Exploring, Changing, Dreaming

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today we have award-winning author Jacqui Nelson reflecting on her multi-act life.

Here’s Jacqui!

Act 1 – What to do when your life is a blank canvas?

Start exploring. I spent the first eighteen years of my life in one place—one community, one farm, one house. Most of what I knew had come from reading books. My first real challenge was to decide what I wanted to study, what I wanted to be. At the time I was reading Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear series. I enrolled in a geology/zoology double major at the nearest university. I was going to be a paleontologist.

Act 2 – What to do when you don’t want to dissect a cat?

Be open to change. I love going to school, but I dreaded that dissection class. And how many jobs are there in paleontology anyway? I decided I should be practical. Computers seemed popular even if I hadn’t used them more than a handful of times. Note: this was in the latter part of the 80s. I took a two-year computer systems college course, got a job immediately upon graduating, and worked for seven years as a computer programmer/systems analyst.

Act 3 – What to do when you want a job you adore? tyle=”font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:’Times New Roman’, ‘serif’;”>Go after your dreams. I’ve loved animation for as long as I’ve loved reading. My theory became—someone’s doing that dream job, why not me? I went back to school, found my first animation job in Germany, worked there for two years, and then worked one year back home in Canada and four in England. I was pursuing my dream.

Act 4 – What to do when you burn out at your dream job?

Be crazy enough to give it up, then lucky enough to clear you mind and remember a previous dream– writing a book. I researched writing groups, discovered a Romance Writers of America chapter nearby, became a member, and started learning again…but slowly this time. I still need a day job to pay the bills. I’ve worked as a fund-raising assistant and in a variety of retail shops.

Today I work in a bookstore.

Seems like a good place for me. For now. For as long as I’m able to write in every free moment that presents itself.

And what advice can I give anyone planning to pursue a new act in life? Work hard at whatever you choose to do. The following anonymous quote has been with me (and kept me going) since the day I left my childhood home: The race is to the driven, not the swift.

As long as I push forward, as long as I keep exploring and changing and dreaming and even on occasion being a little crazy—I have faith that I can accomplish whatever I desire and that the best acts in life are yet to come.

Bio

Jacqui Nelson writes historical romantic adventures set in the American West and Victorian London. Her love of Western stories came from watching classic Western movies while growing up on a cattle farm. Her passion for Victorian London wasn’t far behind and only increased when she worked in England for four years and explored the nooks and crannies of London on her weekends. Jacqui currently lives in Victoria on the west coast of Canada where she works as a book seller. Her previous jobs have included animator, systems analyst and fundraising event coordinator.

Her debut release, Adella’s Enemy, is part of the Passion’s Prize anthology and the Steam! Romance and Rails series. She is a Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® winner and three-time finalist.

Blurbs

Adella’s Enemy (a novella in the Passion’s Prize anthology)

Can the pursuit of an old enemy lead to a new love?

Five years after the War Between the States, a Kansas railroad race heats up as former Rebel spy Adella Willows receives her mission from a Washington senator—play havoc with the Katy Railroad and derail its bid to win the race. The senator craves wealth. Adella craves revenge against the man responsible for her brother’s death. But her plans crumble into chaos when she matches wits with the railroad’s foreman, a handsome Irishman torn between two desires: winning the race or winning Adella’s heart.

The Passion’s Prize anthology (in the Steam! Romance and Rails series) features three interlinked Western historical romance novellas revolving around the true story of a cutthroat construction race between two powerful railroads.

Outlaws, soldiers and spies bedevil the Katy Railroad as crews rush to reach the Indian Territory border before the rival railroad. The stakes are just as high for three women whose lives hinge on the outcome.

In Adella’s Enemy by Jacqui Nelson, a spy pursuing an old enemy must choose to live for revenge or die for love. In Eden’s Sin by Jennifer Jakes, a woman with a soiled past must trust the one man who could ruin her future. And in Kate’s Outlaw by E.E. Burke, a railroad heiress abducted by outlaws must escape before her Cherokee captor steals her fortune—and her heart. Passions rise. Fortunes fall. In a race for riches, anything can happen.

Where to find Jacqui…

Website: www.JacquiNelson.com

Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/jacquinelson

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/JacquiNelson

Facebook: www.facebook.com/JacquiNelsonBooks

Twitter: www.twitter.com/Jacqui_Nelson

Joanne here!

