. I gave up and went back—but not entirely to my old ways. I began to question the connection between my own life and the topics I was choosing to research.

That name, ‘Trollope’? Was ‘trollop’ how I’d been taught to name a woman who knew what she wanted? How I’d been taught to think of my deepest self?

What in fact did I want?

All I knew, that day back at work after my sabbatical, was that I didn’t want this, the college. I went home that night and told my husband I needed to give up my job. He was quite startled. It meant doing without my salary and we still had kids at home.  For myself I knew I was making a huge decision. I’d clawed my way up to some kind of perch in a very competitive world. I’d be letting go.

But instead of a sickening plunge, it was release that followed: my voice was freed. In fact my whole body felt free. Those first days I literally rolled on the floor in my study, bubbling with joy. More mature activity followed. But it was no coincidence that I then wrote a book, Signs of Cleopatra, about the way Europe learned to condemn a woman with a mind of her own and the power to do what seemed best to her!

My new state of liberation gave me the nerve to choose boldly. I set off on research trips, to Egypt, to Venice, to Rome. I searched out experts in art history, history of costume, Egyptology. Meeting these strangers, being treated with respect by them, my confidence grew.

I began to read the literature I used to teach with new eyes. In a move to re-educate my body as well as my mind, I took actor training: a month’s intensive with Shakespeare & Company in Western Massachusetts. They taught me to find the voice that comes from deep inside. Another book followed. I wrote about Shakespeare, how he used the old stories to get his audience to ask questions about political and religious authorities: those very authorities who had subdued me and blinkered my vision as I grew up.

Writing my next book, about children and damage, in order to build my argument, I moved from the voice of the teacher into the voice of the storyteller. Perhaps, deep down, I’d been a secret storyteller all along but it had been knocked out of me at school. My old kindergarten teacher had to remind me of the day I kept our class of five year olds spellbound, telling them the old fairy story of the Hobyahs. I’d forgotten that power had once been mine.

What now? I asked myself, one day in 2003. And I remembered Rudyard Kipling, the man I’d wanted to study for my PhD, though that had been vetoed by my supervisor. Free now to explore him, I read my way into Kipling’s life. I began to realise I’d been treading in his footsteps—India, the east coast of the US, South Africa, his home in Sussex—preparing. I seemed to be on some sort of track, ready to reconnect with myself.

Deciding to follow the course of his life was one thing: choosing to write about it in the form of fiction, rather than biography, was a massive leap. I’d never written anything but criticism before. But confidence and stamina had built up in me and I was no longer looking for permission or waiting for someone else’s timetable.

And so I came to write my novel. In the end, it was not just about Rudyard Kipling.  His story led me to that of his sister, Trix, also a writer, but a woman who lost faith in her own voice. Turning my back on life in college that fateful day opened a path led home, back to what I knew for myself! It worked. Kipling & Trix won the Virginia Prize for Fiction.

MARY HAMER was born in Birmingham. Educated at the Catholic grammar school and at Lady Margaret Hall, she grew up a secret rebel. Reading Kipling’s Jungle Book, in the small branch library in Harborne offered her the first hint that there was a different, more exciting way to see the world. Mary is married, with grownup children and seven grandchildren. Kipling and Trix is her fifth book and first novel. Please check out Mary’s website: www.Mary-Hamer.com

Mary’s books: Writing by Numbers: Trollope’s Serial Fiction, Signs of Cleopatra: History, Politics, Representation, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Incest: a New Perspective, Kipling & Trix.

Click on the book cover for the US Amazon link, and or the UK Amazon link. 

Join Mary’s Facebook page, and on Twitter @mary_hamer

Photo credit: http://www.internationalnomads.com/

Travel means different things to different people; from relaxing on a beach to sight-seeing, to shopping for souvenirs, but what fascinates me are questions such as:

• How much of it are we really absorbing?
• How much do we really see?
• How much do we really understand about the culture around us?

At a recent TED-x conference at UCI (University of California, Irvine,) the focus was on the “global perspective” of travel and what it truly means to travel.  The audience was challenged to think about the “global perspective” of travel.

I believe there is a shift in the way we view travel today, and this shift is happening with the millennials, and spreading to the boomer generation; their parents.

