Jodi Sky Rogers is an Eco-Intuitive & Writer based in Johannesburg, South Africa, who uses the wisdom of Nature to help women find deeper spirituality, inspiration, peace, healing and reconnect with their wild feminine soul. She is the author of Wild Essence: Return to the Peace and Freedom of Your Inner Wilderness. You can find out more about Jodi at her website, http://jodiskyrogers.com, Facebook page http://on.fb.me/1KcPTO5 and on Instagram at @jodisky13. Click here to receive a free publishing guide and to receive more information on self-publishing your book with Balboa Press.
Tell us a little bit about your book. What inspired you to write it?
Wild Essence is my love letter to the women of the world. The book is about coming home to yourself – to your Spirit, your soul or your wild essence as I’ve come to call it – as well as exploring how you can loosen the grips of the barriers that disconnected you from your inner essence and diminish you. Through my own journey, I’ve come to see that walking a spiritual path and reconnecting with the inner wilderness is like an un-taming of a domesticated heart and restoring one’s soul to its freest and most natural form.
Since I draw so much of my inspiration from Nature, the book also includes intricately woven threads of wild whispers, insights and analogies from Nature. I’ve wanted to write something inspiring and soulful for the longest time. I feel that we each have a gift and our unique life experiences can be turn into spiritual insights that help to inspire and guide others if we choose to use them that way.
What is the one message you would like to convey to your readers?
The key message for readers is that they are essentially wild creatures of profound beauty who are meant to be and express all of who they are, not lurk in the shadows. By liberating your spirit from the shackles of fear and domestication – the effects of negative conditioning, self-limited beliefs and restrictive self-perceptions – you begin the journey of returning to the peace and freedom of your inner wilderness, that wild and sacred space within.
What do you love most about self-publishing and would you recommend it to other authors?
What I love most about self-publishing is that it’s so simple, straight forward and a fairly quick process. It’s also empowering to drive your own publishing process, so I’d definitely recommend this route to other authors. Self-publishing has allowed me to get my work out into the world, and the feedback from readers who 
have been moved my messages in some way has been so rewarding. We live in a time where people need much inspiration, spiritual enrichment, guidance and messages that restore their hope in humanity and the future. So many amazing writers have incredible life stories, ideas and messages that could do just that. It would be a shame if their work stayed shelved away when it has the potential to have a great impact. Self-publishing is definitely a wonderful opportunity to share valuable stories and ideas.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Find a writing routine that resonates with your essence. It’s important to write as often as possible, stay in practice and keep honing your writing skills. To do that you need a regular writing practice that works for you. Are you a morning writer or an evening writer, or are you flexible? My life used to be structured around a 9-5 job. I’d try to write in the evenings when supper and house chores were done. Naturally, I was exhausted and could barely string a sentence together. I became blocked and felt discouraged. However, this all changed when I realized that I’ve always been a morning person. So I started walking up an hour earlier, meditated and then wrote until it was time to get ready for work. To this day, I meditate and write best in the mornings. It’s made all the difference.
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