Goal Accomplished

I was frantically trying to source an illustrator for the 16 illustrations, plus front and back cover pages required to finish my first manuscript, so that it could be finalised as my first book. After searching through the internet, and gathering worldwide quotes, my decision was made, illustrator had been found and we agreed on a sample of any one of the illustrations listed as required.

Information was sent back and forth and his questions flowed with such enthusiasm and promise that I was positive he not only knew what I was looking for, but he almost had the same vision of each illustration as I did.

Then came a weird question! Did I want all of the illustrations to be created in gee whiz or just some of them? The old expression “You could have knocked me down with a feather” popped into my head. Gee whiz was one of the rides at the beach that my old friend and I were screaming so loudly on that they had to shut down the ride to let us off. Not one of my most spectacular moments, but at least one of my most memorable.

After passing that information back to him, he chose another illustration to create which was one with a dragonfly hovering over a lake. At least he didn’t ask if all of the illustrations were to be in dragonfly, so at least 2 hurdles had now been overcome. Several happy and friendly messages were passing between us, but after a few days, still no illustration of any dragonfly hovering and my patience and time was starting to run out.

Normally I wouldn’t have put any deadline on my writing, apart from when I was setting up Quality Systems and needed Work Instructions in time for Auditing. There were times when I would happily dream about what was going to be written, and times when my fingers seemed to fly over the keys without me giving them much thought at all. One could really have some fun with dreams but putting pen to paper, so to speak, was not always a barrel of laughs.

This time, however, was different. There was a Psychic Fair in one of our local country towns, and after walking around and checking out the crystals and ornaments and offerings for sale, I told my friend I wasn’t going to have a reading. There was no need for me to pay for readings as it was something that I had learned and practiced years ago, and still did readings for friends. I was never really comfortable charging people for their readings as people usually only asked for a reading if there was some sadness or something in their lives they hoped would improve, and taking money for soothing Souls didn’t really sit that well with me.

Well, there was that old feather knocking me over thought again. After catching the eye of Kate, who was offering Theta Healing, I went straight over to her and asked if she was busy right then. She was free at the time, so we agreed on a 30 minute reading, but I really only wanted one question answered and that was “Will I finish my book?”

This book that I was referring to was started over 20 years ago, and had been created as an E-Book back when they were just starting out. Then I decided I needed to edit it a lot more and pulled it off the market and turned it into 2 books. After continual and never ending editing, it was always saved onto any new computer and software plus external drives that kept on being upgraded and updated, but nothing much more happened. Each time I started reading (and editing) these now 2 never ending books of mine, I felt I couldn’t leave the beginning as the beginning, because they were hard and tough but each of those beginnings ended up being wonderful.

So then I thought of wrapping up each little sad piece of the beginning with the actual happy ending so that any reader wasn’t left with the impression that life can at times, be unbearable. The impression that I wanted to make was that it didn’t matter how tough life was at the time, we would get through those issues and turn them around into happy events. Obviously, there are times when grief is raw, and it would be hard for anyone to think that those times could possibly be happy events, but that is only because we are stuck in the land of the living, so to speak, or living on good old Mother Earth.

I started rattling off my question about the book to Kate, and she asked if it was 1 or 2 books. That took me by surprise to a degree, because I thought I was the only one that knew that it was now 2 books, but obviously, the messages she was receiving from above and beyond were letting me know that my books were out there and about there. I told Kate about not wanting to upset readers as mentioned above, and she asked if I would be confusing people by wrapping up each section of sadness with a happy ending. My answer of course, was yes, it would be confusing but in some ways, confirming as well. There was a question in her eye – so I told her about the time I was sitting with the grandson of a friend and he was worried that the number he was seeing (23) was linked to evil.

After reassuring him that it wasn’t, and bringing up information on Angels and the number 23, I asked him if he knew that the name God was referred to is “I AM” throughout the Bible. He picked up on that very quickly and said that he got it; God is in everything, the trees, the plants, the animals and so on. At that exact time, this little toy behind us started calling out “I am, I am, I am” over and over again. The look on the boys face was more or less horrified, and I told him don’t worry, it’s a good thing, it just means that God is with us and joining in the conversation. The little toy was a battery operated I Am Buzz Lightyear toy and the battery was going flat, but even to my perfect sense of timing, this little toy deciding to kick in with “I am, I am” at that particular moment was pretty spectacular. These were the little ways I wanted to round off each sad section of the book with a way to prove that we are in the right place at the right time, no matter how tough the time might seem right then.

Kate asked me if I had thought of writing Children’s books instead; she said I could relate well to children and adults were already cynical and had probably made up their own minds about their spiritual pathways and after lives. It hadn’t been something I had considered but once we discussed it, I could see the logic of writing for Children instead and each little book could have its’ own happy ending. 11:11 has been something very special to me since at least 1995 when it was in my face all the time – I would roll over at night after being asleep for a while, and it would be 11:11; anyway, that is another story in itself, but Kate did ask me if 11:11 was special to me. I said yes, it was, and she said could I have the first book finished by the 11^th of November.

Yes, I could do that – and then she asked if I could have the book finished by the end of the year. I should be able to do that as well, or so I thought. Knowing I had plenty of time, I was like the rabbit when I should have been like the turtle – I raced along and then wasted time. However, I did finish the book on the 11^th of the 11^th, but in reality, writing the book is the easy part. Since then I have found myself talking the language of gee whiz with a very friendly illustrator from overseas and after some amazing chats between time zones, needed to put my foot down and ask for the 1^st sample illustration, which was meant to be a dragonfly.

Well, it was a dragonfly, but I could have drawn a better dragonfly than the one sent to me, and there was no way my newly found illustrator friend was going to have 16 illustrations, plus front and back cover finished before the end of the year. Back to the drawing board….

After some major technical issues setting up (and having my account suspended) an account on a website for illustrators and designers, due to the fact that they needed to verify more about me than I need to know myself, I finally did find a wonderful illustrator who did manage to create 16 beautiful illustrations, plus the covers of the book. He also created the logo for the Author, which was very important to have done perfectly, because Kate, through her Psychic Connections, could already see that the Authors’ name was not my own, but was very important and was written in a very special style, starting with a beautifully written S.

The book was completed and fully illustrated on 31^st December…. Goal accomplished and deadline complete!