Thank you, Jacqui for sharing the long and winding path that led to your successful literary debut. I’m certain this post will inspire many readers to start exploring, changing and dreaming.

I Hate to Be Pigeonholed

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Debra H. Goldstein talking about a childhood promise, high-powered careers, and writing.

Here’s Debra!

When I was a child, I spoke so quickly I couldn’t be understood. My parents dragged me to professional speech therapy supplemented by reading poetry aloud every night. My favorite poem was John Greenleaf Whittier’s “Barefoot Boy.” It inspired me to never want to be confined in my thoughts or actions.

My resolution to think outside the box resulted in choosing to graduate college a term early, determined to immediately go to New York to try to accomplish two goals: landing a publishing job and getting on Jeopardy. Lest you not think me pragmatic, by day I looked for a job while at night I applied for admission to law school. Eight months later, my two goals fulfilled, I started law school. I figured down the road, I would mesh writing and law.

My first job out of school was as a corporate international tax attorney. I hated it. A year later, I gave up my big salary and benefits to become a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor. I loved litigation and kept my hand in writing by producing a number of boring legal articles and continuing legal education pieces. After a few years I reached a fork in my legal career—continue as a litigator or seek a federal administrative law judicial appointment. Many people advised me not to get my hopes up as I was in my thirties and the average age for a federal Administrative Law judge was fifty-eight, plus only thirteen women held the position in the country. I applied anyway. In 1990, whether because of luck, having tried an equal pay case of first impression, or I don’t know what, I became one of the youngest people ever appointed as an Administrative Law Judge. During the next twenty years, I carried a heavy docket, raised four children, was a wife, volunteered in the community, and continued to write legal articles and decisions. I also was the go to person for party skits, but other than occasionally commenting that I’d like to write, that was as far as my creative writing went.

In 2009, two friends challenged me to stop talking and actually write. One went so far as to loan me a beach condo for a weekend. I left that condo with eighty-five hand-written pages and the confidence I could write a book. Maze in Blue, a mystery set on the University of Michigan’s campus in the 1970’s, was published in 2011. It contained four or five pages from the original eighty-five. Between juggling promotional appearances, signings, my continued responsibilities as a judge, and making a consistent effort to write non-fiction and fiction pieces, the next two years flew by. I found myself joking that I had a day and a night job.

I started to feel I only wanted to do one of these jobs. When I announced that I was stepping down from the bench, my colleagues thought I was crazy. They pointed out that the last three judges to retire from our lifetime appointments were 89, 86, and 79. I responded that I had been on the bench twenty-three years and that with luck I might have the opportunity for my new career to last as long or longer.

Will I write the great American novel? Probably not, but I’ve been enjoying a very diverse new career. It includes writing non-fiction, fiction, and beach or bedside fun pieces like my 2012 IPPY Award winning novel, Maze in Blue, and the book I now am shopping, Should Have Played Poker: A Mah Jongg Murder Mystery, which recently won an Alabama Writers Conclave First Chapter Award. Whether this is my final act or an interim one, I know the variety of things I have done and people who have influenced me can all be tied back to the decision I made in childhood to never be pigeonholed.

Bio

Judge, author, litigator, wife, step-mom, mother of twins, civic volunteer, University of Michigan grad, and transplanted Yankee are all words use to describe Debra H. Goldstein. Her writings are equally diverse. Her debut novel, Maze in Blue, a murder mystery set on the University of Michigan’s campus in the late 1970’s received a 2012 Independent Book Publisher (IPPY) Award. Even though Maze in Blue is a murder mystery, it is a safe bet that when it comes to her writing, “It’s Not Always a Mystery.”

Where to find Debra…

Website: www.DebraHGoldstein.com

Blog: http://debrahgoldstein.wordpress.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DebraHGoldstein

Joanne here!

WOW! Thank you, Debra, for giving us glimpses of the beautiful life tapestry you have expertly woven.

Second Act Reflections

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today we have Lynn Chandler Willis reflecting on forgiveness, redemption and second chances.

Here’s Lynn!

I knew early on I wanted to be a writer. I thrived on junior high and high school writing prompts. I wrote short stories, misguided novels, song lyrics, poems, greeting cards, journal entries, newspaper articles…you name it, I wrote it.

So when the opportunity to pen a True Crime book came about, I jumped at it. I was familiar with the crime – it happened in the small town where we lived. I even knew the suspects. I had covered the story for the local community paper and knew it inside and out.

