Secret: Learn From It All

Dear friends,
2017 has tested me as a human. After losing depth perception in my left eye (due to high altitude shock) while visiting ancient civilizations in Peru and Bolivia in July of 2016, I had no choice but to stop and look at my human limitations and change my way of viewing and living life. Not a bad choice to move out of the fast lane, take eye breaks, and enjoy each breath-taking moment. As a result, I count blessings more often and allow myself to become my BEST possible every day.

My goal for 2018 is to continue to learn from the good, the bad, the happy, the sad, and remember the secret—learn from it all.   I first learned this lesson in 1976 when a singing elephant showed up in my dreams at a time when I was ill and depressed. My first book for children was a result of that profound realization. Just reminding myself all these years later.

Wishing you Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year! XX

Rave Reviews Book Club—2016 Book & Blog Party

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Buen día from Atlantida, Uruguay, South America! It’s winter in the southern hemisphere.

I’m delighted to participate in this event featuring talented authors from all literary genres—from all over the world.

Four winners will win eBooks for this stop. Your choice of:

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The Lullaby Illusion: A Journey of Awakening

OR

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Good Morning Diego Garcia: A Journey of Discovery

In order to win, you must comment on this post. Be sure to visit other blogs on the tour to be eligible for more prizes.

Born in Los Angeles, I spent most of my childhood in Tucson, Arizona and returned to LA as a young working woman. Inspired as a child by postcards from my globe-trotting great aunt, I left the United States at age 20 to see the “great big wonder-full” world.

I planned on being gone for a year, but ended up living my 20s and 30s in Europe and the Middle East. A Jill of all trades, I worked as a secretary and a freelance writer, taught computer classes, wrote songs, and became an accomplished artist while writing my first children’s book, Peel, the Extraordinary Elephant. A charming man who I met at a dinner party in Germany illustrated my book and later became my husband. Serendipitous events showed us that Universe had plans for us together.

After many years of writing and editing children’s books, the 2013 release of my first memoir, The Lullaby Illusion: A Journey of Awakening, represented a profound personal transformation and a new phase in my career. My second book in the ‘Journey’ series, Good Morning Diego Garcia: A Journey of Discovery is a psychological and psychic exploration forged in the chaos of horrendous storms in the Indian Ocean during monsoon season. Following the loss of a child, war in Cyprus, and with growing suspicions that my husband has a secret life, I confronted the elements, and viscerally realized that nothing is as it seems.

My third memoir is about soul connections and the force of pure energy which moves us to the unique place we belong in the universe, and how we fit into the bigger picture of life.

Doug and I love to explore different countries and cultures, learn about their history, and enjoy their distinct traditions and cuisines. We’ve just returned from a trip to Peru and Bolivia where we visited ancient civilization sites, saw alien skulls, and the mysterious Nazca lines in southern Peru.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope our paths meet again.

Susan Joyce

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Living Life to the Fullest

Living Life to the Fullest

Featured Author of the Day

Susan Joyce is an exceptional woman and creative author whose life story reads like riveting fiction. She has done it all – travelled the world, lived in several countries, experienced a war up close and personal and lived to tell her story. Today, Joyce chats with us about culture shocks, how she discovered after nine years of marriage that her husband wasn’t who he pretended to be and how dreams serve her in life.
The Lullaby Illusion id on promo 10-13 June 2016 Only.99
AMAZON UNIVERSAL LINK: smarturl.it/LullabyIllusion
AMAZON UK LINK: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FHBBSO4

First Place! 2016 San Francisco Book Festival

(Gotta love the runner-up 😉 )

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http://www.sanfranciscobookfestival.com/winners_2016.htm

First Place San Francisco Book Festival!

BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY

WINNER: “Good Morning Diego Garcia” – Susan Joyce

RUNNER-UP: “A Perfect Spy” – Francis Hamit

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • “Running for my Life – Winning for CMT” – Christine Wodke
  • “Nothing Ever Goes On Here” – Ellen Newhouse
  • “Surreality: Strange Tales of a Man Sitting Down the Bar From You” – J.D. Bradley
  • “A Connisseur’s Journey” – Dr. Jeffrey Lant
  • “Through the Woods” – Margie Mack
  • “Letters from a Soldier” – Susan Mowry
  • “The Sibold Effect” – J.D. Miller
  • “A Chick in the Cockpit” – Erika Armstrong
  • “Silent No More” – Christine Orenic-Ward

Susan Joyce Interview

Had a fun chat with English Informer Magazine

http://www.englishinformerinfrance.com/full-article/Talking-with-author-Susan-Joyce

Happy New Year!

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Art by Doug DuBosque

Dear friends,

Wishing you love and light, and all things bright to guide your steps along the way. May 2015 be your best year ever, so far!

Happy New Year!

Susan Joyce

Helping Hand

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As early as I can remember, I’ve felt a presence of protection around me, someone assigned to assist and guide me during my journey on earth. A helping hand. My very own heavenly representative. Mine never appeared as a chubby cherub but she did have wings, a long flowing robe, and moved like a graceful dancer.

One time, she appeared as a playful dog scampering through the woods with me one late night in Germany. I had just missed the last tram home and decided to walk a short-cut through the woods to my apartment. The dog joined me as soon as I entered the forest path, licked my hand, and stayed by my side until I arrived at my apartment. I turned to pat her head and say thanks but she had disappeared into the night. I never saw her again, but I was aware of the protection she provided. It felt like the same energy I had known as a child with my all-knowing, winged spirit guide.

Shortly before my first art exhibit in Frankfurt, Germany, I received a telephone call from a woman who collected art. I asked her how she knew about my upcoming exhibit. She said she saw a poster plastered around a column in a local U-Bahn station and found herself drawn to it. She found my name and telephone number in the local telephone directory. She asked if she could view the paintings before the show’s opening night. I agreed and she came to my studio immediately to see my work. Exotic looking, she arrived in a beautiful pink Indian sari, I noticed she also had a red dot painted on her forehead. After viewing the paintings, she asked if she could purchase the one titled, “Helping Hand.” I, of course, was delighted and told her it was my guardian angel’s hand. She nodded and insisted on paying me before the opening. She agreed to send a check and promised to collect the piece after the exhibit was over. She smiled and said, “It’s good to have a ‘SOLD’ or ‘ON LOAN from a private collector’ sign on a work on opening night. Helps sell art.”

Knowing I was down to my last pfennigs, and wondering where the next money was coming from, I agreed. The entire time she visited me, she seemed familiar. As though I knew her from another place or time. Perhaps it was déjà vu.

That night, I dreamed of my guardian angel from childhood, the one with the long flowing robe, sort of sari-like. When I was little, she was much bigger and better at everything than me and always got me out of tight spots and often helped steer me to safety over an old swinging, rickety bridge. As a storm stirred overhead, dark shapes lurked in the raging river below. This time I realized that I was crossing the bridge alone. When I turned my head to look behind, I saw myself as a child and the guardian angel of my youth fading away. I heard a voice say, “You’re almost there. Follow the moonlight.”

Just as I reached the other side and landed firmly on solid ground, I watched the bridge collapse and crash into the river below. By heeding her advice, I had saved myself. I awoke the next morning feeling grateful to all who helped me in life. I had a long list of helpers.

A check arrived in my mailbox three days later, to pay for the painting, I was elated and invited a friend to lunch to celebrate.

My first art exhibit was a great success. By evening’s end, every painting had a red dot on it showing it was sold. My eyes searched the crowd for the red dot on the Indian woman’s forehead but she wasn’t there. A man collected the painting a month later, after the show closed.

Rejection Brings Gifts

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I received a big “NO!” slap from life many years ago when my husband informed me he wanted a divorce on grounds that I didn’t produce a child for him. After many miscarriages and the loss of a baby in childbirth, I was shaken by his insensitivity, his drastic move to end our marriage of 13 years. I tried to convince him, and myself, that we could adopt a child if this was the problem. Of course it wasn’t.

I cried and cried, feeling pitifully sad and abandoned. Worthless! I had given him my heart. What did I get in return? Rejection. I looked at my fearful face in the bathroom mirror, and with a little bit of surprise, asked myself, “What are you afraid of?”
The unknown, being alone? A voice questioned.
I searched deep into my eyes and let the conversation flow.
You’re not alone. You have yourself.
Love yourself. Trust yourself.
The best is yet to come.

Hours later, as a calm settled over me and the city of Frankfurt (where I was living at the time), a piercing cry interrupted my serene thoughts. Through thin walls, from the apartment next door, came squeals of laughter and shrill erotic screams. My thoughts scattered while my heart skipped several uncomfortable beats. Damn. Two guys. Having sex. Loudly! Initially horrified, I reacted: cranked up Billy Joel’s album, The Stranger, to the max. Singing along and dancing wildly, I no longer heard the ruckus from my horny neighbors.

Long after the album had finished, I got ready for bed. Cleaning my teeth and face, I observed light and love in my eyes. I smiled. Getting to know you.

That night I dreamed …
My husband broke into my apartment, rushed into my bedroom and pulled me from the bed. I tried to scream, but my voice didn’t work. He reached for my heart and tried to tear it out of my chest. Frantic, I waved my hands motioning for him to stop. When I screamed “NO!” … his grip loosened and his image faded to black. He vanished.

The next morning sunshine splashed across my eyes, My heart thumped a steady beat. I took a deep breath and smiled. I still have my heart. No one can take that away from me.

Transformed while dreaming, I felt grateful to be alive and thankful for the gifts rejection brought me—forcing me to explore my fears and encouraging me to love and trust myself.