Following the Signs to a Second Business

This is the second of two parts. To read from the beginning, click here.

I’ve always wanted to be a full-time author. I also have developed a specialty over the past five years in working with people who have a long-held desire to write a book—to show it to others as a way to say, “This is my story.”

This work—and their stories—are meaningful to me. It all gives me deep satisfaction.

After I finished reading Big Magic and penned the Christmas book for Jacques, a series of revelations came to me like tiny seed pods blown my way in the wind. It went like this:

• You wrote a pretty decent memoir in 30 days. That means you could write another book, and it might also be pretty decent.
• There are a lot of other people out there who could use your help, a lot of passion stories waiting to be told and handed out by clients to their friends and family.
• You could create a second business around these ideas and start to nurture it with time and attention.
• You could take this idea into semi-retirement with Jacques and work anywhere in the world.

That’s how Janice Beetle Books LLC was born. My friend and colleague Val Nelson is guiding me through the process, helping me stay focused on my audiences and drawing the mission from my heart.

Mark NeJame, a Northampton attorney who is also a friend and colleague, is in the process of creating the LLC. My daughter’s best friend Ali Winkler is creating a logo for Janice Beetle Books. And I am in the process of choosing a web developer to build a new site that will replace—and upgrade—this one. It will feature photos by Sandra Costello.

The growth is becoming tangible. It fills me with as much anxiety and trepidation as it does excitement. Doubts try to nestle into my psyche, but they continue to get pushed away by these unmistakable signs I keep receiving from the universe:

• When I was locked out of a website I access frequently, I had to answer a security question I created over 10 years ago. “What did you want to be, as a child?” It asked me. I summoned the answer instantly: an author. An amazing reminder, validation.
• I’ve had four new client inquiries since I started moving in the direction of Janice Beetle Books. Each prospect wants help with a book.
• After I praised the magic of Big Magic on Facebook a few weeks ago, a reader and friend, Lynn Moynahan, responded with a suggestion for another book, Daring Greatly, by Brene Brown. It’s about vulnerability and the ways in which we hide our creativity because we are afraid. Brene is teaching me that it is courageous to move forward with this idea I believe in with my whole heart. It’s better to fail while reaching for a goal than to skitter away without trying.
• A few weeks ago, I was cleaning out a packed storage space in my basement, taking the time to go through each and every tote. In one, I found every journal I’ve ever kept and a folder full of typewritten pages. I took the folder upstairs and found a body of work that was important to me at one time that I thought I’d lost as well as three published works of fiction. I did not remember that my fiction was published once, never mind three times. The affirmation made me giddy.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Signs, signs. Everywhere signs. The universe has spoken.

Soon I will introduce you to Janice Beetle Books and all it has to offer.