It is finally here...Healing Wings!
After many years of arguing with God and telling Him that I would not be writing a memoir about surviving Guillain-Barre' syndrome, He finally won.
I knew in my heart that I was suppose to put pen to paper and tell the details of my deathbed experience, and the hope and miracles that abounded during that time, but there were just two problems. One, I HATED writing. That is not an understatement; writing was my nemesis. Moving words from brain to paper was extremely difficult for me -- my former English teachers Lori Kerr and Beverly Still can attest to that. Yet, with the Holy Spirit and having lived the ordeal myself, this book practically wrote itself. Two, although I was able to verbally tell people my testimony about the horrors of Guillain-Barre', sifting through the emotions to relive and tell the story on paper was an entirely different experience. To put it mildly, it was a painful process.
I have had dozens, if not hundreds, of people tell me that I needed to write a book about my journey. I nodded, smiled, and said, "Maybe one day." That is until I met Ashley Soden. Ashley was in my life weekly for our children's home-school co-op, and we immediately hit it off as friends. Ashley was a writer. One day I told her part of my testimony of being healed from Guillain-Barre and she said those famous words, "You should write a book." I looked Ashley straight in the eye and said, "I know! God has told me to write a book, but I've been running from Him in that area. Will you help me?" Ashley agreed to help me, and every single week for the next year she would ask me, "Have you started writing your book yet?" And I would say, "No, not yet."
On August 18, 2017, after I tucked my children in to bed, I sat down at my computer and began typing. That was the evening of my 37th birthday. The next morning I let Ashley know that I had started my book, and would not stop until it was finished.
I didn't know then (August 2017) that we would have a world wide pandemic at the time of my book release. It never crossed my mind that we would be having the roll-out of a new vaccination during my book release. The timing was not planned by me, but I do believe God's timing is always perfect. My memoir is based on my journey through Guillain-Barre, which in my case was caused by a vaccine injury, but this is not an anti-vaccine book. The cause of my syndrome is mentioned, and not harped on in these pages. I believe all vaccines (along with other life altering decisions such as surgeries, medications, marriage...) should be taken before the Lord in prayer and each person and family should ultimately obey God in those decisions. Having said that, I will say that Guillain-Barre' is listed as one of the first side effects on almost all vaccines, including the newest one being released, so this book could lend an ear to anyone that wants to know what on earth that side effect is or could look like in real life, or give hope to anyone that does suffer from Guillain-Barre' or other vaccine injuries or any long term illness.
It took me 3 years to write and rewrite my manuscript. With my first draft I wrote during the night after the kids were asleep, and would weep heavy wracking sobs as I relived every moment and emotion. That first draft took quite a long time to complete as I would take weeks off at a time to allow myself to heal emotionally when writing a particularly difficult chapter.
During the second draft I only cried during the truly brutal parts of my journey.
There were no more tears during the revisions and edits beyond the second draft. I felt free from the pain that I had apparently held without realizing it was even there.
Once my manuscript was complete it took another 5 months to have it professionally edited, proofread, formatted, cover designed, and all those details that go into turning a manuscript into a book. I had no idea what I was doing, so I called in the "big guns" in the form of my dear friend Kiersten Oliphant; a fellow author. She gave me the skinny on how to self publish, and I muddled through until I had a product that hopefully shines.
Watch one of my book trailers here:
Pick up Healing Wings - a memoir on Amazon in either paperback, Kindle, or Kindle Unlimited format, and feel free to share it with family, friends, ministries, small groups, long term illness groups, libraries, hospitals, birth centers, or anyone else you believe would benefit from a story of ultimate hope and healing.
Click HERE to order.
PS - don't forget to leave an Amazon review once you've read the book. Leave comments below, I'd love to hear from you.
