Jennifer B. Monahan is a
business strategy consultant, shaman and coach who helps people all over the
world live courageous lives. Her first book, This Trip Will Change Your Life: A Shaman’s Story of Spirit Evolution
(She Writes Press, 2016), has won six literary awards, including two
first-place Body, Mind, Spirit Book Awards and a 2017 National Indie Excellence
Award. Her second book, Where
To? How I Shed My Baggage and Learned to Live Free, was published in
April 2019, and describes her personal journey through Guatemala, Japan, Cambodia and Thailand as she faces down some of the greatest losses in her
life.
She is a regular contributor to Medium.com, Sivana East, and has had articles published on MindBodyGreen.com and Inc.com. Her podcast, Living A Courageously Authentic Life, can be found on BlogTalkRadio.com, and focuses on a variety of topics to help others be true to themselves.
She holds a BA in Mass Communications from the University of Bridgeport (CT), an MBA in Marketing from the University of Connecticut, a Masters in Natural Health from Clayton College, and completed an accredited coaching program through Coach U. Her shamanic training began with a Mayan shaman in Mexico and then expanded to include shamans in Guatemala and her own personal guides.
She currently splits her time between the United States and Guatemala when not traveling and is in the process of writing her third book, a handbook for people looking to define, create and live their courageously authentic life. You can find her online at www.SpiritEvolution.co.
She is a regular contributor to Medium.com, Sivana East, and has had articles published on MindBodyGreen.com and Inc.com. Her podcast, Living A Courageously Authentic Life, can be found on BlogTalkRadio.com, and focuses on a variety of topics to help others be true to themselves.
She holds a BA in Mass Communications from the University of Bridgeport (CT), an MBA in Marketing from the University of Connecticut, a Masters in Natural Health from Clayton College, and completed an accredited coaching program through Coach U. Her shamanic training began with a Mayan shaman in Mexico and then expanded to include shamans in Guatemala and her own personal guides.
She currently splits her time between the United States and Guatemala when not traveling and is in the process of writing her third book, a handbook for people looking to define, create and live their courageously authentic life. You can find her online at www.SpiritEvolution.co.
WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
Website: www.SpiritEvolution.co
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SpiritEvol
Tell us about your
book! What is it about and what inspired you to write it?
Being an author was
never on my bucket list. But a bad
accident and three months of disability leave where I was stuck on my couch
gave me the time to write my first book, This
Trip Will Change Your Life. The accident also gave me a lot of time to
really assess how I had been living my life, which became the starting point
for my second book, Where To?.
I realized that I
had been “playing it safe” with my life and my career and that I had been
holding myself back from truly living the life that I wanted to live. I vowed that I would honor my life and start
living courageously and authentically…as soon as I could walk again!
It ended up taking
over 14 months before I could walk without a cast, crutch or brace, but that
time allowed me to really think about what it was that I wanted to create with
my life. At face value, if you had looked at my life prior to the accident, you
would have said that I was living a rich, interesting life and to some extent I
was. But what I wasn’t doing was
following my heart, taking some risks and just living.
I took my first big
risk when I published my first book. In
it I opened up and shared aspects of myself that I hadn’t really shared
before. But I knew that I needed to do
more – I needed to shed the limiting beliefs and personas that I had been
carrying with me for most of my life that were preventing me from being “me.”
And so I decided to jump right into the deep end and walk away from all of the
things that had been giving me a false sense of security about my life – my job
and my home – and try living the way I wanted to live.
I had a number of
people tell me that I was crazy, but even more people cheered me on and begged
me to tell them what – and how – I was doing.
I had people call and email me, asking me how I was able to do what I
was doing and looking for advice on how to start living their own authentic
lives. It became a no-brainer to write down my experiences. Where To? tells the story of what
happened to me, the lessons I learned, and the amazing adventures I had as I
learned to live in a way that felt authentic and true to me.
Where To? takes place primarily in the Guatemalan jungle, but also in Japan, Cambodia and Thailand. It tells how I lived in a thatched-roof hut
in a tiny village, connected with local shamans and participated in their
ancient rituals, become fully integrated into the daily life of local families,
and ultimately faced down some of the greatest losses and long-buried pain I had
experienced. In the book I share the six
steps I took to heal and create the life of my dreams and include a workbook
for readers to do the same.
Tell us about your
publishing process. What was it like? Did you go indie or the traditional way?
Once I had finished writing and editing the book, I started to think of my options for publishing. I decided to pitch my book to smaller traditional publishers that didn’t require a literary agent.
