Monday, October 15, 2012

The Next Big Thing Week 17


Author Blog Share. Tag, You’re It!

Today, I’m sharing some insight about my personal writing process of a book that I recently published. At the end of the post, I will tag three people, who will answer these same questions on their blogs next week. We will also feature their interviews here on this blog.

Read last week’s post from Doreen Pendgracs, who helped start this simple marketing endeavor that links our blogs and makes search engines smile upon us. It also gives our readers some valuable information about the writing process of several writers/authors.

Where did the idea for your book originate?
I was discovering that more and more people were experiencing compassion fatigue from trying to help others. Many empathic or highly-sensitive people (HSP) take on the burdens of those they care for as well as the afflictions of total strangers they meet in public. For that reason, many sensitive people tend to become hermits, isolating from others and limiting their exposure to detrimental energy in the environment.

I felt I needed to share my story about how I operated as an untrained empath (until it took its toll on me) to give people an idea of how and why many HSPs could be misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder and other psychological illnesses. There is such a lack of understanding about how empathic people process energy. Whose Stuff Is This? ~ Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You has more than two dozen methods to help empaths set boundaries and clear/protect their electromagnetic field from the onslaught of energy in the collective consciousness of humanity. The book is meeting a huge need as it connects with a market that is hungry for this information. The information it contains has also provided practitioners with new tools to help their clients manage the thoughts, feelings, and energy they pick up from others. See http://whosestuffisthis.com for more information about being overly sensitive and how to manage compassion fatigue.

What genre does your book fall under?
Spirituality/self-help

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Since this is a non-fiction book and I’m the only character (and quite a strange one at that!), I can’t see this book becoming a movie. Then, again…maybe the drama that permeated my life prior to learning how to manage emotional energy might make a good horror movie!

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A guidebook to help highly-sensitive people learn how to avoid picking up the thoughts, feelings, and energy of those around them.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It was published in 2011 by CreateSpace, a publishing company owned by Amazon.com.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
About six months. Then, several more months of editing, proofreading, formatting, and garnering endorsements and reviews to prepare for public release.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Amazon shows that people who buy my book also consider these titles by Rose Rosetree: Become the Most Important Person in the Room: Your 30-Day Plan for Empath Empowerment; Empowered by Empathy: 25 Ways to Fly in Spirit; Cut Cords of Attachment: Heal Yourself and Others with Energy Spirituality; and Spiritual Clearings: Sacred Practices to Release Negative Energy and Harmonize Your Life by Diana Burney. However, my latest book, Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ Integrating Spiritual Transformation with the Human Experience, takes the HSP a step farther in understanding how their intuitive gift of empathy can be used to help humanity shift as the Earth is raising her vibration. Information about that book may be found at http://shiftingintopurerconsciousness.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

Dr. Caron Goode and I had been doing some joint venture projects together and both of us were seeing the need for highly-sensitive people to have a better understanding of how the energy of others adversely affects us. She and I collaborated on the book; she wrote the forward and the chapter on the psychology of empathy. It was her urging and encouraging me to write the book that helped me stay on track with the project.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Here are the authors I’ve tagged for the She Writes “Next Big Thing” project for the upcoming weeks. I invite you to check out their websites and come back here to read their interviews in the upcoming weeks. 

Barbara Techel, the owner (mom) of the late Frankie the Walk ‘n’ Roll Dog now has a new love to write about. Learn about her work with disabled dachshunds and meet Joie at http://joyfulpaws.com/

Lisa Barretta is the author of The Book of Transformation and the executive producer of Surviving Death: A Paranormal Debate. 

Julie McIntyre is the author of Sex and the Intelligence of the Heart, published by Destiny books, a division of Inner Traditions - Bear & Company.




2 comments:

Doreen Pendgracs said...

Fascinating, Yvonne.

Being an extrovert, I am energized by being with people. I didn't realize that empaths can be drained from being with people but it makes sense as you can pick up the negative energy that may be transmitted by others. Life much be much more complicated for you folks with that additional talent/challenge.

Thanks for sharing, and thanks for kindly including the link to my blog. I am honoured to know you and call you my friend.

Unknown said...

It's always fun to network with you, Doreen. Thank you for being part of my author world.