I am excited to say that my manuscript is complete. It took me a lot longer than I had expected with life’s twist and turns getting in the thick of it all. From covid twice, sister suzis aneurysms and hospital care, ailing parents, multiple editors, and change ups within the company that helped me I am able to say YAAA it is complete. There are still things to do to bring the book to publication however I am so much closer than I was.
First let me take you back a bit. I thought about writing this book when I was in Maui a while back. I had been struggling with some life challenges and one of the ways I know to is express is through the written word. I figured why not. Why not share, why not let it out. So on a whim I reached out to a girlfriend who has written a book and asked some question and got some numbers, by the end of the day I was committed to writing a book. Easy right….not. I have zero experience in writing a book and what it entails and to be completely honest did not know what I was getting myself into. Grateful I did it, happy to share but wow what an experience.
The only thing I knew for sure was the title of my book which stayed as is MY HEART BEHIND BARS. How that came about was by a painting I had done. I needed ways to express the pain I was in, a girlfriend introduced me to painting. To let the feelings come out in the art much like writing with a paint brush. I did one painting and showed my dad, he said you might as well call that Drake and Chris. It’s the symbol you see on the website. Literally, a heart behind bars. It was so very true, it resonated, and I was like yep that’s the title of the book I am going to write. I don’t think the red handprint is captured in the website picture however it is on all my artwork. it is how I sign all of my pieces. It started with that piece; it was like I could put my hand on it yet was unable to reach the heart due to the restrictions of the bars. It felt personal and intimate to me, so I carried on with everything Ido. A little part of me attached to each canvas.
I knew the story, though I had no idea how to place it upon the paper. Thankfully the company booklaunchers.com set me up with someone to help me through the process. Tim who now holds the title of bbf was and has been amazing to me. He walked me through so much, hooked me up, helped me out and talked me off the ledge a time or two. Like I said earlier, it has taken longer than I had anticipated or expected, life works that way sometimes. But here we are. Manuscript complete.
And hearts, they were big for me, I have hearts everywhere. I realized how fragile one is through this process. and so, when I see one, I take a picture. It’s like the universe allows me to see more love. I see heart so often and in so many things that my grandbabies have started spotting them, food, flowers, clouds, you name it, if it looks like a heart, they show me. We created a picture book of hearts.. love it 🙂