Interview with Joleen Bridges, author Finding Home Breaking Free
ABOUT JOLEEN BRIDGES
Joleen is a lifelong Missouri resident and
currently resides in Lee's Summit, Missouri. Besides writing, Joleen's favorite
things to do are; hang out with family, travel, read, and pretty much anything
related to nature. You will probably see her hanging out with her long time
boyfriend Greg, her dog Rusty and her zen kitty, Cola. Joleen is passionate
about the topics of consciousness, enlightenment, spirituality and personal
empowerment. Her debut book, Finding
Home, Breaking Free from Limits, represents over 10 years of research and a
lifetime of inspiration to present readers with a comprehensive look at
understanding and releasing our self imposed limits to discover your authentic potential
and divine authority to live a life by design.
Website: www.breakingfreefromlimits.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jhallo03
Pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/jhallo03/
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/joleen.halloran
HubPages:
http://joleenbridges.hubpages.com/
EzineArticles:
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Joleen_Halloran
Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life, Joleen. Can
you tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?
A: Yes,
thank you so much for the interview and for giving me an opportunity to
introduce myself and my book, Finding
Home Breaking Free from Limits. Basically, I am a very ordinary person that
has an extraordinary message to share because of an extraordinary event that
happened in my life. Not extraordinary because it was really bad or really
good, but because it was abundantly transforming.
My
background is 20 plus years working in the corporate jungle as a middle
manager, but I have always had a passion and desire to get to the heart of deep
spiritual understanding. About 10 years ago, I had a series of events in my
life that created a major catalyst for me. Those were dark times in my life,
and I experienced a great deal of loss and pain. I don’t want to expand on that
part of the story, because many of us have dark times in our lives, at various
degrees of darkness. The important part about these times is not so much the
story we create about how dark they were for us, but how we emerged from them, and
that is what was extraordinary for me. The person that went into that dark
tunnel of life challenges was not the same one that walked away from it.
I have always
wanted to be a writer; it’s been a dream of mine since I was a kid. Throughout
my corporate career, I did a great deal of writing, but it was always from a
very dry business and technical perspective. I had been toying around with a
historical novel for most of my adult life, doing a little research here and
there and writing a few pages now and again, but after those years of
tremendous change and transformation, my writing intention turned from a
romantic tortured artist fantasy into a purposeful calling. I felt I had
something important to share.
Q: Can you please tell us about your book and why
you wrote it?
A: Well the book, as mentioned above, was the
result of feeling inspired and compelled to share the amazing insights that I
experienced during a transformative time in my life. During those 10 years of
intense transformation, my main focus in life was to learn and grow
authentically and from a divine perspective. I researched many, many books on
religion, spirituality, metaphysics, philosophy, psychiatry, law of attraction,
and new thought. I studied everything from the ancient texts of world religions
to the most progressive new thought and spiritual teachers. I was a human
sponge, soaking in everything I was learning and every day I was just feeling
bigger and brighter about life, myself, what I was learning and the world in
general. I felt compelled to write about what I was learning for many reasons.
Besides feeling like I have a powerfully important message to share, I noticed
that within my research over the years that many of the modern spiritual self
help books did not offer readers enough options to understand how to apply what
they were teaching.
I wanted to
provide readers with not only a laymen’s analysis of how we, as humans, get
encumbered by a load of human baggage and limitations, but how the heck to get
rid of it too. Knowing that each person views the world through different
lenses, I wanted to share many tools or practices that could be tried to see if
they were a good fit for personal and spiritual growth.
Q: What were some of the biggest challenges you
faced writing it?
A: My
biggest challenge was; knowing when to quit. I have so much I want to share and
I simply could not share it all in one book. Coming up with an outline of the
highest points and sticking to that was tough for me, because other points of
interest might try to squeeze their way into my chapter, but I had to scale
down those errant inspirations and promise myself, another time.
I loved
writing this book, in many ways it was effortless (at least the writing was).
The other part of writing a book, like getting the book published - maybe not
so effortless.
Q: Do you have a press kit and what do you include
in it? Does this press kit appear online
and, if so, can you provide a link to where we can see it?
A: I do not
have a press kit but I do have a webpage with information about the book and
about myself that I refer people to. The website is www.breakingfreefromlimits.com.
I am also a dedicated blogger on this site and I love writing articles on the
topics I am passionate about and that I hope will inspire and motivate readers.
Q: Have you either spoken to groups of people about
your book or appeared on radio or TV?
What are your upcoming plans for doing so?
A: I have
not done any of that type of marketing, yet. As a new author I am learning the
ropes and I would be thrilled and so excited to speak to groups about the book
or subjects within the book, anytime, anywhere. I would also love to have a
radio or TV guest appearance. Can you tell me where to get one of those gigs? Over
the next several months I have plans to continue to get the word out about the
book, including a few local book signings and I am toying with the idea of
starting my own podcasting show. If you contact me to talk about the book or
any topic related to spiritual empowerment, I’m there! In the meantime, I am
building on my marketing efforts by focusing on my blogging and pursuing potential
speaking engagements. Besides writing new articles for my own website blog, I
also contribute to several other blogging sites, such as HubPages,
Ezinearticles, and a couple of other writer communities.
Q: Do you have an agent and, if so, would you mind
sharing who he/is is? If not, have you ever had an agent or do you even
feel it’s necessary to have one?
A: I do not
have an agent. I would love to have one, no doubt, just because it sounds so
glamorous! I do not feel that you must have an agent to succeed as a writer,
although I would not deny that an agent may have networking contacts that would
be very beneficial.
What I do have
though, is a tremendous belief in this book and the knowledge that it can make
a difference in people’s life, if they are open to it. I KNOW this book will be
read, and I trust this intuition much better than promises from an agent.
Q: Did you, your agent or publisher prepare a media
blitz before the book came out and would you like to tell us about it?
A: No,
again as a new author, my first focus was on getting the book published and
available to the market.
Q: Do you plan subsequent books?
A:
Absolutely. In fact, I am continuing my research and putting together the
outline for my next book now. This next book’s focus will be on infusing
readers with intense passion towards their amazing personal potential and putting
some personal practices in place to stop allowing any more time to be given
away to useless and pointless ego tendencies. I’m super pumped about it.
Q: Thank you for your interview, (INSERT FIRST
NAME; NO CAPS). Would you like to tell
my readers where they can find you on the web and how everyone can buy your
book?
A: Yes,
please visit me, frequently, on www.breakingfreefromlimits.com.
The book, Finding Home Breaking Free from
Limits is available on Amazon.com in both paperback and digital formats and
I also offer the book for purchase at a discount on my website. I love
feedback, spiritual discussions, friendly debates and comments, so please feel
free to leave any/all on my website. Thank you again so much! This has been fun.
ABOUT FINDING HOME-BREAKING FREE FROM LIMITS
Within our soul, we are already free. There is within us an indescribable place where we know this instinctively and intuitively – this is a place we call “home.” Finding Home, Breaking Free from Limits is a charter to discover that place, and in doing so, transform our lives and the lives of others.
Finding Home, Breaking Free from Limits intention is to energize the mind to challenge the propaganda of fear and limitations and enable one to embrace a new attitude of personal and spiritual empowerment. The condition this book addresses is limits – personal limits that impact our individual spirit, and subsequently, our relationships, communities and our world.
Finding Home creates a paradigm shift away from limits and into a realization of unlimited potential. Never again will you look at yourself and the world around you in the same way after you found that place of “home.”
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