Good morning, dear hearts!
You might remember my conversation with Ms Wilson or my ruminations on behalf of her first release Life Outside the Box, Volume One – today, I have the joy of her guesting on Jorie Loves A Story with an insightful response about how she fleshed together her inspiring idea behind her latest release: The Wisdom of Listening.
I wanted to dig into the heart of how she organised the sequences of discloses within this release as it has a unique rhythm of disclosures – as I initially settled into reading the individual passages, I noted how they strike a hearty balance between a slice of memoir, a candor of conversationalism and the kind of insight you would expect from a woman whose dedicated her life to listening to others who tell their story with the hope of inspiring someone by the experience of hearing their story told.
It is quite true – when she encourages you to read the passages out of sequence from how their arranged – you can take it upon yourself to curate a bit of a personal experiment – which passages are drawing your eye towards them first? Which ones speak to you the most? Try it! You might be pleasantly surprised – as I knew I was as I was reading – I was automatically seeking out more of her own personal declarations – the pieces of this installment in her evolving series of Real People | Real Lives which takes on its own canon of originality with each book she writes – something which struck me as interesting as I was not expecting this to be the case.
Similar to reading anthologies – I took this edition to be of the same vein – a wanderlust of inspiration wherein you are never quite certain which piece or short will draw you into the folds of the message it has left behind for you to find. Each of these pieces curate their own fingerprint of insight into what Ms Wilson has gleamed as an interviewer but also, as an experiencer of life spent observing the keen awareness we all have within us to contemplate as we shift through our transitions – where memory and experience intermix and re-settle the thoughts as they once percolated to mind when inspiration alights within us.
I will be revealling my thoughts upon reading this book lateron this week [on Friday, the 12th] – for now, tuck yourself into this guest post and enjoy your favourite cuppa as you do! I hope you will find it an inspiring read and perhaps it will help you decide if her books are meant to become one of your #nextreads!
(Guest Post) The Wisdom of Listening
Subtitle: Pieces of Gold from a decade of interviewing and life
by Marilyn R. Wilson
The next time you're out in public, take a moment to look around you. Each and every person you see holds wisdom in their pockets--pieces of gold they've accumulated as they walked their own unique life journey.
Within these pages, Marilyn shares some of the many pieces of gold she has received over her decade-long career. They have been offered to her during interviews, through random encounters and while facing difficult challenges. The most important? We are each unique and exactly who we are meant to be.
Are you ready to dig for gold? All you need to do is be brave, be present in the moment and be open to the possibilities--then start a conversation.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9780995314726
Also by this author: Life Outside The Box: The Extraordinary Journeys of 10 Unique Individuals, Author Interview with Marilyn R. Wilson, The Wisdom of Listening
Published by Influence Publishing Inc.
on 28th May, 2018
Published by: Influence Publishing Inc. (@influencepub)
Formats Available: Paperback and Ebook
Converse via: #NonFiction & #RealPeopleRealLives
The topic I proposed to Ms Wilson for this blog tour:
“As I started to read the passages within ‘The Wisdom of Listening” I noticed it has a lot of soulfulness about appreciating the journey your on and the reasons behind why we are driven to ‘create’. Not for the reasons most people would presume (ie. the bottom-line) but rather for the purpose of creating for the sake of creativity and of following our own driven passions. How did you select the sequencing of the pieces you’ve shared as they have a beautiful authenticity to them which gives this edition an autobiographical texture to it. I was curious how you pulled the pieces together, what inspired the topics you’ve explored and how you wanted to leave the key takeaway about remaining ‘open to what we hear’ inasmuch of what we speak as listening is oft-times overshadowed by own voice(s).
My Journey to Write The Wisdom of Listening
by Marilyn R. Wilson
After over a decade interviewing and writing the stories of others, I was feeling uninspired. Work on Life Outside the Box #2 proved a series of starts and stops with long pauses in between. I was struggling to tap into my passion. One day while meditating, a question bubbled up from deep within – why not work on my passion project?
The Wisdom of Listening was an idea that popped into my head during an interview with artist Pamela Masik. She shared that she discovered her art was a piece of gold she carried in her pocket that helped her heal, and she could share that piece of gold with others to help them heal. Why not write a book that shared all the gold I had been offered?
I put this thought on hold as the passion project I would allow myself to explore after I’d finished writing enough “real books”. It would be a reward dangled in front of me for a job well done. Looking back I can only sigh. How could I limit myself that way?
That day, I quickly realized I had to at least explore the possibility of writing this one first, but the negative voice in my head kept nagging me to be responsible and finish the book I was already working on first. What to do? I decided to sit down at the computer and lay out the bones of The Wisdom of Listening – title, subtitle, as many chapter ideas as I could think of, author bio and back cover. I thought that would scratch my itch enough that I could go back and finish Life Outside the Box #2. Instead my world “turned left” in a profound way.
Normally, writing is a very slow process for me as I write from interview notes. This time, however, as I was writing my own thoughts and memories, the words poured out of me in an unstoppable flow. I found myself sitting at the computer for up to eight hours a day and in three weeks had finished my first draft. It was a truly joyous process, but I had doubts. When I sent a few really rough sample chapters to friends for feedback asking if they felt I should finish this book, their answers came back a resounding YES.
