THE BOOKS
Well, this wasn’t the plan.
Sometimes you have to write the story you’ve been trying NOT to write.
I started writing Beyond Surviving with a very clear vision.
I wanted to wake people up to start living their lives with intention and purpose BEFORE it takes their worst day to wake them up.
Because that’s what it took for me.
Losing my middle son, JT, in 2020 was my wake-up call. It wasn’t until after losing him that I started recognizing just how much of my life I’d been living on autopilot.
And I don’t want other people to have to experience their worst day to realize they haven’t really been living the life they want.
But there was one problem.
My grief story kept getting in the way.
The book I’ve been trying NOT to write.
I was so determined that Beyond Surviving wasn’t going to be a grief book that I think I was working harder to write around my grief than I was actually writing.
And eventually, I stopped writing altogether.
Not a chapter. Not a page. I hadn’t even opened the manuscript in weeks.
I thought I had writer’s block.
Then one Sunday morning, something clicked.
Maybe my grief wasn’t what was getting in the way.
Maybe it was the story I’d been telling myself about it.
Who wants to read about my grief?
I’d been treating that thought like a fact.
And through the work I’ve been doing with Neuro-Identity Evolution, I’ve been learning that our thoughts are options, not facts.
So maybe it’s time to stop fighting it.
Maybe I need to write the book I’ve been trying so hard NOT to write.
The grief book.
Not to teach anyone anything. Not to make it inspirational. Not to worry about whether anyone will want to read it.
Just to tell my story.
Even if I don’t sell one copy.
This one is for me.
And Beyond Surviving?
It’s not going anywhere.
I’ve known for a while that there’s more than one book in me.
Maybe I’ve just been trying to write them in the wrong order.
My desire to wake people up to their own lives before it takes their worst day hasn’t changed.
If anything, the work I’ve been doing on myself has made that mission even clearer.
Beyond Surviving is about recognizing when we’ve been living on autopilot, questioning the patterns we’ve been repeating, and beginning to live with greater intention and purpose.
I still want to write that book.
I just might have another story to tell first.
THE WRITING JOURNEY
I’m figuring this out as I go.
I don’t know what this means for the timeline, the titles, or even what these books will look like when they’re finished.
But for the first time in a while, I feel like I know what I need to write.
And I’m giving myself permission to start there.
Be where your feet are.
COME ALONG FOR THE STORY
Be here from the beginning.
I’m bringing you along as I figure out this whole writing thing.
The stories, the unexpected pivots, the behind-the-scenes moments, and whatever else comes up along the way.
No polished version of the process.
Just me, figuring it out in real time.
And when there’s news about either book, you’ll be among the first to know.