How to Become a Best-Selling Author With Fun and Ease!

How to Become a Best-Selling Author With Fun and Ease! Cathy Derksen & Samia Bano

Would you love to become a #publishedauthor, or even better, a #bestsellingauthor?

Want to know one of the most fun and easy ways to kickstart your writing career?

Listen now to this interview with Cathy Derksen to understand the power and benefits of participating in #MultiAuthor Books. Learn how this collaborative approach with #authorssupportingauthors can reduce costs, save time, and provide crucial #marketingsupport, making your journey to achieving #authorsuccess rewarding, #funandeasy!

Learn more about Cathy and how she can support your #bookpublishing dreams at:

https://inspiredtenacity.com/

https://www.facebook.com/cathy.derksen.3/

https://www.instagram.com/inspired_tenacity

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathyderkseninspiredtenacity

To Book your Free HAPPINESS 101 EXPLORATION CALL with Samia, click: https://my.timetrade.com/book/JX9XJ

#authorscommunity #liveyourimagination #bookslover #pathtosuccess

Here's the audio version of this episode:

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Full Video Transcript

SAMIA: Hello, Salaam, Shalom, Namaste, Sat Sri Akal, Aloha, Holah, Ciao, Bonjour, Buna, Privet and Mabuhay! It's so good to be with you again, and I know you'll be so happy you're joining us because we have a very cool guest with us, and it's Cathy Derksen, who is a coordinator, in terms of publishing coordinating the publishing of multi-author books. And one of her latest books right now that just published, it's called Grit and Tenacity: Women Transforming Leadership in Business and Community. Wow, that's so cool. Welcome, Cathy…

CATHY: Thank you for having me.

SAMIA: Yes, I'm so excited to have you. Please tell us more about who you are and what you do.

CATHY: Perfect. And yes. So I'm Cathy Derksen. I live on the west coast of Canada, so near Vancouver. And the main thing that I do is, well, a big picture of what I do is support women to really step into new things and new possibilities. Midlife women in particular. I find that so many of us are kind of hitting our fifties and sixties and just kind of feeling stuck in life. And so really helping women move through that stuckness and figure out what they actually want to do with the rest of their life is a big part of my focus. And one of the main ways that I do that is through creating these multi-author books, as you mentioned. So I create a number of different book projects. Generally, there's 20 to 25 women from around the world in each of the projects, they each write one chapter. And it becomes a great way to share your journey, to build your business if you're an entrepreneur, expand your network, really extend your visibility is a huge part for those of us that are in business. So that's a big part of what I do. And yes, one of the books that I've got coming up that's going to be launching this summer is the Grit and Tenacity: Women Transforming Leadership in Business and Community, as you mentioned. And I've got other books that I'm just starting. So always looking for new authors to jump in.

SAMIA: Very cool. Very cool. For those of our listeners who are faithful followers of this show, they know I'm an author, too. Actually, my book is the same title as the, as a show, Make Change Fun and Easy. And now that one I published on my own, by which I mean, it was just me, it was not a multi-author book. But, you know, that is how I got introduced to the world of book writing and publishing. And I've developed a deep appreciation for, you know, book writing and being an author and having that be a way to get yourself out there and find your voice. Because even just the process of book writing, you know, there were so many things that I learned about myself, and so much more clarity that I gained about how to share about myself and what I do and what I want to do. It was just such a awesome learning process. And once you're an author, the book that you have does become a great tool to continue to share yourself with other people in ways that are pretty fun and easy, so…

CATHY: Exactly. And I find especially too, one of the things I love about the multi-author books is that it's a fraction of the cost because there's 20 people splitting that cost to publishing the book, and it's also a fraction of the time and energy it would take to write a whole book. So I find it's a great way for people to get started. So people might have a vision that they want to be a published author, but they often get stuck in that overwhelm of how do I even start? I don't even know how to do this. So when you work on these projects that are organized and coordinated with a team, then you really just follow along with the instructions as you write your one chapter… all of the marketing is done for you… All of the publishing, editing, formatting, all those things are just looked after. So I would say it's a great way to get started…

SAMIA: Yes, that's a great point. Especially the marketing support. Because I know one of the challenges that a lot of authors have is the marketing piece. It's like one thing to pour your heart out and, you know, write amazing content in the book, but if no one reads it because no one knows about it, then, you know, it's like really sad.

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CATHY: Yes, yes. And I would say too, especially in this day and age, that to be able to put author in your profile on any of your social media is very important. But then to also be able to call yourself an international best selling author is kind of that next level of status as well that you can use with that.