My focus was to share these pieces of gold from a personal point of view (where I heard them and how they affected me in that moment) and in a way that reflected how I would share them in real life with friends (as if we were talking across a table while sharing a cuppa). The spontaneous way the ideas poured out of me helped to keep that personal voice front and center, but also meant there was a lot of cleaning to be addressed.
Right from day one it was very clear what the first three chapters should be – my story, followed by Wabe Sabe, followed by Ujamaa. I wanted people to understand how my journey began. Then Wabe Sabe was the first idea that changed how I looked at myself. Ujamaa built on that knowledge by having me look at the community I embraced. After that came a lot of confusion in terms of where each chapter should fall. There was also a lot of overlap in what each chapter contained as many of these bits of wisdom were intertwined.
All I can say is thank goodness for a strong editor who helped create order in the chaos and a publisher who offered great insight. For my first book, there was only a first edit, a second edit and a final edit. For The Wisdom of Listening it took many, many more layers of editing. Every time I cleaned and rearranged the chapters, something else would pop up that needed looking at. Sometimes thoughts moved from one chapter to another. The chapter order was in constant flux.
Instead of a month of editing, it spanned well over six. To be perfectly honest, there were many times I found myself overwhelmed and wondering if I would ever get it right. And even during the editing process, a few new chapters like the one called I Am Not My Father’s Son arose and cried to be included.
Then it happened. I sat down one day to read through the latest version of my manuscript and realized I was starting to feel the rhythm beginning to flow past those first three chapters. There was a little more fine tuning to be done, but all the hard work and long hours had paid off. The finish line was in sight. And that’s when the realization of what I had actually created hit me between the eyes.
While my goal in the beginning was simply to pay forward all I had learned through my decade of interviewing, The Wisdom of Listening had also become part memoir. I can’t begin to describe how much that thought scared me. This book was personal. How would it be received?
It was time to practise what I shared in my book and make a leap of faith. I hit the send button…
There are several key pieces of gold in this book
I hope readers decide to place in their own deep pockets.
There are no mistakes. You are exactly who you are meant to be.
Embrace the beauty in your imperfections. Those quirks that society encourages
you to change are actually your talents. When you find where they
are an asset, you will find your passion.
You deserve to live your own unique life – one of your choosing
– and live it without apology. Embrace your personal journey joyfully!
You’ll find both freedom and peace in learning to walk through life one step, one moment, one breath at a time. Try not to be too caught up in the future or past. Live fully in each precious moment. Wonders and opportunity await.
Everyone around you has pockets filled with gold, wisdom learned on their own personal journey. You never know until you open a conversation who will have the answer you’ve been waiting for. It could simply be the person in line
with you waiting to get their coffee. Time to go digging for gold.
Lastly, there is no secret, just do and be brave.
About Marilyn R. Wilson
Marilyn R. Wilson is a freelance writer and editor with a passion for interviewing. It all began in 2006 when she answered a Craigslist ad from a NY magazine asking for story submissions. Two were accepted. The first live interview was life changing and Wilson has never looked back. With over 150 interviews now behind her, the love of interviewing is still as strong as ever. Whether through a random encounter on the New York subway or via a “one-on-one” interview with an internationally recognized artist, the goal is the same—to share the unique journeys of inspiring individuals.
In 2007, this goal led the author to co-launch a successful, innovative magazine focused on professionals working in the fashion industry, paired with photography and illustrations by local artists. Now on staff at Raine Magazine (NY/Miami/LA), as well as freelancing for other publications, Wilson has taken her passion to a new audience with the release of her first book.
This author guest post is courtesy of: iRead Book Tours
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Kindly leave your thoughts, comments & questions for Ms Wilson in the Comments!
If you love reading snippets of intuitive wisdom and short stories rooted IRL experiences, you'll love @oliobymarilyn's #RealPeopleRealLives #books for INSPIRING personal growth! Share on X
Similar to blog tours where I feature book reviews, as I choose to highlight an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog. I provide the questions for interviews and topics for the guest posts; wherein I receive the responses back from publicists and authors directly. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them; I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers.
{SOURCES: Cover art of “The Wisdom of Listening”, book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Marilyn R. Wilson and the iRead badge were all provided by iRead Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Writerly Topics banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2018.
Comments via Twitter
Jorie feat. (@oliobymarilyn) Marilyn R. Wilson on behalf of her #blogtour via @iReadBookTours celebrating her latest #NonFiction release: The Wisdom of Listening
An INSPIRING #guestpost for:
🌸#WritersWednesday
🌸#WednesdayWisdom
🌸#WritingWednesday✍️https://t.co/fwHyvH8O6c pic.twitter.com/L4ovmAqIiD
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) October 10, 2018
ICYMI: #ontheblog (#JLASblog)#ThursdayThoughts | art of listening & mindfulness can heighten how you evolve through life whilst being intuitive to how our lives interconnect
📌feat. #guestpost by @oliobymarilyn #RealPeopleRealLives
pub by @InfluencePub https://t.co/fwHyvH8O6c— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) October 11, 2018
Thanks so very much for opening your blog again for my book tour and offering me the chance to share the story of how this book came into being. It was such an incredible experience writing it and then scary in that I realized how personal it became. I hope you found several pieces of gold to add to your pockets with it’s pages.