I am proud and pleased to share a career milestone. I was contacted by the founder of shepherd.com telling me he was interested in promoting my suspense thriller Mirror.
A Ghost Games novel.
It’s been great working with Ben and his staff. I found them to be great communicators, setting expectations and working with and around my schedule.
I invite you to visit shepherd.com where it is like wandering the aisles of your favorite bookstore.
For more of my work visit elizabethmaxim.com.
A recent conversation had me reflecting on my path to becoming a holistic doctor.
PhD with a Bachelor’s in Holistic Childcare.
The gentleman I was speaking with is a retired psychiatrist which had me reflecting on a class on how nutrition affects and is treatment for many psychiatric disorders.
The class was taught by a psychiatrist who specialized in ADD/ADHD and the positive effect of elimination diets for some cases.
The part of that class I found most fascinating was borderline personality disorders.
Further ruminating led me to the day circumstances set me on this path.
My Bio and About pages show I’ve had many interesting stops along this path.
Life Intervenes
A domestic situation between my parents meant my mom brother and I were about to be homeless and if not for an offer from a woman from the UK we would have been in dire straits.
She was the wife of a brilliant ENT surgeon who was the first in the US to do cochlear transplants so deaf children could hear. He passed away while at a conference teaching other doctors to do this life-changing procedure.
I met him a month after deciding I wanted to be a doctor.
Six, I needed my tonsils and adenoids out.
One morning as I was getting ready for school
He was just coming in from surgery and rounds at UM.
After teasing me about not being a morning person and asking how school was coming he asked if I’d ever considered pursuing alternative medicine.
Which was and is embraced throughout the UK.
I explained that being the granddaughter of people who’d lived on farms and understood animal husbandry and our relationship to nature it was innate as a lifestyle but as a profession in the US it was a hard way to go.
As was being a female in a male-dominated industry though I had the support of my dad.
Familiar with the bureaucracy involved in the industry, not to mention my somewhat rebellious temperament
Ahem
He felt I would thrive under a discipline just getting a foothold in the US.
Training Begins
Some eight months later we were in a rental. As I was a determined hiker along the college path he took it upon himself to train me in the rudiments of holistic therapy.
Starting with herbs and tinctures and moving on to homeopathy.
Years later I formalized my education eventually earning my doctorate and then the secondary bachelor’s.
The intervening years doing extensive research and study.
The path forward took turns I didn’t expect
EMF Sensitivity anyone?
And as I sit typing this one-handed
Broke my left humorous though it’s healing well and fast
I think on the joy that crazy unplanned path has brought
Including meeting this wonderful retired psychiatrist who makes my life better
Be Well!
I’m thoroughly enjoying the Metatron’s Army reboot project. It not only gives me insight into how my writing style has evolved, it gives me a chance to check whether the plans I have for future books in this series make sense.
I’m happy to say they do!
I’ll admit it was frustrating to discover errors I’d corrected previously had somehow wound up in the versions that were published.
I even lost an entire section I’d added.
I’m still in the process of investigating how the sync’ing error happened.
Rereading has provided insight into my creative process, albeit primarily with respect to this series. Many scenes bring back memories of where I was and what I was doing while coming up with them.
Good memories.
Several have one thing in common: I was walking while creating.
A number of the scenes were created while I was on a treadmill, going as far back as 1998 living in Michigan. Others were done while I walked outside.
Especially at the Cranbrook Institute which inspired more than one scene in the MA series.
As I thought over the various places I’ve lived and walked I realized that a number of my non-Metatron’s Army projects came about while I was walking.
After moving to the west, most of that walking was done outdoors.
Though much of the secondary location – AZ – was inspired from when I lived in Scottsdale and would drive to Tucson for research and pleasure.
Though I published Port in a Storm first, that book was conceived years later, while people watching at KEXP in Seattle.
Though the idea for the Ghost Games series – of which Mirror was originally the first – was planted as I was walking down the stairwell of the building I was living in Downtown San Diego.
It’s been a long time since I’ve used walking as a way to stimulate creativity.
I’d swapped to playing Free Cell as it put me in a meditative state ideal for incubating projects. Having uninstalled it several weeks ago, however, I see the need to reconsider walking.
It isn’t as critical to this current reboot project but it will certainly help as I move forward with the next.
Especially as I’ve resolved the question of Prologue V. Chapter One!
But first things first, an enjoyable memory walk through the process of creating.
Have a great weekend!
Elizabeth Maxim 