SAMIA: Yes, indeed, indeed... Yes, there's so many advantages, I must say, to doing the multi, multi-author route. Like you mentioned, lower costs, lower time investment, the marketing help and support… lots of great benefits. Tell me more. Tell me more... So you, you mentioned that, you know, you're about helping women, you know, like, really create change in their lives and find themselves, find their voices… and the books are just the way that you go about doing it. When we're talking about actually helping people create change in their lives, tell me, tell me some of… share some of your wisdom with me about that. Because especially when I heard about the Grit and Tenacity book, Women Transforming Leadership and Business and Community, you have some really cool ideas that you share in that context. So tell me more…

CATHY: Yes, yes. Well, one of the angles is, I think, especially women, we learn from each other's stories. We learn from seeing other examples. So, say, perhaps we had a vision of a dream that we wanted to accomplish a certain thing, but when we don't see ourselves in that role, it's really hard to move towards that goal. Whereas once we start seeing other women that have done a similar path or have come through that similar journey, like you would have to take, it helps us to see ourselves in those new things. And so that's one of the things I find that as we… by creating these books where women are sharing their journey and sharing their wisdom, what they've learned along the way, tools and strategies that other women might use to follow the same path, I find that, like, like you mentioned, as the author, you go through your own kind of clarity and learning. It's almost therapeutic, in a way, when you're putting your story on paper and releasing it out into the world. So as the author, you go through that. And I find they build their confidence in stepping into completely different things, because for a lot of them, this is the first time they've ever been involved in a book. It's the first time they've ever put their story on paper. And in some cases, it's the first time they've ever told anyone their story.

SAMIA: Yeah.

CATHY: You know, and so, really... So for the author, the women that are involved in the project, there's huge benefits for them in going through that. Plus, now you're working with a team of women who are focused on a similar kind of theme. And so you're building your network with these women who you're really connecting with, and they get to know each other. We do zoom chats. We've got a different chat on, like, a Facebook group. So they're actually meeting each other. They're getting to know each other, building other collaborations... So for the authors, it is very beneficial. And then for the reader, I see that there's so many opportunities to really support women in stepping into new things. And so it's actually been amazing what I've seen come through from people, both the authors and readers, in what they've accomplished, from seeing somebody else's story and seeing themselves in that story and thinking, you know, what if she can come through that, I can do that, too.

SAMIA: Yes. Yes... You know, you just made me think about my own journey of growth and healing. Because I'm a survivor of child sexual abuse. And so, you know, like my journey of healing… my very first breakthroughs, and almost every major breakthrough that I've had, especially in the early years of my healing journey, I can associate it back to a book. And having learned something from reading a book. I remember, for example, the very first… there were a couple of books, actually, that immediately come to mind in terms of one of the most major breakthroughs that I've had in my healing journey. One of them was the Diary of Anne Frank, and the other was called the Autobiography of Joni. And the thing about both of these books was that they were both featuring... and these are both real girls. I mean, Anne Frank, of course, people know, but the second book was also an autobiography… Joni, she's a real person. And Anne, of course, was a teenager, and she passed away as a teenager. Joni, in her autobiography, it was focusing on the time of her life when she was a teenager, in her late teens, something like that. And she had this major accident, horse riding accident, that left her paralyzed from the neck down. And she shares her story of how she struggled... Like, she became suicidal. Like, you know, it was so depressing for her to go from somebody who was so active and vital and looking forward to the rest of her life to being someone who couldn't even move. And she was like, I couldn't even kill myself. I tried to stop eating and drinking so that I could just die, but I wasn't even allowed to do that because they would, you know, just put me on, like, on IV's or whatever, and keep me alive. And so she went through this huge trauma and depression, and somehow she emerged from that. And how, you know… And so…. And, of course, with Anne Frank, you know, her family… I don't know if there's anyone in the world who's not familiar with her story, at least somewhat... But, you know, her family was targeted during the Second World War because they're a Jewish family and they were going through the Holocaust, and they had to go into hiding. And, you know, so a very different kind of trauma. And so both of these girls went through traumas that were very different from mine. But I connected with their stories nonetheless, because, for one thing, they were both real girls. They were close to my age at the time when I found these books. And one of the themes that I found in common in both of their books was their connection with their faith. Anne Frank with her Jewish faith, Joni with her Christian faith. And I was like, hey, wait, I'm a Muslim. I'm supposed to be part of this faith tradition that is, like, supposed to teach me something about how to live peace and all that. And how come, you know, like, I'm not peaceful? Like Islam... Literally, the word Islam means peace, and I'm a Muslim without peace. How is that? And so I actually got really motivated to look into the teachings of my own faith to try and figure out how my faith could lead me to a place of healing and peace, as Joni had experienced that in the context of her faith, and as Anne had experienced that in the context of her faith... And so, for me, that became a major point of breakthrough and motivation to find my... you know, begin my own faith journey and healing journey.