The main difference with young people who travel, is that they do so

• without a plan
• travel frugally
• are entrepreneurs
• savvy with social media
• enter contests
• get media attention

Graham Michael Freeman, a 24-year-old UCI graduate student, decided to go backpacking around the world for six months. He, and a couple of friends, literally spun the globe and pointed a finger, and wherever it landed, they decided to go.

During his TED-xUCIrvine talk, Graham emphasized the importance of:

“Giving yourself the freedom to discover new things along the way. Forget all the rules. Eat with your hands. Direction over destination.”

Many young people today combine their desire for understanding the  “global perspective” with the entrepreneur spirit. After traveling to countries such as Thailand, China and India, lived in a Maasai village in Kenya and swimming with great white sharks in South Africa, where Graham is originally from, they started a website Nomads In Touch, as a means to share their experiences with the world as they trekked through the world.

As with many travel bloggers today, social media is key for those who want to keep traveling and turn their passion for travel into a profession.

I think our youth have a great perspective on travel, and I believe we can learn from them. Here’s what Graham said.

“I want people to take that step back. To fully immerse yourself. Checking your expectations and comfort level at the door and putting yourself in a situation in life and experiencing it completely. Putting yourself in situations where you’re not just rushing from landmark to landmark or doing what you normally consider to be a vacation but allowing yourself to fully immersing yourself into a culture.”

Travel is no longer just about sightseeing, but about sight-thinking.

It’s easy to say, “Well Graham is young. He can take as much time off as he wants, that’s not my case with a job.” And perhaps you’re right, but as I say when I speak about “Gutsy Living,” there are always options in life, and we can always find an excuse to postpone our dreams.

So here’s what I’ve done in the last few days to satisfy my desire to learn about a new culture.

• I signed up with Vaughan Town, to volunteer for 10 days in Spain. They pay for my hotel and in exchange, I help Spanish business people practice their English and as a bonus, I learn about the Spanish culture.

• I Skyped memoir writer, Janet Givens, whom I met via Kathy Pooler’s blog interview, and asked her about her experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan with her husband. She shared some helpful tips about the Peace Corps website and her two year experience. Another one of my strong “Gutsy” goals in life.

 What about you? Do you have a desire to immerse yourself in other cultures for a while, or does travel mean something else to you? Please comment below.

 Stop by Monday June 3rd, to read our first My Gutsy Story®

of Anthology #2

Do you have a “My Gutsy Story®” you’d like to share?

NOW is the time to submit your “My Gutsy Story®.” Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.

You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here

Pain au chocolat for you to enjoy

Since most of us are at home on this Memorial Day, I thought I would share some quick videos from my trip to Paris and Copenhagen. I took these a few days ago.

#1

Shopping at a market in the suburbs of Paris.

#2

A typical French metro with accordion player and a view of the Eiffel Tower on my way to The American Library in Paris.

#3

Happy Danes dancing on the pedestrian street in Copenhagen, A gold statue of a real person, and biking is a way of life in Denmark.

Galleries Lafayette Department Store

Everything in Paris is a mixture of style, luxury, perfume, great food and cigarette smokers.

There is of course history in each building and the department store, Galleries Lafayette (more photos) is no exception.

Galleries Lafayette, View of all the floors and the famous dome

Purchased in 1896, the beautiful glass and steel dome was designed by architect,  Georges Chedanne and his pupil Ferdinand Chanut  and finished in 1912.

Only in Paris will you find a museum that covers the history of perfume. I discovered the “Musée du Parfum” also known as the Fragonard Musée du Parfum.  This museum was created in 1983 by the Fragonard perfume company within a Napoleon III town-house (built 1860.) I was not allowed to take photos inside the museum, however, here is a photo of the orgue à parfum (perfume organ) with tiers of ingredient bottles arranged around a balance used to mix fragrances.

Perfume Organ Photo credit

The museum sells perfumes and is located close to the Place de L’Opéra.

As you can see, we’re wearing winter coats in May 2013.

Place de l’Opéra

Another view of Place de l’Opéra

And finally the beautiful upscale store “Printemps.” I have never seen so many Chinese tourists buying Luis Vuitton, Chanel and other  luxury goods. At the Chanel store, a rope blocked the entrance, and the women were only allowed to go in two at a time. The look of anticipation on their faces reminded me of kids waiting for their favorite ride at Disneyland. I heard it’s the same at Harrods in London.

