Books

The road to publishing my first book was lengthy, fraught with adventure and misadventure alike. With its inception came abundant opportunities to speak and share about my experiences, which, while unique to me, I wager may not be so very different from your own. My intent with ‘Wide Sky, Narrow Path’ was to compel readers, no matter what walk of life, to see meaningful parallels between the world outside and one’s inner path.

https://www.facebook.com/clschaad

[front cover]
[back cover]

I’m often asked what writing projects are underway now; here’s a glimpse!

‘A Cord of Three Strands’/ speculative fiction novel draft 1: complete!

This past year, I decided to take on the NaNoWriMo challenge. Better known as National Novel Writing Month, it is the autological term for an annual creative dash in which aspiring writers attempt to pen an entire novel in the span of November. The initial goal is not to write a final draft, but a first one; and in fact, editing while writing is thoroughly discouraged in favor of preserving singular focus for creating, creating and more creating.

To keep my dear family (husband, two children under 10, two felines and a gregarious Flemish Giant rabbit) from being neglected, I decided to run the equivalent of a half-marathon. One leg of the journey was completed in November 2020, and leg two, November 2021. Huzzah!

I found the non-editing scribing blitz approach to be a superb antidote for my perfectionistic tendencies; after all, who has time to critique when they are creating a new world? Which leads me to share about a previous manuscript intended for publication entitled:

BEYOND PERFECTION:
Grace and Pursuit of the Imperfectly Perfect

‘Beyond Perfectionism’ chapter title teaser

This book actually was birthed out of this website which started as a blog. While the book is edging towards completion, my relief in all of it is that it doesn’t have to be ‘perfect,’ whatever that is anyway! In its pages, I describe at length the insidious enemy which is perfectionism that disguises itself as a helpful guide, despite being a corrupt one. It is the ultimate distraction from the worthiness of any cause.

My third work in progress is a little different, though in some veiled sense I suppose it deals with the subject of perfectionism and the ways it can hinder us from fullfilling our dreams:

‘Exie’s Dream’ cover art