CATHY: Yeah. So those books became a turning point in your own recovery.

SAMIA: Yes. Yes. And it was so important for me to know that these were, like, real girls, you know, that went through what they went through and came out on the other side. Because prior to that, I mean, I was a reader. I found a lot of solace in reading. It was… actually my number one coping mechanism was to just lose myself. I couldn't deal with my own life and my own emotions and my own trauma. I didn't know how to handle it as a child. And so I just sort of lost myself in reading. But, you know, as a child, I wasn't reading books of great philosophy or things like that. You know, I was basically reading kids books. I was reading novels, you know, written for children. And there is a certain amount of inspiration and learning that I got through reading these fictional stories. But there is just this whole different level of... But it's like, those were stories about made-up characters, you know. When I... These were the first two biographies I ever read, or autobiographies... And, you know, so they were like real people. And that just really hit me, you know, that these are real, real girls, and, you know, if they can do it, then I can do it. You know, that was so important for me…

CATHY: I think one of the things that becomes a big challenge when we are trying to get through any kind of major issues is that we often find ourselves feeling alone.

SAMIA: Yes.

CATHY: Like we're the only ones going through this.

SAMIA: Yes.

CATHY: …nobody else would understand. So when we hear and read stories from other people who have gone through similar things, we realize that it's not just me. I'm not alone. And there are people that can understand and people that could relate with what I'm going through. And I know for a lot of people, myself included, that's one of the understandings that's really helped me come through some things, is getting out of that feeling alone and get into realizing that there's a community of people who are here to support and encourage and to really know that you can reach out to these people. They're real people who would actually love to be supportive, to be helping you learn new skills. And, and to me, that's where the books come in because they really are that connection between the reader and the author. And with all of our projects besides the chapter, each author has their bio page that includes a link to contact them. So if a reader loves what they've read, they can now contact directly with that author and learn more about them, learn if maybe they're doing some kind of service that they can, that will help them. And it really becomes a way for that reader to connect directly and to learn more and to really… and especially for those people, the authors who are entrepreneurs, it becomes a great way to build… bring business to your, what you're working on, because that person reading it realizes she understands what I'm going through. The service that she says that she's doing is exactly what I need. So then they can actually reach out directly to that author to learn more and to get whatever services that might apply.

SAMIA: Yes. Yes, exactly. And, you know, it's like when you read somebody's story... even though you only know a little part of their story as the reader… because, I mean, no, I mean, no one can contain all of, like, I can't even, I wrote a whole book, and it still doesn't contain all of me.

CATHY: Yes.

SAMIA: …you know, so, but still, the, the part of me that the readers learn about that is in my book, it's a very real part of me, and that's how I feel about the books that I read, that I learn something really real about the authors that I'm reading. And there's this... And so the connection may not be very wide. Like, I may not know a lot about the author, but it's very deep somehow. It's just very deep because, you know, something very real. And so the connection is very deep. And it just… there's something very magical about having that kind of deep connection. You know, it's like, especially, like, in the context of, like, if you're an author who wants to use your book to bring people in, so that they will be inspired and motivated to learn with you, work with you… that deep connection is invaluable. It's so... It's like one of the fastest paths to, you know… I mean, there are so many other businesses that spend millions of dollars creating marketing campaigns to raise awareness of their brands and who they are and go through, like… hoping, hoping to create a tiny, tiny, some kind of sense of connection with you so that you will then want to learn more about them… and they would like… But this is, like, such a shortcut. It creates this depth of connection that, I mean, these other companies would die for, but they can't do it. They can't do it.

