Find The Path

If nothing else I have a ton of try. Call it grit or determination, or even foolishness, I rarely quit once I begin.

You'll not see these colors of book covers on your shelf unless you own them.

I realized many things over the years, but when I'm looking for a book on the shelf I want to find it! These two colors (a weird chartreuse and a magenta for volumes 1 and 2 of Letters Of Misunderstood Magic) will stand out. First, I start with this idea: "Do I love it? Will I use it? Can I live with it?" If I don't love what I'm working on, how can I offer it?

I watch a lot of videos about how to "market" books. What I discovered is simply not discussed. What if you have ideas that are not common? How do you slot them into the world of ideas that are reused, recycled, and repeated?

When I began writing soap books, there wasn't an idea of "soap dough". Now this term is a soap making industry standard. Had I listened to experts I wouldn't have walked this path and we wouldn't know each other.

How does someone market something that doesn't exist?

Considering the alternatives—working for someone else—feels like a brick in the brain. Let's hold these ideas up next to each other: Working for someone else? Or writing what I love, even if no one's heard of it yet?

What if I write what I love to read?

I love to read private letters. When I research a project, if I find letters I consider it a goldmine. What do they think and discuss when not being judged? I want to understand their secret thoughts, feelings, and sense of the world they observe.

Anything new in the world takes time to manifest. It takes a great deal of effort for the idea to materialize. A long time ago I was told to imagine anything new in the world: a business, a material object, an idea—to imagine a train that has no energy, no cars attached, no one to stoke the engine. I have to put my shoulder to it, push with all my might to get it rolling down the tracks. Once I do that, I can invite others to help, and, eventually, attach cars to that train. When it is going full steam, it will have momentum and carry on, without my full force. I will then be able to stand back and see all my efforts.

Along the way I've shared these manuscripts with a select few. The feedback I've received so far is more than I could have expected... I've met remarkable and amazing women.

So, I wrote books I wanted to see in the world. Now, back to working on the Secret Book Of Soap Magic to include my color recipes, fragrance blends, and all my secrets of soap making.