Blooming Into Life by Kristie Booker (VBT, guest post, excerpt, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

It is my pleasure to share a guest post by author Kristie Booker, who shares her answer to my question...



ELF: What was the most difficult thing to overcome on your path to becoming a published author and how did you conquer it?

KB: The most difficult thing I had to overcome on my path to becoming a published author was to get over my own self-limiting thoughts. I spent most of my life thinking that I wasn’t good enough to call myself a writer let alone be a published one. I didn’t think anyone would want to read something that I had written and I thought once someone did, they would laugh at my attempt to tell a story. The conquering of such thinking was hard. I had to do a lot of personal work in order to find the courage to share my writing. Ugly thoughts continue to creep into my life. I’ve learned to accept the fact that I will always be a work in progress.

The process of developing self-love and self-acceptance took several years but I finally got to a place where I began to care a little less about how the outside world saw me. I still have periods when I find myself dependent on the opinion of others. When this happens, I get quiet and remove myself from the world. Whether it’s a long walk in nature, time meditating or even a long drive listening to great music, I’ve learned I need to journey inward to reset my thoughts and reconnect with myself.

I wasn’t able to accept myself as a writer until I found the courage to allow my best be good enough and was able to love and appreciate what that looked like for me. I had to learn that the things that make me different make me unique. The history and experiences in my life help me craft the stories that I tell and make me as worthy as anyone else that calls themselves a writer.

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Blooming into Life

by Kristie Booker

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GENRE: Women’s Fiction

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BLURB:

Growing up on a farm in Brockville, Illinois, did not prepare Colleen O’Brien Adler to be the wife of a wealthy entertainment lawyer living in Chicago. It certainly didn’t prepare her to be Dinah Adler’s daughter-in-law. The stay-at-home mother of two has more than she’s ever wanted—a personal stylist, a prestigious country club membership, a multimillion-dollar home—but she finds herself not only struggling with depression and body image but also failing as a parent and fearing for her marriage. Her life is about to change when an invitation to a wellness meeting arrives in her inbox. With some coaxing from personal coach Kory Stone, she commits to a new beginning. But will she be able to overcome the things that are holding her back?

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EXCERPT

“How many of you are here to lose weight?” Kory asked.

Colleen raised her hand along with every other woman in the room. Noticing how skinny over half the room was, Colleen wondered why they were raising their hand.

“While your goal is weight loss, my goal is to help you find yourself, your true self,” Kory said.

“What if our true self just needs to lose weight?” Beth said.

The women around the table laughed. Kory smiled at her. “I want to help you see beyond your physical body and dig deep into what makes your heart happy.”

Beth’s smile faded as she considered Kory’s words. Colleen had no idea what made her heart happy. She loved the girls and Jay. They made her happy. They also made her exhausted. Besides her bed, a vanilla latte and a bottle of wine, she couldn’t put her finger on anything that truly made her happy.

“The hardest part about finding out what makes you happy is being truthful about what isn’t making you happy,” Kory said. “In order to lose weight and keep it off, you have to commit to working hard to overcome the things that are holding you back.”

Colleen wasn’t sure she could commit to doing whatever work Kory was talking about. Some things in her life were too difficult to overcome.

Amazon link

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Kristie Booker is the author of Blooming Into Life, a blogger and a Wellness Coach. She enjoys coaching and inspiring women through her writing as well as in person. Kristie is a wife and mother of two sons. She grew up in rural Illinois, but now lives in Chicago. 

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