CATHY: And that's one of the things I love, too, about each book that I create has a different theme. So, like, the two books that I had out last year, one was called Embrace Courage, and one was Midlife Awakening. So, you know, you take midlife awakening, for instance, it's filled with stories of women from, I'd say, between 40 and 60 years old sharing their journey of how they completely changed their life in that time of their life. And, you know, going from that feeling of not knowing what to do next, feeling I'm too old, I don't know enough, no one wants to hear my story, nobody wants to, you know, get involved with what I'd love to do… And then, you know, here they are sharing those journeys. So for other women reading those, they're seeing that I'm not too old. I can start something completely new. And there is a whole community of people here to support me. And some of the books that I've... One of the books that I have that's going to be published in the next few months is called Ripple Effect of Impact. So, again with that one, women are sharing their stories of what they're doing… like, what's impacted them in their life and what are they doing now to create impact in other people's lives… which I love that. And one of the new ones that I'm just getting started, so bringing people into right now is called passion and possibilities. And again, the authors can take that from whatever angle that speaks to them. And I find that's one thing I love about different titles. I find that it actually calls to you. So if that title calls to you and says, this is your book, then, you know, you need to be in that book.

SAMIA: Yes. No, that's a great point. That's a great point. Like, for example, any of these titles that you mentioned, but, like, for example, the one about life transitions, I mean, that won't speak to everyone, but the people who are going through that challenge, trying to navigate some kind of life transition in their life, whoa... They'll be so drawn to it. And so then every story that they read in the book will be relevant in terms of their learning experience and what they're wanting to learn about and so forth. And so you are actually connecting with the right audience for you.

CATHY: Exactly. Exactly.

SAMIA: That's awesome. That's awesome... So tell me more... Is there… Maybe tell me a little more of your story. How did you get into this work?

CATHY: Yes. Yes. That's always... That one's a good story. Because if you'd asked me five years ago if I was planning to get into publishing, I probably would have laughed at you because it was nowhere near what I was doing or any path I ever thought I was following. And I've gone through two complete career changes in my life. And a lot of that really was looking for that unique thing that what is it that I'm here to bring to the world? What is that? That I always knew I wanted to do something that really had a true impact on women's lives, to really help them find success on their own terms, to create what they wanted from their life. So I knew that that was my calling and what I needed to do, but how I was going to do that took me a while... It took me that really listening to my intuition and trying different things and figuring out what's the best fit. And about twelve years ago on that journey, my first move was I became a financial planner because I thought, well, money is an area that a lot of women feel challenged in and could use some support. So that was the first direction I went in on this mission of helping women change their life. And I worked with major banks and investment companies and I still knew that that wasn't quite right, that I really wasn't having a true impact on changing, helping people change their life. And so about three years ago, I left that career behind and set out on my own with that mission of I need to find what it is that I do, that's unique to me, that really, truly is helping women change their life... And even when I first set out on that, on my own, with my business, I felt, well, I thought at first I'd do like a coaching model… but even that, it didn't quite feel right. So I just kept listening to my intuition and figuring out what really felt right. And back in 2019 is when I started getting involved in books the first time. So, like I said, I've been involved in 14 projects that are published so far. And I've worked with nine different publishing groups. And so really, when I did my first book, I was working in the financial industry... So really, my whole thing wasn't about promoting any business or expanding my network. It was that I felt I had a story that would help other women that were going through similar things. So I'd gone through a divorce. I was a single mom with teenagers. I'd already done one major career change. So I thought my journey is something that other women would find useful in helping them come through similar things. So really, when I started as an author, that was my calling, was that I needed to share my story to help others. And it really wasn't for a few years after that, and that I continued to be involved in different book projects because I really loved the experience that I had with them. And there was a time when I was involved in two different projects with different groups. And one was an amazing, fun, organized group to work with, and the other one was very frustrating. You never knew where the woman was that was organizing it. You didn't know what was going on. A lot of the time, it felt like the whole thing had fallen apart and she disappeared. And so it was between these two projects that I realized these things should be fun and simple. And it hit me, this is what I need to be doing. I need to be bringing this to women in a way that is fun and simple and easy to follow. And so I went to the publishing group that I really love working with, and I proposed that, hey, let's work together. So basically, we came up with this collaboration that I do the part that I love to do. So I create my titles and themes. I bring together the team of women that will be in my book. I coach them around getting their chapters ready. And then when we got the whole package ready with our chapters, we take it over to the publishing team and they take over with the professional editors, formatting… they do all the marketing, they do all the direct work with Amazon. And so it really is, I feel like it's almost a perfect collaboration where I do what I like to do, they do what they're really good at, and together we bring this package together that just makes it fun and easy and simple…

SAMIA: Yes. I love that. I love that. Ah… thank you for sharing that example, Cathy, because, you know, this... The way that you collaborated with this company, wow, what a great model. Like, you found a way to do what you love and do it in a way where you get to focus on your strengths and just do the part that you are very passionate about, and then you found someone else that's already doing the other parts in a way that you appreciate and that they're doing really well and you let them do it. So rather than trying to figure out how to do everything on your own, which I imagine would not have been as fun and easy, would have taken a lot longer, you'd have had to go through some huge learning curve, much, much bigger learning curve… So I really appreciate that example that you just shared. That was so brilliant. Yeah…

CATHY: I love working with them. And so it's been about two years now that we've been working together. And we're always fine-tuning how we do things and what other way we might be able to offer what we're doing and support each other and the parts that we're doing. So, now it's been a wonderful collaboration.

