This time last year I was taking an early morning (Pacific Time) walk in the desert at the Canyon Ranch with my friend Jo Ann Herold when my life changed.
At the time, I was playing on 5 tennis teams at home and planning for a retirement playing lots of tennis (and not much else). Jo Ann, meanwhile, had just published a book; Living on a Smile. She was also completing an executive coaching course at Emory, speaking, consulting and doing lots of things that seemed even more fun than playing tennis all day. That probably seems impossible to my USTA and ALTA addicted tennis-loving friends.
I have been a closet creative writer since high school, secretly imagining myself as the next great American writer. When I asked Jo Ann about writing a book she replied that it was an easier process than she thought. She said that she’d be happy to connect me with her publisher; Ripples Media. The rest, as they say, is history. A year from uttering the dream out loud, I am now a published author.
Last Friday, at midnight, my book, Humbled on Purpose; Finding Strength Through Vulnerability, Humor and Grace, went live on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. College collegians, Chi Omegas, across the country are spending their hard earned $20 on my book. It makes me tear up with gratitude. Busy working parents are reading my book in single sittings and telling me that I’ve inspired them with my story, like my sweet friend Dr. Lindsay Bicknell of Texas, shown below.
I’d be a bad author if I didn’t make it easy for those who have not yet purchased to do so. See below for the link.
At various times this weekend, Humbled was a #1 Amazon new release bestseller in Careers and Jobs AND Women and Business. Can you believe it? I can’t. I was in FoxTale Books in Woodstock asking them to sell my book. I told them I was an Amazon #1 New Release. Roe said “Wow” when she heard that. I said, “I know, can you believe it?”. Then I squealed. Ooops. So much for literary cool. The gig is up, I am crazy excited.
People aren’t buying the book on word of mouth based on a great read…. yet. They are buying it because they want to support me. My community, across the country is rallying behind me via e-commerce. I appreciate it with every fiber of my being. I spend much of my day ready to burst into tears of gratitude as friends across the country share photos receiving their copies.
My story continues to be written, with your help, by making the little lost girl a bestselling author with a heart that bursting with gratitude. I hope you will keep following. I cannot wait to see what He has planned next.
I can’t say enough about Ripples Media or my editor Andrew Vogel. Reach out if you have an idea about a story that needs to be told in a book and I’d be happy to connect you; maggie@maggiedecan.com.