I spent close to twenty years working in the ad industry, mostly as a film producer. There was a lot I enjoyed about the job, particularly the creative aspects of making commercials: concept making, casting, director search, editing, and audio recording, among others. I also enjoyed the collaborative nature of my job. I had this 24/7 obsession with "succeeding" at my job and it was burning me out. The thing I dared not admit, to myself or anyone else, was that the constant grind was slowly killing my spirit.   

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There was this desire to talk to colleagues about their lives and get to the heart of what mattered to them. To ask them personal questions and ponder life's greater meaning. But seeing as I felt like a complete oddball, I rarely shared much. I didn't let many people in. I yearned to write stories again, like I did throughout high school and college. I had lost a part of myself in the years of the grind and the lie I told myself was that, eventually, I'd get back to writing. But there was so much noise in my head, I could no longer hear my inner voice. 

 

Then, change came for me. There was a painful divorce and a pair of lay offs from  "dream jobs" that left me feeling depleted and disappointed by my less than stellar performance. I started to see that my mind, body, and soul were hurting and in grave need of my attention. So I decided it was time to stop performing. I had to rediscover who I was at heart  - and the way back to self-rediscovery was on the page. I began journaling again to understand myself better. Why did I continue to sacrifice my authenticity and happiness for a big paycheck? Why was I holding back who I was at my core? I had a novel that wouldn't leave my mind alone. And I needed to write it. And so I did. And here I am. First novel down with more stories, and a variety of work, wanting to be expressed.

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One of the most important questions I had to answer for myself was this: what is the vow that my soul is waiting for me to make? And the inner voice replied, "I vow to live a heartfelt, soul-filling life. I vow to tell the truth on the page - including all the things I often don't dare say out loud. I vow to live with full authenticity, integrity and honesty. I vow to write like my soul is on fire, because it is."