SAMIA: I'm so happy to hear that. Yeah, yeah... Yes. That is, that is just really wonderful, you know, because I, you know, this is something that I've seen, seen a lot in my work as a coach… because ever since I started coaching and training… because I went through a huge learning curve myself. I knew nothing about the business side of coaching and training. I mean, I spent years learning how to help myself heal at first, and then I spent years learning how to teach other people how to heal and all of that. But in all of that time, I never learned anything about business. 

CATHY: And that's pretty normal for people that are coaches.

SAMIA: Yes, exactly. And so once I did start learning about the business side of things, I met so many other coaches and trainers and healers, and we were all having the same problem where we were great at the teaching aspect, the coaching aspect, the training aspect of whatever our area of expertise that we wanted to coach or train or teach in, but we didn't know the business side of it. And because of that, we were struggling to even coach and train and teach because we didn't have… like, there was no one for us to coach and train and teach because we didn't know how to handle the business side of it, you know…

CATHY: And when you can't run your business so you're not making enough money, then you can't survive doing that, and then you end up having to drop it or go back to work.

SAMIA: Yes, exactly, exactly. And so I, you know, have become a big advocate for collaborations… like find other people who are already good at and doing something that they love… and where you don't have the… you're lacking in that area as expertise... Like, you're not an expert in that area, but you need that…

CATHY: …and don't want to be...

SAMIA: Exactly. And, you know, that's the thing. It's like when I first got into coaching and training as… professionally… I thought I had to. I thought I had to learn all these different aspects of business and marketing and so forth. And… because who was going to do it for me? I couldn't… I didn't have like thousands of dollars to spend on hiring professional teams or like building out an office, you know, that would… with professionals on board, and staff and stuff like that... And so I thought my only choice was to learn everything myself and then, you know, do it. But no… Actually, I love this collaboration model that you have highlighted as a way to move forward. And it's… like, when you first start the collaboration, the people who would be willing to collaborate with you may not be the big businesses, you know, and all… so you… but you'll find your match. You'll find your match. I've had… and especially if you have the right intentions and you have clarity about what you want and what you need, somehow the universe provides…

CATHY: Yes, I agree.

SAMIA: You know… so this is awesome. This is awesome. And especially when it comes to, like, marketing and making marketing more fun and easy… I love what you're doing and the way that you are helping people because, you know, like you were sharing earlier, really, becoming an author, get your, getting your book out and doing it in a way where so much of the marketing, which is honestly one of the toughest parts of the job, you know, that's all being taken care of over here. And so… and by, as you mentioned, focusing on these multi-author books, you're even making it way more affordable than if you tried to become an author, like a single, single author. So this is so brilliant. I so appreciate you and I so appreciate the work that you're doing, Cathy…

CATHY: Well, thank you. And I think one of the things I love about it the most as well, kind of this part of this collaboration is that I do have that complete freedom to create whatever book I feel called to create. So whether it's the book on transforming leadership, whether it's around our midlife challenges, whether it's about courage, or one of the new books that I'm just starting, too, is supporting women that are going through career transitions. So they're looking at what are those skills and knowledge they need to have to make big changes. So whether that's within their own career and they're just going into leadership ,or if they're working a corporate job and they want to become an entrepreneur, or say they've been a stay at home mom for a while and they want to get back into the workplace… So those, those skills that they need to have to make those kind of changes in their career, what are those skills? How do we teach them? And so each woman that's in that book will have some of that expertise that she'll be sharing. And so women that are going through career changes can pick up that book and learn all kinds of different skills that will help them on their journey… and especially that idea around building that confidence to know, again, you're not alone. There's a whole community here to help you. And that… here's all the different things to think about.

