Balboa Press publishes articles written by our authors in which they share some aspect of their self-publishing journeys. These are the words of Nancy Weckwerth author of Don’t Stop the Music: Finding the Joy in Caregiving, Nancy shares her tips and tricks to care giving for loved ones. Find her at www.DontStoptheMusic.co or on Facebook and Twitter.

My journey from being a caregiver to inspiring other caregivers has covered many miles. The process began about fifteen years ago when I decided that my story was worth telling. I believed in my story – I instinctively knew it had value for others.

I began by keeping a file of notes on my computer with chapter titles, concepts, and short paragraphs here and there. In between my overwhelmed days of teaching full time at a college, teaching twenty or more private music students in my home and my caregiving duties, my brain was constantly busy. It was creating the memory files of minutiae that eventually would become the words on each page.

About four years ago, a massive shift to working at home to combine care giving with career occurred. I realized the universe had provided the opportunity for me to take the leap of faith into writing everything down.

File after file began to appear as I made the commitment to myself to finish my story. I spent three manic months writing. Every detail, every bit and piece that I could remember, filtered from my soul through my fingers. I thought I was well on the way to completion of my book. What a rookie—I was really a tiny flower bulb that needed soil and water to bloom!

Discovering the many webinars offered online by Hay House led me to a whole new world of information and guidance in the art of book completion and marketing. I diligently took advantage of as many of them as I could. It was all an investment in myself and in my growing wisdom about the world of publishing. When I discovered the Hay House Writer’s Workshop was scheduled just a quick fifty-five minute flight from my California homestead, I jumped on the plane. My sixth sense told me this workshop would change my life.

I was more than right. The inspiration I received from Marianne Williamson on “honoring the process” guided me to a complete shift in the concept of my book. Her belief that meditation allows us to “write from a different part of the brain” became not only my mantra, but also my daily practice. Here was the soil for my soul.

Reid Tracy’s inspiring hours on how to complete a book proposal became the “water.” I now had a new tool to help me with the organization of concepts and content into a workable product. By the time I returned home from the workshop, I set aside my original jumble of content and spent the next four months working with my editor, creating a book proposal. I did all the research, read a dozen or more other books with similar stories, and gradually, my bulb began to sprout.

Along the road, I read only one book about caregiving that was actually inspirational. Most of the books were about the “how-to” of caregiving. None of them made the next step: how to thrive while doing it.

The Caregiver’s Tao Te Ching by William and Nancy Martin became the catalyst for me. I had now discovered the niche for my story. I realized I had survived and thrived. My mission became to use my story merely as the vehicle to get others and myself to a point of inspiration.

Now my story has meaning beyond the mere words of yet another tale of a stroke survivor. It now stands proud, a beautiful blossom. I now stand proud. I completed my inspirational story, using the tools provided by Balboa Press. I grew as a writer, as a caregiver, and as a person. Gratitude remains because in the process of learning how to inspire, the process of completing my project, I grew.

Balboa Press authors who’d like to share a 350-600 word experience related to the self-publishing of their books, are invited to do so by sending a message through our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BalboaPress, by tweeting us @BalboaPress, or by emailing blog@balboapress.com. We may not be able to use every story, but we will read and consider them. Balboa Press reserves the right to edit stories for content, grammar and punctuation accuracy; as well as for space.