I pitched the idea to a True Crime publisher and they wanted it. The book, Unholy Covenant, was published in 2000. It would be thirteen years before I published another.

It wasn’t the dreaded sophomore slump that prevented the words from flowing. They flowed fine. I just couldn’t bring myself to pursue having anything else published. It took me many years to figure out why. The publisher of Unholy Covenant wanted more. He really liked my style. But, I kept remembering something he had said early on in our publishing relationship – True Crime has to have a murder. Someone has to die. And as cold as it seems, the bottom line was the more sensational the murder, the higher the profits.

I just didn’t have the backbone for it. Knowing people in my community thought I was profiting from a neighbor’s tragedy made me re-think the whole writing gig. Yes, I gave the victim a voice, and I told her story…but still…the reality was always there. A family lost their daughter in the most horrible way. No amount of pretty prose would ever change that.

But, like I said, during my thirteen year hiatus I never stopped writing. I just stopped submitting for publication. Until I ran across a call for submissions from Pelican Book Group. I read over it, and read over it again, and within the hour, The Rising was on its way to Pelican. It’s a story involving forgiveness, redemption, and second chances. It was a perfect fit, for us both.

The Rising was released through Harbourlight/Pelican Book Group in July. This time around comes with no mixed emotions. I’m very proud of the work that went into bringing it to life and humbled by the welcoming it has received. Is it my story? Not really. I’ve never dated anyone as handsome as Jesse.

Bio

Lynn Chandler-Willis has worked in the corporate world (hated it!), the television news business (fun job) and the newspaper industry (not a fan of the word “apparently” and phrase “according to”). She keeps coming back to fiction because she likes making stuff up and you just can’t do that in the newspaper or television news business.

She was born, raised, and continues to live in the heart of North Carolina within walking distance to her kids and their spouses and her nine grandchildren. She shares her home, and heart, with Sam the cocker spaniel.

She is the author of the best-selling true crime book, Unholy Covenant. The Rising is her debut novel.

Blurb

A little boy, beaten and left to die in an alley. A cop with a personal life out of control. When their worlds collide, God intervenes. Detective Ellie Saunders’s homicide investigation takes a dramatic turn when a young victim “wakes up” in the morgue. The child has no memory prior to his “rising” except walking with his father along a shiny road. Ellie likes dealing with facts. She’d rather leave all the God-talk to her father, a retired minister, and to her partner, Jesse, a former vice cop with an annoying habit of inserting himself into her life. But will the facts she follows put Ellie’s life in mortal danger? And will she finally allow God into her heart forever?

Excerpt

“Jack told me you were at lunch. Caper’s is one of my favorites, so I thought I’d take a chance.” He winked at her then sidled closer. “Anyway, I was thinking about your dead kid—“

“He’s not dead.”

A waitress slammed a sandwich down in front of Ellie, and Jesse helped himself to a homemade chip.

“OK, so he’s not dead. You have sent his picture to the National Center for Missing and Exploited

Children?”

She huffed. “Did Jack send you?”

“No, Jack didn’t send me. I was just thinking if the center didn’t get a hit, I’ve got a few connections with the FBI, and they’ve got some really cool equipment.”

Ellie pulleda piece of bacon from her sandwich and chewed on one end. “Thanks, but no thanks. I really don’t want the Feds involved.”

Jesse snatched another chip and shook his head. “No black suit with shades is going to swoop in and take your case, Detective Saunders.” He grinned and helped himself to another chip. “I thought we could get them to run his picture through the facial recognition scanner. Maybe we’ll get a hit.”

What was with all the we stuff? The case was complicated enough. The last thing she needed was Jesse involved. She didn’t need a constant reminder of her downward spiral.

Where to find Lynn…

Website: http://lynnchandlerwillis.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Rising-by-Lynn-Chandler-Willis/326832037448082?ref=hl

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LCWillis

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/438147.Lynn_Chandler_Willis

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/lynncwillis/boards/

Joanne here!

Lynn, thank you for sharing your extraordinary journey and reminding us that pauses can be powerful and lead to breakthroughs.

A Second Act with Al Capone

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Linda Bennett Pennell talking about changing direction, taking risks and Al Capone.

Here’s Linda!