SAMIA: Yeah. You know, what you just said about having the freedom to build a book you want, that is so amazing, too… because I think a lot of people may not realize the sea change that has occurred in the publishing industry in terms of… in the olden days, like, with traditional book publishing, you are, like, pretty much at the mercy of, like, these major book publishing companies. And, like, I have heard so many horror stories. Like, there's literally movies made on this theme, of the struggling authority who, you know, tries to have someone take on their… like, accept their manuscript for publishing. And they keep getting rejected, and they keep getting rejected and they keep getting rejected. It was the struggle that people… and it was very real, and it really used to be really difficult to do that. But not anymore. Not anymore... It's like people like you, Cathy, who are part of the sea change that has been created in the, in the publishing industry, where now you, literally, any book that you have in your heart, you will have… you'll be able to find help and support and get it published. So…

CATHY: And I do also help women that are writing their own solo book, and they want that somebody with them to give them that structure, give them that accountability, keep them moving forward. So I do that as well. But the multi-author books are definitely the focus of what I'm doing because I think it's just so much fun to work together on a project.

SAMIA: Yes. Yes. I think for a lot of new authors or first-name authors, multi-author books are a great way to get started… in a way that's much more fun and easy. And then once you have a little bit more experience having done a multi-author book or two, you know, then, you know, you can… for a lot of people, then they feel more ready and able to do their own books with just them as the author. Yeah... And I think that's also, like, something that I've noticed about, you know, that's changing… in the sense that there used to be this, like, stereotype in our… I know I had the stereotype in my mind of who an author was and what it took to be an author. And I never actually… until I wrote my, my book, I never would have imagined myself being able to write a book… because I didn't fit the stereotype I had in my head of who an author was and had to be. But I actually… the way that I ended up writing my book was because someone like you, actually, Cathy, showed me the way.

CATHY: Exactly. I think what you're talking about here, too, is so critical to keep in mind… this idea that you didn't identify as an author, that you didn't see yourself as an author. And I think that the whole feeling of imposter syndrome, you know, when someone is attempting to write their own solo book… those voices that tell you you're not an author, who do you think you are to think other people are going to find any value in what you have to say?...

SAMIA: Yeah.

CATHY: You know, those voices that tell us those things, that, that's another reason why it's so great to work in a multi-author book, because you're with a team of people, so you're not doing this alone. And once you have that book in your hand, it's a lot easier to tell those voices to go away because now you are a published author and you have shared your story and people have given you feedback about how they love to hear your story and how important it was for them. So it really helps to break those messages down about the negative stuff. So I find quite often after someone's done one of the multi-author books, it gives them that confidence to now go finish their solo book that they were planning to do.

SAMIA: Yes, exactly, exactly... Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I must say… yeah, I agree with you on that. I agree with you on that... Like, for me, things just turned out a little bit differently in the sense that… because I had been podcasting, I had another podcast, The Survivor to Thriver show. And I'd been podcasting for a while already, for a few years. And so in the context of my podcast, actually, I generated a lot of content. And with The Survivor to Thriver Show, it wasn't an interview-based show. It was just me sharing whatever I wanted to share on the theme of how to transform from a survivor to being a thriver, particularly in the context of being a survivor of some kind of abuse. As I mentioned, I'm a survivor of abuse myself. So that was a context within which I was talking about survivor to thriver. And so I produce a lot of content. And so what my mentor, who helped me write my book, helped me realize was, wow, Samia, you can just take the content you've generated in your podcast and you transcribe some of your episodes, you do some editing, and we'll help you with all of that, and you just do some massaging, and voila, you've got your book. And so, you know, like, for me, that turned out to be a really fun and easy way to produce my first book.

CATHY: No, I love it. That was a great plan.

SAMIA: Yeah. So guidance makes all the difference. Experience makes all the difference. Working with people who know what they're doing can really, really help. So…

CATHY: Yes, yes.

SAMIA: So, Cathy, I know that you will be needing to go soon. I'm keeping an eye on the clock for both of us... Do you have any last thoughts you would love to share before we wrap up for today?

CATHY: Well, I think I would just like to remind everyone that we all have a story. We all have that information that can help somebody else go through their own challenges. And so don't be shy about wanting to share your story. Reach out, get your story published, become an author. It's fun…

SAMIA: So  my last reminder to our audience is to just make sure you check the show notes because I will be dropping Cathy's links in there so you can connect with her and learn… continue to learn more from her and get the help and support you need whenever you're ready for it, especially in the context of becoming an author, a published, bestselling author... How exciting is that? So, until we connect next time, I wish you lots and lots of peace and joy... :)