I’m so happy that my two new books arrived today! With a Grateful Heart and Reasons for Hope will be available as paperbacks for purchase from me at gong meditation events starting immediately. By May 1st I should have both of them available on Amazon as Kindle e-books for anyone to find no matter how near or far. Keep a look out for them.
As someone who began writing poems and stories at about six years old, seeing my work in print with a shiny cover feels very satisfying. For many years most of what I wrote was private, available only to me through journals and diaries (NO ONE was to touch!) or on typed paper in a binder somewhere or on small 2x2 computer disks. About once or twice a year I would dare to share a poem or story written along with my students as something was assigned. I would read my work to them just as they read theirs to one another. But most of the time my words didn’t leave the classroom.
When my family moved to S. Korea in 2010, I started a blog called “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” (greenbaytokorea.blogspot.com). I wrote each week for many months so that friends and family could learn about our family’s work life and travels abroad. I began to more keenly develop my writing voice for an audience. I liked it! I found I enjoyed creating vivid descriptions of events, people, and places. I enjoyed infusing some humor. Most of what I wrote was arms length - the stuff that happens TO a person without touching what happens INSIDE.
In about 2019 I finally made the decision to organize my lifelong portfolio with the intent to publish something somehow someday. I gathered sheets of paper that I had literally collected since I was six years old. I gathered up all I could and began retyping things into Google docs and organizing in folders. I have folders for fiction, poetry, essays/non-fiction, letters, blogs and more.
In July 2019, I put together my first collection of works, just for my family. It is a collection of poetry - 73 pages of it! (I actually have written hundreds of poems.) I was becoming more sure of myself as a writer and feeling bolder. I was ready to share what was happening INSIDE of me, too.
Then, in 2020 I was serendipitously asked to be a feature blog writer for WWIATW.com. WWIATW is an acronym for Working With I A The Word. I am the Word is a channeled text written by Paul Selig. The teachings in this book and the ones that followed have greatly influenced my spiritual path toward balance, peace and love. For several months, I enjoyed writing about what I was learning and how my life was changing. I started realizing I was learning lessons in Life School (which just so happened to inspire my book called Lessons in Life School published in 2023).
When COVID-19 shut down the world, I was happily writing more and more for an audience. This likely led me to the idea to write a series of 100 articles the final one hundred days we lived in Hong Kong. This series called “Thank You, Asia” is heavily represented in my newest book With a Grateful Heart but can be found in full at GreenBaytoKorea.blogspot.com in the archives beginning Feb. 20, 2021. During this time, I was learning that I could commit to something as a writer. It was far more a joy than a burden to sit down for 30-60 minutes EACH day to look through photos, write and revise and then hit “publish” for 50-some my readers.
By the time I landed with my family back in Wisconsin, no longer teaching and fully ready to pursue new dreams, I had become pretty settled on “becoming a writer and a gong player.” And so I did!
I launched this space, Life Cheat Sheets, and I started my own business, Celestial Sound, in the same month, August 2021. I wrote weekly for two years producing over 115 articles. From the beginning, I hoped my articles could someday become books. It is why I chose to write in the format of series versus more random, individual articles.
I am so grateful to be on this dream journey. The books I received in hand today are two books of nine books I hope to publish and join their other four sisters, already published. Each of them had their origins as series in Life Cheat Sheets. It takes time, patience, a learning curve, and good helpers to turn a series of articles into published books. It also takes an audience to make it all worth it. Thank you for being a reader, subscriber, and/or supporter. You have been a wonderful and encouraging reading/listening audience, here in Life Cheat Sheets. I hope you will also enjoy reading my books and sharing them with others.
Love, always love,
Brenda
Looking for more to read or purchase by Brenda?
Find access to all of my online endeavors at Linktr.ee/brendabrayko
Find my published e-books on Amazon Kindle (Click here for links):
Me-Time: Self-Care in a Challenging World
Adulting 101: Guided Conversations with Your Young Adult
Riffs on Wisdom Teachings
Lessons in Life School