Back to the Books Giveaway Hop - 2 International Prizes

Hello everyone, I am so happy to be participating in the Back to the Books Giveaway Hop!!  And I am extra excited because I am offering TWO prizes to TWO SEPARATE WINNERS.

This hop is being sponsored by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer & Buried in Books, thank you so much for putting this together.  There are over 300 participants and you can find the list below.

And now for the first giveaway... I am giving away $15 CDN at the Book Depository for a book or books of your choice.  This giveaway is International, so long as the Book Depository delivers to you.

And the second, extra special giveaway... the amazing and inspirational professional life and creativity coach, Janet Whitehead of Musings and Mud Studio is giving away a set of all five “Li’l Workbooks – BIG AHA’s” self-discovery e-books, value $50.  This prize is also International.  You can find my interview with Janet below.  I have to say that this is a great prize - I have used several of these workbooks myself and they are amazing for honing in on your creativity and overcoming blocks.

Entering is very easy, all you have to do is fill in the entry form found at the end of the interview.  I will need your name and email address.  You do not have to follow my blog, but following is always appreciated.  If you would like to, feel free to find me also on:  Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

The contest runs from September 1-7 and the winners will be contacted by email and posted on my blog on September 8.  The winners will have 48 hours to get back to me or new winners will be chosen.  I will choose the winners using random.org.

Good luck everyone, and don't forget to check out the other great blogs participating in this hop.


My interview with Janet Whitehead: 

Janet, you are immersed in all things about creative people and creative projects… how did that happen (short version)?

Two things…

1. I was always an advocate for the artist, writer, and the adventurer even as a child. I think I sensed, even early on, that our traditional ‘left brain’ systems do not support the more ‘right brain dominant’ person.

It is true that we know our purpose when we are young, but it’s pretty darn hard to keep that clear. My life has meandered into all kinds of events and places, but when I finally spent time with my own creative process.. well, all kinds of crazy, wonderful and bizarre things happened. I love that!

2. As it happens, I am a typical creative being, if there is such a thing, so showing up to my true self can be interrupted by all sorts of things like procrastination, rebellion, doubt, perfectionism, facebook, etc. Perhaps that is why I went into life coaching and creativity coaching and have developed the expertise in working with the more right brain inclined… as a way of also keeping me engaged in my works!!

Do you have a tip for writers?

I adore debunking the myths and beliefs that keep creative souls from showing up to their writing projects. A famous author once said in a workshop, “Real writers write on yellow foolscap.” Aaghh! I could imagine all the people who have listened to him now sitting in coffee shops with blank yellow foolscap, feeling almost guilty that they would rather be profusely writing something on their blog, or on just about anything else besides foolscap.

I’ve been known to give workshop participants a piece of yellow foolscap, have them write a few words, then proclaim them to now officially be ‘real writers and henceforth we shall find their way to show up to their written works.’ Tip: Real writers write.

Tell us about your written works?

The Demise of Noshud Hafta is a book I wrote and illustrated in clay, as part of a solo art show. There were moments I regretted announcing randomly to the curator of a National Art Gallery that I’d like to illustrate my story in clay… but the satisfaction completing it was worth every second of perseverance. The first round of this self-published book has sold out.. and now I just need to do round two!

Currently available are my “Li’l Workbooks, BIG AHA’s” series of self-discovery workbooks. Well, playbooks, really. I recognized that there are a lot of self-discovery books that give advice but not the means to find an individual’s own answers. Let’s face it, creative people do not like to be told what to do. They rebel because they are meant to be accessing their own answers and thoughts. In creating the workbooks, I took a risk: I trusted that individuals do have their own answers and that they simply need a little guiding process that inspires them to get the pen out and find them. Every day, I’m glad I took the risk because they are making people happy, empowered and inspired.

I have a rather eclectic mix of other books in the works, my favourite being my novel in progress.

Oh, do tell us about the novel in progress!

Okay.. here’s the synopsis:

This is the story of magic and altering time and dogs that fly and people who died and beings who introduced themselves as faeries… and this is a story of pottery.

It's about smashed fingers, smashed dreams, smashed faeries and the value of throwing up your arms and saying "whatever."

It's about impossible things being possible and "Rolling Stones" playing on unplugged radios.

It's about walking through walls and it's about faerie sex. (That chapter nearly stopped me in my writing tracks.)

This is the true story of my life: The tragic loss of loved ones; the magic of faerie-like beings showing up in my clay, on my pages, and in my home – which they did, by the way, very much to my dismay - at least at first.

And now, the faeries insist they will simply keep blowing themselves up in the kiln until I tell our story.

This is the story that blurs your boundaries between reality and fantasy and leaves you wishing you could find your way into my world, albeit without the tragedies.

As you can imagine, this has not been a simple story to write. Hell, if it were fantasy it would have been easy… but this is my life.

It's been a novel in progress for quite some time, because seriously, how does one tell a story of magic and faeries and people who died? How does one tell the stories I don't tell, when one knows they have to be here?

One begins. That's all, I suppose.

They are perched on my desk, these little mystical beings, wondering if I'll ever finish the damn book and tell their story. I'm pretty sure they don't know the meaning of 'damn', but they do what they can to converse with me in a way I can understand. Faeries…well, at first they introduced themselves to me as faeries, but they are not the type that you might imagine play in the forest.

What books have inspired you?

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Ragged Company by Richard Wagamese

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Nine Modern Day Muses and a Bodyguard by Jill Badonsky

Thanks for being here today, Janet, as always, you continue to inspire me.

Love your blog, Coreena. Thank you for the invite to be here!

Janet L. Whitehead is an author, artist, professional life coach and creativity coach with, clearly, a rather interesting life story.

Website: www.musingsandmud.com

Blog: http://musingalong.wordpress.com

You can also find Janet on Facebook and Twitter.