Life can at times be frustrating, joyous, depressing, boring, even mysterious. It is not always clear in the moment why things happen as they do, but one thing is for certain, unless we make the best of what we’ve been given, life cannot be lived to the fullest. I think I always knew this, but it took a change in direction and taking a risk to grasp its true meaning.

I never intended to be a writer. In fact, as an elementary student, I despaired of even being competent in the language arts. It should be said that my early education left a great deal to be desired, but that is another story. It was not until my senior year of high school that I had a rewarding creative writing experience. Thank you, Miss Miller, wherever you are. Once in college, however, I put aside creative writing for the rigors of historical research and expository writing. Another degree and several certifications later and I have come full circle.

My other life is in public education as a reading specialist and secondary school administrator, but about five years ago after I “retired” to part time work, I decided to pick up my creative “pen” again. I can’t say exactly why or when the decision was made. That is one of those mysteries. All I can say is that I came to feel a burning desire to write and the experience has been a revelation and a joy.

It hasn’t been all easy sailing. Nothing in life worth having ever really comes without some pain. Sending out queries and the rejections that came with them were not particularly fun, but it was not as difficult as I thought it would be. With a debut novel that is being well received, I can now say that the process was definitely worth the risk. Most importantly, my venture in writing has allowed me to reinvent myself. We humans are truly multifaceted creatures, but unfortunately we tend to sort and categorize each other into neat, easily understood packages that rarely reveal the whole person. Writing has allowed me to tap into skills and talents I had all but buried for many years. I am a newer, better version of myself for the experience.

Perhaps you, too, want to step out of the box in which you find yourself. I encourage you to look at the possibilities and imagine. Be filled with childlike wonder in your mental wanderings. Envision what might be, not simply what is. Let us never forget, all good fiction begins when someone says to herself or himself, “Let’s pretend.”

Blurb

Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel tells a story of lives unfolding in different centuries, but linked and irrevocably altered by a series of murders in 1930.

Lake City, Florida, June, 1930: Al Capone checks in for an unusually long stay at the Blanche Hotel, a nice enough joint for an insignificant little whistle stop. The following night, young Jack Blevins witnesses a body being dumped heralding the summer of violence to come. One-by-one, people controlling county vice activities swing from KKK ropes. No moonshine distributor, gaming operator, or brothel madam, black or white, is safe from the Klan’s self-righteous vigilantism. Jack’s older sister Meg, a waitress at the Blanche, and her fiancé, a sheriff’s deputy, discover reasons to believe the lynchings are cover for a much larger ambition than simply ridding the county of vice. Someone, possibly backed by Capone, has secret plans for filling the voids created by the killings. But as the body count grows and crosses burn, they come to realize this knowledge may get all of them killed.

Gainesville, Florida, August, 2011: Liz Reams, an up and coming young academic specializing in the history of American crime, impulsively moves across the continent to follow a man who convinces her of his devotion yet refuses to say the three simple words I love you. Despite entreaties of friends and family, she is attracted to edginess and a certain type of glamour in her men, both living and historical. Her personal life is an emotional roller coaster, but her career options suddenly blossom beyond all expectation, creating a very different type of stress. To deal with it all, Liz loses herself in her professional passion, original research into the life and times of her favorite bad boy, Al Capone. What she discovers about 1930’s summer of violence, and herself in the process, leaves her reeling at first and then changed forever.

Where to find Linda…

Website: http://www.lindapennell.com/

Amazon: http://amzn.to/16qq3k5

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLindaBennettPennell

Joanne here!

Thank you, Linda for sharing your journey. It is an inspiring one that will provide hope and encouragement to all writers and creatives. Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel is simply riveting and should be on everyone’s ‘To Read’ list.

A Journey of Self-Awareness

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Certified Life Coach Sandra Dawes talking about the experiences that have shaped her amazing life journey.

Here’s Sandra!

In my mid to late twenties I lived a very passive life. I lived to make others happy, often to the detriment of my own happiness. I was a constant people pleaser, a consequence of low self-esteem and self-confidence. In my heart, I didn’t feel like I was worthy of love, so I did whatever I thought I had to do to prove to the people in my life that I was worth the love I so badly needed from them. In doing this, I put my own dreams and desires on the backburner.

When my father died, my world shifted in ways I didn’t think were possible. While he had been diagnosed with cancer 6 years earlier, I thought he had beaten it. It came back with a vengeance in 2004 and he died on the operating table during hip replacement surgery. I wasn’t prepared for the consequences of my father’s passing. I was in denial that it was even a possibility! With all that happened after his death, I was left hopeless, believing that all that I had done for others was a complete waste of time and unsure if I was ever going to experience joy in my life again, or if I really ever knew what it meant!

