When Marissa’s fiancé leaves her unexpectedly, she is left trying to put the broken pieces of her life back together again.
Welcome to one of the August 1st stops on the blog tour for Awakening by Abby Wynne with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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Author Guest Post
My Journey of Self-Publishing
I wanted to write a magical book, because healing is magical. I wanted something that would invoke the magic already within the reader, to remind them of their potential, of the truth of who they are. There was no structure, no chapter breakdown and no book pitch; in fact I decided to self-publish this, so I had the additional task of deciding how to approach that, too.
I have been writing poetry since I was about 10 years old, I have sheaves and bundles of poems stashed in folders hidden in the back of the wardrobe. So part of the process was to summon the courage to push that aside and focus on a narrative, a single story which encapsulated everything.
To have somewhere to write is a blessing, but being tied to a computer for the last 10 years has meant that my handwriting is bloody awful, I can’t even read it myself at times. I needed to keep it digital so I invested in Scrivener and had it synching across my iPad, iPhone and MacBook, so I could write anything, anytime the mood took me. However the synching was not working smoothly, and I wiped out a huge amount of work accidentally when I was inspired sitting at a cafe, trying to refresh to the cloud while pairing to my iPhone… The system got confused and that was the end of Scrivener for me. (Unfortunately I had to buy two copies, one for iCloud and one for the Mac… both now lie dormant in my unused apps folder.) I then discovered Ulysses which is clean and fast and synchs beautifully, and you only have to buy it once, on subscription with iTunes. It’s well worth it, and I’m still using it now.
The freedom of writing what I want, how I want, when I want is astonishing – I have always been motivated as a writer so I can set my own deadlines and publish when I am ready. Realising that I could have total control over this new book felt invigorating. I tracked down an editor that I had previously worked with, because I know that we always need a second set of eyes. She said yes to me, and we switched to Microsoft Word. This made it easier for me to add in the page breaks, page numbers, set the page size and orientation, and see the book as a whole coming together.
Another freedom – being able to choose my own book cover! I was on 99 designs and found an illustration that I loved. I bought it, and had someone transform it into a book cover. Brilliant!
Editing an inner proof is tedious – I know because I’ve done this for a previous book, Planting the Seeds. So this time around I got someone to typeset it for me, and she was fabulous. I am so glad my designer was patient, as we had many last minute changes, but she bore with me, and eventually I had a final proof of both cover and interior.
I have now published 2 of the 3 books in this trilogy – Awakening and Transformation. With each book the process has become much easier. Marketing the book is still a challenge to me, but with my previous experience with publishing houses, I’ll be doing just as much work selling a self-published, as a traditionally published book. And I get the freedom this time to say exactly what I wanted to say. I’m excited. I hope you get to write a book which brings you as much joy as this one did for me.
About the Book
The Inner Compass
Awakening Book One
by Abby Wynne
Published 10 April 2022
Praxis Publishing
Genre: Magical Realism
Page Count: 673
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
When Marissa’s fiancé leaves her unexpectedly, she is left trying to put the broken pieces of her life back together again. The magical years of her childhood are now lost or long forgotten and, trapped in a downward spiral of worry and anxiety, nothing seems to be bringing the magic back any time soon.
Training to become a therapist, Marissa discovers an unforeseen talent for helping others and, for a while at least, she puts her own needs and concerns to one side. An unexpected windfall prompts a spontaneous trip to Peru, and an encounter while she is there triggers an astonishing series of events. Shaken but excited, Marissa embarks on a wonderful journey of revelation and adventure – after which, her life will never be the same again.
Marissa’s story is your story, is my story, is everybody’s story: we each must find our own true path through life, our one true way.
Abby Wynne, author and Shamanic Psychotherapist, brings all her wisdom to bear on Marissa’s amazing tale of discovery and healing. A catalyst for people’s healing processes, Abby is a problem solver, a creative artist, an alchemist, a healer, a mother, a daughter, a lover of life – and it shows in this, her first novel.
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK
Excerpt
Marissa looked out the window at the moonlight. It was half a moon and seemed to glisten through the tree branches. The leaves were falling, the days were getting darker earlier and earlier. A single star blinked in the pale sky, but the sky was too bright with light pollution to see anything more. She looked at the cloud as it crawled towards the moon, shifting and changing its shape. She could see a dragon in it for a moment, then it turned into puffs of smoke, and then the moon was hidden.
She put the notebook down beside her laptop and climbed into bed, leaving the curtains open. She liked moonlight. Her room in the half-light felt like an in-between place, her breathing slowing down, her body relaxing. Tobermory jumped up beside her, looking straight into her eyes. She stroked his back.
‘My familiar, my friend, my cat,’ she said, ‘what do you think? Do you have an answer for me?’
As usual, Tobermory was silent, but he held eye contact for a moment longer than Marissa expected him to. Perhaps he understood her? He mewed, then curled himself into a black circle on the bed beside her and began to purr.
Training, she thought to herself as she settled under the covers. But who is going to teach me?’
About the Author
Abby Wynne is the bestselling author of the “One Day at a Time Diary”, “How to Be Well” and “Energy Healing made Easy.” The Inner Compass Trilogy is her first novel, weaving her knowledge of shamanism, psychotherapy and energy healing into an exciting, fast-paced story which spans across many dimensions. Abby’s based in Ireland and lives with her husband, 4 children, a dog and a cat! Abby offers many ways to feel supported while you are on your path of healing; her mission is to empower people by teaching them how to heal themselves.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Amazon | Goodreads
Giveaway Alert!
Abby Wynne will be awarding a International – €50 off any of the digital products on the author’s website www.abbysonlineacademy.com to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway| July 11 | Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters | July 11 | Sadie’s Spotlight |
| July 18 | Joanne Guidoccio | July 25 | Long and Short Reviews |
| Aug 1 | Lynn’s Romance Enthusiasm | Aug 1 | Westveil Publishing |
| Aug 8 | Kit ‘N Kabookle | Aug 15 | All the Ups and Downs |
| Aug 22 | Literary Gold | Aug 29 | Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews |
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Thanks for hosting!
The book sounds wonderful. Love the cover.
I love the cover and think the book sounds interesting.