You'll Have Fun & Learn How to Launch Your Own Book Too
It' finally going to happen. I'll be sharing my crazy midlife journey in my coming memoir, When Sex Meets God: a midlife story. Tentative launch date is June 15th, which is my birthday, and official launch team tasks will begin in April. Before then, I'll be asking for feedback on my cover, help with determining key words, and opportunities to share links to my free content to build my credibility with your network.
In this post, I share a little bit about how my memoir came about and what it means to be on my launch team. Ready for a new experience? What to give it a try?
Never Did I Ever . . .
I never set out to write a memoir, but because my midlife unraveling coincided with an irrational calling to study depth psychology, I became hyper aware of my experience of midlife unraveling as I was experiencing it. That might not make sense to you unless you're an INFJ (introversion, intuition, feeling, judgment).
There were three things I said to myself as I surrendered to my life falling apart, which felt terrifying. First, I comforted myself spiritually by believing there was a light at the end of the tunnel, even if I couldn't yet see it. I promised myself I'd end up being a better person after I had survived what was yet to come. Second, I wondered aloud one day, "Am I in that movie? The one about . . . ?" Finally, I quickly was forced to develop a new kind of sense of humor as a coping mechanism, which prevented me from loosing my balance as I peered into the abyss of uncertainty about what this all meant for my life.
Still, I didn't know I was going to write a memoir until I was deep in my PhD research. As I lived depth psychology concepts in real time, I became aware of wounds that had been hiding deep inside me that had now been unleashed. By this time, my life really did resemble a Netflix series. First came odd events that forced me to deal with sexual wounds, and then came getting swept up in the most ironic romance with a man 17 years younger, which forced an exploration between the connection between my spirituality and sexuality. Then came the tragic ending, which was needed to surrender to a long period of uncertainty, which required trusting something other than my mind. Finally, often in dramatic and manic bursts, buried creativity was released.
Researching the connection between sexuality and spirituality was the last topic I would have imagined pursuing in my journey to secure a PhD. It chose me, not the other way around, and I guess simply sharing my research in dissertation format was not going to be enough for the universe. Immediately after submitting my final draft, I was overcome with the need to write about all the juicy experiences that were not needed in an academic paper.
Out came 50,000 words onto the page, and then I set it aside, until another synchronistic event, an email message certainly sent by Hermes, The Greek god known as guide of souls, messenger, and trickster. I certainly felt tricked into signing up for a 10-week program that would change my life; it was offered by The Write Practice. For 18 months, I was swept up by my new writing community and plunged into a new kind of learning–how to write a story.
Then, I set it aside again. Suddenly, I realized I had to earn a living, and my depth psychology coaching practice emerged, along with a new sense of purpose to grow a movement of self-reflecting humans. And then came another experience of being swept up by creative intelligence to write my first book about depth psychology, through my lens, Your Soul is Talking. Are You Listening? It comes in a paperback, e-book, and you can even listen to every chapter for free on my podcast, Dose of Depth.
You Might See Yourself
It's time to get this memoir out. It's personal and it's not perfect, but I can no longer keep all these juicy stories to myself.
This memoir is a story about the unraveling of my life, the torture of knowing who I was leaving behind but not knowing who I was becoming, and learning that the key to my transformation was exploring wounds I didn’t know I had. Each moment I allowed myself to surrender and feel vulnerability was rewarded with heights of ecstasy, depths of meaning, and even experiences of spiritual orgasm in solitude. Ultimately, what I was surrendering to was my Self, which had plans for me that still have not been fully revealed.
Surrendering to my Self became the bridge to creative intelligence which wants to flow through all of us, to partner with us, to create only what we can create in partnership with it. It's an ultimate reconciling that humans need right now. In fact, the inspiration for my new sense of purpose and personal mission is C.G. Jung's suggestion that the fate of humanity depends upon the self-reflecting individual.
The details of my story are personal, but the themes that run through it are universal. The insights I gained helped me make sense of my personal experience of being human, but those insights evolved into clues about what has been percolating underneath the surface of collective humanity. I hope to encourage people to challenge assumptions about what is natural, evolutionary, righteous, and true, especially when those assumptions benefit some and result in injustice for others.
And, most importantly, my memoir is full of awkward and juicy events that make it an entertaining story.
Being On A Launch Team is a Great Experience
I've been on launch teams for three fabulous writers over the last couple years. It was an honor to help someone who had something important or entertaining to share, get their writing in front of people who are searching for exactly what the writer has to offer.
It's hard to find those people who want or could benefit by what you have to offer as a writer. Your words, my words, could inspire, entertain, teach, and even save someone's life.
Now that you know how important you would be as a launch team member, there's really not that much to it. I'll make it super easy for you in these steps.
Step #1
You'll have about 6-8weeks to read my book, and if you like it, commit to posting a review on two or three platforms (I'll provide the links). My book will be available as a paperback and cheaper ebook.
Step #2
On launch day, you'll copy and paste prepared content and links to all your social media platforms. You'll be a like a cheerleader, who's just excited to tell people about my book, why you like it, and encourage people to check it out.
If you're interested, send me a note at dlukovich@gmail.com. Sometime in March, I'll start sending updates on when this launch team process will be starting, I'n thinking April.
Thank You!
Dr. Deborah
Comments