It took years of self-help books and a journey of self-awareness to understand that I am the creator of the reality that I experience and that if I wanted different experiences, I needed to make changes in the way I lived my life. I now understand I am worthy of love and don’t need anyone to prove that to me. I just need to believe it in my own heart and love myself the way I wanted others to love me. Instead of allowing life to happen to me, I’m doing what I need to do to make things happen in my life. My self-esteem and self-confidence are stronger than they have ever been and I’m no longer afraid to step outside my comfort zone and try new things and put myself out there in ways that would have made my knees weak just a few years ago!

No matter how bad things may seem right now, or how impossible your dreams might look, the belief that anything is possible is a necessary requirement if you want to live a better life than the one you’re currently experiencing. Belief in your dreams, a plan to make them a reality and taking action each and every day towards making those dreams real, are important steps in living the life that you’ve dreamed about. You have to believe without a shadow of a doubt that you are worth all of the amazing things that you want for your life. Yes, there will be obstacles and challenges along the way, but when you want something bad enough; you can’t let anything deter you from your goals!

Wayne Dyer says “when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” How do you want to experience life? Do you want to live your life believing that you have no control over your circumstances and live a mediocre, unfulfilling life, or do you want to experience life where anything is possible and you can achieve your heart’s desires as long as you are committed to do whatever it takes to make it happen? I’ve chosen to live my life without regret and pursue my passions to the fullest. It’s scary at times, but every milestone I encounter reminds me that it’s all worth it, and so am I!

Where to find Sandra…

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Joanne here!

Sandra, your clients are truly blessed to have such a caring and insightful coach in their lives. Thank you for sharing your triumphant story.

When the Universe Responds

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Christy Johnson talking about the desperate request that led to the emergence of unexpected healing abilities.

Here’s Christy!

I loved languages and writing but my parents’ unwillingness to fund such studies combined with my aptitude in math and science led me to major in chemical engineering at Purdue University. I hated chemical engineering but I persisted through the program. Despite my reluctance, I went on to receive my chemical engineering doctorate at University of Michigan in 1990, returning to IBM where I’d worked seven semesters as a co-op student. I later declined the executive fast track when it was offered.

In my final position in an analytical lab doing microscopy, the closest match to my interests and aptitude I’d found during my tenure at IBM, I felt increasingly under-challenged and underemployed over the years. My job content felt empty and meaningless and so my substantial salary felt like blood money. I knew the corporation well by then and no other position tempted me yet I could not give myself permission to quit.

In 2007, I desperately “asked the universe for a change” which caused unexpected and stunning intuitive healing abilities to surface. A couple years later, I learned about Jin Shin Jyutsu®, a healing art combining intellect and intuition. Within a year, I completed the practitioner certification requirements and quit IBM two weeks later, seven years short of retirement. Next I discovered an unexpected aptitude for reading the Akashic Records, a way of viewing your life from your soul’s point of view. I now offer clients healing world-wide with these three modalities, inviting harmony and wholeness on all levels.

I wouldn’t have consciously chosen any of this, especially considering I’d never heard of any of the pieces before they presented themselves, but I love my work, my clients, as well as my return to writing via my blog. My work reflects my authentic self and is meaningful in a way IBM never could be.

If you’re considering a second act, I suggest you view each act as a separate lifetime. My grandfather was a grocer all his life, my father a professor for his, but many people today deviate wildly from their original trajectory. What you’ve done, no matter how tangentially related to where you want to go, built a foundation of life experience supporting your evolution into who, what, and where you are today. Leave the past behind but don’t discard its substantial gifts.

Also remember, you can’t cherry-pick the positive parts of your prior act. Retaining my desirable IBM salary, benefits, and relative job security would mean continued unabated misery for me. Trust your own knowing around what does and doesn’t satisfy you and remember the dissatisfying aspects were part of the package.

Finally, if you start feeling stuck, return to “How can I serve today?” In serving, we can find ourselves and get centered. Honoring who you are is the greatest gift you can give and receive.

Where to find Christy…

Website: http://www.intuitiveheal.com

Blog: http://www.intuitiveheal.com/blog/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/intuitiveheal

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IntuitiveHeal

Joanne here!

