My career as an author is inextricably combined with my 50-year career as psychotherapist, management consultant and coach. My portfolio includes 13 self-help books, several ebooks and numerous professional and public articles. My focus is to make complex information accessible to anyone. My work has been translated into German, Chinese, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic and Italian.
I have been published by traditional publishers, co-operative publishers and independently. Currently, I publish under my own imprint, Empowerment Systems Books. I know of over 62,000 sales but stopped counting some time ago.
These facts astonish me as does most of the trajectory of my life. Starting out with an undergraduate degree in biology, chemistry and English literature, I expected to work for a few years and settle down and raise children. It did not work out that way. I have been blessed with and taken advantage of extraordinary opportunities.
I have studied with masters of psychotherapy, spirituality, consulting, marketing, copywriting, and pretty much anything else that caught my interest. Along the way I earned an MA in Psychology and a PhD in Health and Human Services. I have traveled extensively and taught professionals in 13 countries. And I didn’t plan any of it very much in advance of it happening.
I do have a wonderful husband (62 years), children and grandchildren.
My unexpected writing career started because I was invited to share some of the exciting things I was learning and teaching. I wrote short articles, published in organization newsletters and journals. I also wrote a chapter in another professional’s book.
I did learn to write clearly in High School and won a state essay contest as well, but I certainly had no illusions that I was or would become an author. I asked one of my favorite authors and teachers to write a book expanding her work and she told me “You write it.” I didn’t.
Writing was still difficult and painful. Then, in an amazing 3-hour workshop, I learned to discard most of the rules I had ever learned about writing and write to find out what I was thinking. Wow! The search for a publisher of my first book resulted in a 2-inch-thick file of rejection letters.
One of my trainees, an aspiring psychotherapist who worked as an editor, proposed that we exchange my training for her reviewing the manuscript with me. I owe the skill she helped me develop to the huge success of
my first published book, Recovery from CoDependency: It’s Never Too Late to Reclaim Your Childhood. The book we edited together was published next as I Don’t Need therapy, but Where Do I Turn for Answers?
12 years ago I intended to retire but was sidetracked into learning, teaching and ultimately writing about an exciting new European process for rapidly releasing stress, anxiety and other barriers to enjoying life. I am still involved.