About Angela:
I was raised with many limiting beliefs. I should have been an alcoholic and drug addict. I shouldn’t have graduated. I should be living off welfare.
So how did I avoid being an addict and alcoholic, graduate from not only high school, but college with three degrees, overcome abuse, and become a successful author? CHOICE.
I faced my past, healed, and found my wings to reach my dreams.
I’ve been a facilitator in a divorce care recovery class for two years and volunteered at a domestic violence shelter helping other women recover by building their self-esteem and reminding them that they are loved and worthy of that love.
As a life coach and author, I inspire and motivate others to heal, reach for their dreams and discover their wings. Discover Your Wings and Making Lemonade–Revised Edition are published through Goodnight Publishing.
What motivated you to begin pursuing the journey of writing?
This is about a journey of a caterpillar who realized she was more than what everyone was telling her she was supposed to be. I finally discovered I was to become a butterfly creator.
One day, at the age of nine, I decided I was going to become a writer. I really didn’t even like reading, let alone writing! But the thought intrigued me. It took me three years to actually begin the process. In Junior High, I used writing as an escape from my childhood, to enter into a different world away from my pain. I declared one day I would be a famous author. No one took my dream seriously, and I had to fight back a lot of negative criticism.
Over time, writing became my passion, a drug, a dream I couldn’t surrender—until I entered college. My critics, bitter caterpillars who gave up on their dreams and laughed at mine, persuaded me to put away my “foolish” scribblings and focus on reality, to get a real career. Unfortunately, I listened to them. I figured I’d get my four year degree, get a job, then go back to writing.
I didn’t write again for twenty years. The few times I tried, the gift seemed lost within side me. Pen to paper, I’d attempt to write. But my words were flat, lifeless, forced. Fingers ready on the keyboard, the electronic paper before me remained blank. Below my fingers, the keys laughed at my failure to unscramble the words from the hibernating recess of my mind. I could no longer hear my inner butterfly nor feel her wings stirring within me.
It took a horrible tragedy in my life to finally find my voice and to finally wake the butterfly inside who knew the words, phrases and story I would write. After twelve years of marriage, my husband divorced me. Not only had I lost my gift of writing, but I had lost myself within that abusive marriage. I had to start my life completely over and rediscover who I was. What an incredible journey it was!
My first book, Making Lemonade – A Spiritual Journey Through Pain and Divorce, is my personal story of recovery to help other women recover from abuse and/or divorce and not feel alone and that they, too, can heal and find a wonderful life. Carving the pain into the pages released my purpose.
I found a second chance to be who I was meant to be, and now I share that passion in my newest books, Discover Your Wings and The Confident Butterfly, to help other women discover who they really are and overcome their critics and challenges in life.
I write to help others heal, find their passion and their purpose. My experiences make my books honest, real and relatable. I do, however, have some fiction stories brewing.
Do you work better working on one writing project at a time or numerous?
I like working on one project at a time, but since I do have other stories lined up in my head, sometimes I’ll think of something good for another story I’m not currently working on. I quickly type it into the computer under the appropriate working title so I don’t forget. Sometimes my greatest lines or imagery come when I’m not working on that particular story.
Are you a seat-of-the pants writer or an outliner?
I usually have an idea of what I want to write, but then the story begins to take on a life of its own and directs me, sometimes to a surprising place—even for me. My characters become real and tell me what they want. Yes, even in an autobiography and self-help book!
Do you write best in the AM or PM? How many hours do you usually write?
I write all day as things come to me. It may be a sentence here or there or for a few hours. I don’t force myself to sit for long periods of time, especially when I’m not in the mood to write. Sometimes I will write all day and be completely drained the next. And I’m completely okay with that. I never allow myself to be upset with the process in which I write. You can’t force your creativity.
However, as my husband can attest to, my brain is most active at night. When the world falls away and reality is shroud in darkness, my imagination comes out to play. All limitations and boundaries are erased. Everything is permissible. I keep a notepad nearby or run to my computer at all hours of the night and wee hours of the morning to jot down my thoughts before they evaporate into the vortex of forgotten thoughts.
I have to say the worst time to get an idea is when I’m driving. I’ve written on gas receipts while driving. This is the ONLY time I pray for red lights!