Thank you for sharing your extraordinary journey, Christy. I would encourage everyone to visit Christy online for more of her amazing advice and insights.

Growing Your Life Garden

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts series!

Today, we have Jackie Yun talking about her extraordinary shift from the corporate world to her “next big thing.”

Here’s Jackie!

“Fantastic Journey” was the subject line on my good-bye email and indeed, it had been. As Senior Vice President of one of our Information Technology divisions, I tackled things like turning a tech center scheduled for shut-down into a revenue generating center, beating out external consulting firms for a rewrite of one of our systems, merging organizations that weren’t on the same path into a cohesive purposeful whole. By any corporate yardstick, these were significant and had positive impact.

So, what would be my next big thing? I could re-live all that I had lived on a bigger scale (CIO, COO, CEO, anyone?). But, what is the point in a “repeat” when time is precious? And time is precious when you’re at the doorstep of retirement, even if it is early retirement as it was for me.

In my “Fantastic Journey” email, I did not write about the corporate accomplishments. I wrote to the people who made those milestones possible and recounted the extraordinary feeling of community, the can-do attitude, the camaraderie, and the caring support.

Jackie Yun’s Garden

I realized a bountiful garden had rooted in my life (this is my hat tip to Louise L Hay: “You’ve been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens”). I wanted to tend this garden and grow it into a vibrant, lush, uplifting ecosystem.

My tools in the past had included the corporate mantra of “it’s not enough, do it and prove it again”. As part of my next big thing, I’m replacing those tools with the perspective of abundance and paraphrasing William Wordsworth, hoping to “fill my life with the breathings of my heart”.

To help these seedlings of breathings, I’ve tilled the soil with yearly #threewords to live by, augmenting my usual annual goal-setting passed on from my corporate life. These #threewords help me to “do” in a more heart-spacious way. For 2013, I am living by these words:

Awesomeness > Owning it within, appreciating it in others and in the world
Art > making a point to look at things differently, be creative, curate a bit of beauty into everyday life
Jump > be bold, enjoy the feeling of flight, and a much needed reminder to exercise

Professionally, my next big thing meant becoming an Integral Coach ®. Here I help people tend to their life gardens with coaching and advice on Executive Leadership, Career Direction, Life Challenges. Like gardeners who share their harvests, I blog and enjoy sharing via Twitter and LinkedIn. As the fantastic journey continues, I’m hoping to grow into a wise-old gardener, a caretaker of the ecosystem. As Reginald Farrer wrote back in 1909:

“I think the true gardener is a lover of his flowers, not a critic of them. I think the true gardener is the reverent servant of Nature, not her truculent, wife-beating master. I think the true gardener, the older he grows, should more and more develop a humble, grateful and uncertain spirit.”

So, tell me, what is the next big thing for you? What are your #threewords to live by? And as the time approaches for your next big thing, please …

#TakeThisMoment to uncover that which will nourish and make your life garden bloom! ~ Jackie Yun

Where to find Jackie…

Website: www.jackieyun.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackieYunTweets

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jackieyun

Joanne here!

Thank you Jackie for sharing your “Fantastic Journey.” As Integral Coach, you are well suited to the role of wise gardener and in an excellent position to help your clients grow their life gardens.

A Millennial’s Second Act

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

When I started the Second Acts series, I didn’t think that millennials would be part of it. Having taught many of these children, born between the early 1980s and early 2000s, I assumed they would be in school, looking for a job or in the early years of a first career.

But after meeting with fellow GWIN member Leanne Ballard, I changed my mind and decided to feature her in this series.

Passionate and organized—not the usual combination of adjectives, but they certainly fit this busy mom of three who is running a local franchise.

Trained as a veterinary technician, Leanne secured employment at a small vet clinic in Mississauga where she was later promoted to office manager. While she enjoyed working with the animals, she found the job physically demanding and realized it would conflict with motherhood.

After her son was born, Leanne became a member of momstown, an organization focused on connecting neighborhood moms. She enjoyed the experience so much that she decided to buy the Guelph franchise.

That was three years ago.

Since then, the local group has grown and provides over twenty local events for moms with tots aged 0-6 years old.

As momstown mama, Leanne’s schedule is jam packed, but she still manages to exude a calm and competent air. Her eyes, however, sparkle when describing the different activities and benefits of momstown. It is not surprising that the organization has flourished under her tender loving care.

A Bit of History…

Momstown began as a small mothers’ group in Burlington, Ontario. Three moms (Christi, Ann-Marie and Shannon) wanted to provide events and encouragement for all moms–working moms, expectant moms, mat leave moms and stay-at-home moms.

There are weekday, evening and weekend programs that can fit in even the most hectic of schedules. While Momstown uses the Internet to connect, the primary goal is to get moms off the computer and out of the house.

To date, there are twenty franchises across Canada.

Where to find Leanne…

Blog: http://momstown-guelph.blogspot.ca

Twitter: https://twitter.com/momstownguelph

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/momstownguelph

Make That Mental Shift

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Emelia Sam talking about the dismantling of her first act and the mental shift that enabled her to start an exciting second act.

Here’s Emelia!

For most of my life, I’ve fallen in line. I did the “right” things. Said the “right” things. Pursued the “right” things. I followed the script that society dutifully laid out for me. “Pick something,” it said. So, I did and I made a practical decision to become a dentist.

There was only one problem.

Two years into dental school, I found out I abhorred general dentistry. But the script was written so I followed it to the end. In an attempt to escape, I entered a residency in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery.

There was only one problem.

It didn’t resonate with me. I found it extremely interesting. I was initially captivated by the newness, but somewhere along the line, I realized I wasn’t enjoying it in the way my colleagues were. I thought to myself, “I have a right to be happy, too, don’t I?” But, I suppressed and finished the script.

I was fortunate enough to work in private practice combined with academia for two years. There was only one problem. I was dying little by little, day by day. As Maya Angelou has said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

That’s when it began. The dismantling of my life as I saw it. All of a sudden, the set seemed foreign. I didn’t understand my supporting characters. And I was more than ready, to relinquish my uncomfortable role. The unraveling of the costume I had donned years before had begun. The First Act was coming to a close.

This was scary. Terrifying really. For the first time in my life, there was no set pattern to follow, It was up to me to make my own way. To improvise. To flow.

It took some time, but I have found my way to authenticity and continue to do so. I’ve returned to my creative core I once tried to ignore. My love of writing and contemplation have made their way to the forefront. This is the work I am supposed to put out into the world. The more I do it, the more aligned I feel with my true purpose.

I encourage others to shift from practicality to purpose. I’ve been there and I can attest to the fact that once you make that mental shift, life opens up.

I respect the lessons that I’ve learned along the way. Wherever I have been has been necessary for my evolution. I haven’t rejected my past because it has shaped who I am. I lived coloring within the lines and now I’m learning to paint my own pictures.

This time, there will be no script. I’m accepting the fluidity of life and eagerly awaiting the next plot twist. Yes. The Second Act is firmly underway…and I’m loving it.

Where to find Emelia…

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Joanne here again!

Thank you for sharing your amazing journey, Emelia. I look forward to our online chats and take special note of your remarkable insights and advice.

I would encourage anyone reading this post to follow Emelia online. You will be inspired!

Never, Never, Never Give Up!

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

The theme of my upcoming novel, Between Land and Sea, is one of reinvention. Over the next two months, I plan to devote at least one post a week to this topic. In addition to sharing my own experiences, I will also feature other successful second acts.

I am honored to welcome my first guest, JoAnne Myers.

Here’s JoAnne!

My adulthood began like many young women’s do; I became a wife and mother. I loved that role, but children leave the nest. I found myself with much too much time on my hands and sank into my first passion–art.

Over the years as my family grew, I wrote poetry and short stories–never completely severing my love for writing. I always had plenty of paper and pens on hand, and collected paints and brushes, anticipating the time I would be serious enough to actually start my painting career. My children and grandchildren knew of my love for the arts, and there was no surprise when I wrote seven books and decorated my home with dozens of paintings.

I now have a four-book contract with Melange Books and my true crime biography, “The Crime of the Century,” is involved in a tug-of-war with four publishing companies interested in publishing it.

My advice for others is to never give up on your dreams. Life might get in the way, but keep your love for art always at arm’s length. No matter what heartaches life threw at me, I always believed in family values and following my dreams.

Where to find JoAnne…

Website | Blog | Amazon

Joanne here again!

Always enjoy meeting other Joannes or JoAnnes, especially creative ones.

Thank you for sharing your inspiring story, JoAnne. Best of luck with all your creative endeavors.