I enjoyed going through the thought process to create the pitch materials and found it helped me really hone in on my audience and the selling points of the book. I sent out about a dozen pitch submissions to editors and was thrilled when one of the publishers that I was really interested in emailed me back saying they were interested in my book and wanted to review the full manuscript.
I sent it over and then waited for what felt like an eternity. I was at my gate in the Guatemala City airport about to board my flight when I got the email back from the publisher that every author dreams of:
“I am interested in publishing this book. After reading the first few chapters, I can tell you are a skilled writer who can communicate concepts easily in a style that keeps the reader’s attention. If the rights are still available, I’d like to present you with a publishing proposal.”
Every person at the gate stared at me when I whooped and jumped up and down. Of course I said yes. And then I waited again for the proposal. Ultimately, the proposal didn’t come. After more consideration, the publisher decided that the genre of my book was not in line with the genres that his firm published and withdrew his offer.
I was disappointed, but overall, I’d say that my experience pitching my book to traditional publishers was positive – and reaffirming given the fact that my book made it to the point of a proposal through a traditional publisher.
That feedback was what made me decide to self-publish. I knew the book itself was solid and that it would appeal to readers. The process of self-publishing was easy; my book was available within a month of me making the decision.
How did you choose
the title for your book? Did it come to you right away, before you started
writing it, or did it come later?
The book title was
actually the last thing that I did. I
had finished writing the book and was working with my editor for a final round
of polishing before starting the publishing process. At that point I still had a very exciting
working title along the lines of “Book Two.” My editor and I began
brainstorming names and she came up with Where
To?. As soon as she said it, I know it was perfect. It not only summed up the physical nomadic
journey I take in the book (as in: where
to next?) but was a great tie to the title of my first book as well.
Tell us about the
cover design process. Did you have a basic idea of what your book cover would
be like?
Once the title of
the book was defined, the cover became a lot easier. At one point I was thinking that the cover
should have a taxicab on it, since “Where To?” is the first question a cabbie
asks you when you get into a cab, but once the book’s tagline was defined,
having luggage on the cover made more sense.
That being said, I
created three versions of the cover – two with luggage and one with a woman on
a journey – and posted them on social media and through my newsletter to my
readers and followers and let them vote for the cover they thought was best
given the description I shared. I ended
up using the cover that got the most votes.
Who is your cover
designer and how did you find him/her?
I designed the cover
myself, using a publicly available photo from Pixabay.com.
What has been the
readers’ response to your cover?
Overall the response
has been positive. As I mentioned,
giving my readers and followers the opportunity to vote gave me some insights
into what appealed to them. Plus it was
a lot of fun!
Thank you, Jennifer! Be sure to check out her book below!
About the Book:
When Jennifer Monahan
announced her intention to leave her well-established career as a business
strategy consultant and give up her rent-controlled apartment in San Francisco to do a global walkabout for an undetermined amount
of time, her friends and family thought she was insane. But
Jennifer was
excited about taking the time to truly explore and immerse herself in a variety
of cultures, so their skepticism didn’t faze her; plus she was used to
traveling alone as a woman with only one carry-on bag. What she didn’t count on
was discovering all the excess baggage she had been carrying with her from her
past.
WHERE TO? chronicles one year
of Monahan’s life, primarily in the Guatemalan jungle, but also in Japan, Cambodia and Thailand. Living in a thatched-roof hut in a tiny village,
Monahan connected with local shamans and participated in their ancient rituals,
became fully integrated into the daily life of a local family, and ultimately
faced down some of the greatest losses and long-buried pain she had
experienced. WHERE TO? shares the six steps she took to heal and courageously
create the life of her dreams and includes a workbook for readers to do the
same.
"Some
memoirs tell us stories and open up worlds we never knew, but some open up
places in our own hearts and souls that we have wanted to explore and have
never given ourselves the chance to do so. Where To? How I Shed My Baggage and
Learned to Live Free by Jennifer B. Monahan belongs to the second category of
memoirs...While it reads like the memoir of a woman who takes the courage to
explore the world, this memoir has powerful spiritual hints. In fact, it is the
story of a soul in search of itself. Where To? is a spiritual testament, a
book that describes a journey towards inner freedom and authenticity. Many
readers will feel the resonance of Jennifer's story in their own
lives."
- Christian Sia, Reader's Favorite Book Reviews
- Christian Sia, Reader's Favorite Book Reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment