JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Erica M. Nelson, author of Happiness Quotations: Gentle Reminders of Your Preciousness
(Wyatt Mackenzie)
Happiness Quotations: Gentle Reminders of Your Preciousness is an inspirational book written with fresh, original quotations to wake you up, help you get through your day with an insight or a flash of memory of what is great about you already.
We forget the greatness within ourselves in the struggle for making it, getting by or being caught up in the rat race. This book gets you out of that into a place where you can change how you look at your life, one passage at a time.
Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the inspiration to write Happiness Quotations: Gentle Reminders of Your Preciousness?
Erica M Nelson: Happiness Quotations was inspired by true life situations. I might notice how my child can change her mood like a light switch. Why can’t everyone do that? Switch on happiness, that’s one of my quotations.
I get inspired when I am down, connecting to all that is great to lift me up. And there is some religious undertones in Happiness Quotations, as I connect to source energy before I write each day.
JP: What sets Happiness Quotations: Gentle Reminders of Your Preciousness apart from other books in the same genre?
EN: All original, all inspired, and this book has a serious group of 4,400 fans and growing on Facebook that kicked it up a level. The Facebook fans commented and gave feedback on many of the quotations before they made it into the book.
When a quotation didn’t get much feedback, or nobody liked it, it got dropped. I listened to people as I grew the book. I became a slave to “likes”. When I hit numbers like 172 likes, I knew I had struck a chord.
JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that led to Happiness Quotations: Gentle Reminders of Your Preciousness getting out to the public?
EN: I believed in the book. The book took on its own identity and life that felt a lot bigger than me. More than me. I trusted that instinct. It wasn’t always easy, and I was challenged.
I have a great publisher behind me, Wyatt-Mackenzie, and I have a strong family that supports me at home. Right off, Jack Canfield (who wrote Chicken Soup for the Soul) endorsed this book, and Marci Shimoff (Happy for No Reason) endorsed this book. It had a lot going for it months before it was published.
JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take you to start and finish Happiness Quotations: Gentle Reminders of Your Preciousness?
EN: Every morning before my kids wake up, as I am now, I sit and write. I write a new quotation for my Happiness Quotations blog, and then I write deeper passages. This book cooked for about four months.
When I am out and about, I might ask myself, “How could this situation make me happy?” When a bad thing happens, like I lose a job or I lose track of my financial sitation, I ask myself, “How can I experience happiness even when life is throwing me a curve ball?”
I’m always asking myself if I can be happier, feel more happiness, or reach higher for better results in my life. What could I do more? How could I be better? How could I express myself with more abandon? Then I write about it. Even when life is the pits, I write about that. One of the quotations is about that. Here it goes:
Happiness on a Stormy Day… You may reach for happiness and get a rotten apple, or you may get a pinch or a bee-sting. You may feel like you are reaching and reaching. See if you can feel it from inside, called up from the depths of your being. Not wanting it – just being it. Learning shows up in spurts. Some days it may not feel easy or fun or friendly or happy. Some days, you may stub your toe or fall on your face, or forget something important, or you might be mean to someone you love. Forgive these trespasses and step back onto the path. Forgive from the core of your being, and love yourself even when you experience pain. Know that you have joy deep inside you. You are beauty within. You are the essence of all that is.
JP: What’s next for Erica M Nelson?
EN: The next edition of Happiness Quotations is under construction. I’m writing new passages, and I’m creating a virtual happiness “Positivity Training” that I will be launching. I’m always open to new opportunities, and I’ve been invited to appear as a Happiness master on tele-summits and radio programs. It’s very cool.
http://happinessquotations.com/
http://ericanelson.com/
http://www.facebook.com/HappinessQuotations
http://twitter.com/inspirationmave
We’re promoting the interview for an April 28, 2011 publish date. If that’s possible, it would be fabulous. Thank you!
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