Luxury good at Printemps.

Do you like shopping at luxury stores? I don’t feel comfortable in this type of environment.

Do you have a “My Gutsy Story®” you’d like to share?

NOW is the time to submit your “My Gutsy Story®.” Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.

We are now collecting  “MY GUTSY STORY®” Submissions

For Anthology #2

You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here

How do you choose a book cover that appeals to your readers?

After much thought, a poll, and discussions with 1106 design company, here’s why I decided the above “My Gutsy Story®” Anthology is the right cover for the first and subsequent series.

The #1 reason to have a great book cover is to grab people’s attention.

A book cover has to cause an immediate reaction within a potential reader; either interest, intrigue or familiarity with the author, and in order to do this, certain “rules” apply.

I’m not a book cover designer which is why I believe in learning as much as I can about this topic, before leaving the task in the hands of those who do it for a living. From what I’ve read on Joel Friedlander’s informative blog: The Book Designer, authors need to think about the following aspects when determining the best covers for their books.

• Initial Emotional Response
• Genre
• Title-Font
• Sub-Title
• Color-Scheme
• Layout
• Brand(ing)
• Series

Name recognition is important to authors with a large fan base. They are a “brand” and often have a series of books with a similar design or font. Readers subconsciously tune into the author’s brand. I’m sure you’ve noticed how a particular font, color scheme or logo is associated with a specific author or series. Take for example, Nicholas Sparks. All of his books have the same concept with his name in the exact same bold font, with the title underneath. This is enclosed within a box.

Notice the box with name and title on all his books.

Another example of a series is the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series. The font used for the title is the same on all their books. You instantly recognize their brand.

Same Title Font on each book. (Brand)

So I decided to take a poll to the public, listen to the pros and cons, and then make a sound decision. I polled other authors on our Facebook Group: Gutsy Indie Publishers, which any indie author is welcome to join. I also polled readers on my Facebook Page: Gutsy Living, as well as other groups I belong to.

I showed two cover concepts based on my first book: Freeways to Flip-Flops: A Family’s Year of Gutsy Living on a Tropical Island, which I owe to 1106 Design, and which won the TheBookDesigner.com’s April e-Book Cover Design Award for Nonfiction.
I received in total around 80 comments on the covers

Concept # 1

Concept # 2

Here are some of the responses which I listened to and thought made sense. I went with my gut and with what the majority thought was the best. Of course not everyone agrees, but I’m happy that my friend Maggie Dodson from the UK, made the suggestions of reversing the yellow and white colors in the title, to make the “My Gutsy Story®” stand out, and anthology in white, and smaller.

What do you like to see in a book cover?

Carol Bodensteiner WINNER

Congratulations to Carol Bodensteiner, winner of the May 2013, “My Gutsy Story®.” She wrote an inspiring story about giving up her career and following her passion. I love her phrase:

“It’s more important to be satisfied than to be successful.”

In 2nd Place, we have the wonderful “My Gutsy Story®” of Jason Matthews. Another motivating story by Jason who took a major risk, leaving his lucrative career as a paint contractor, and followed his passion to write.

Jason Matthews

In 3rd place we have the amazing story of Julia Prosser, written by her husband David Prosser. Julia passed away a few days before we posted his story, and she was true inspiration to many.

David Prosser

In 4th place we have the wonderful “Gutsy” Win Charles. Her message is to not focus on her disability, but on what we have in common.

Win’s energy and passion shines through everything she does. She is truly a “go-getter” and an inspiration to everyone.

In 5th place, we have an extremely “gutsy” Linda Kovic-Skow

Linda shares a great story about how she took a major risk as a young woman, and how it paid off.

Thank you so much to all five of you. You are all winners and have some wonderful stories and books to share with us.

Do you have a “My Gutsy Story®” you’d like to share?

NOW is the time to submit your “My Gutsy Story®.” Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.

WE ARE NOW COLLECTING

“My Gutsy Story®” SUBMISSIONS

FOR ANTHOLOGY #2

You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here