Debra Oakland’s E-Book - Living in Courage

I wanted to let you know my e-book is finished and up on the site for you to download. I would like to tell you how this book and website came about. I had decided to create a website around the word Courage. I built my first website in iWeb on my Mac. I realized very quickly that I knew practically nothing on the internet. I needed help and fast.

With the abundant help of our friend Lennie Appelquist, who is genius in online strategies. I suggest you go to my blogroll to find Lennie or go to Free Market Media and pick up his Wordpress Guide. Lennie has gone far beyond the call of duty, and knows how grateful I am. Living in Courage was created as a website on Wordpress, which is blog based, but is gaining popularity for website building. I did not know where to go from there, but knew I wanted to write.

A few months ago I was on a conference call listening to a man named David Riklin from Self Growth, the largest self improvement website on the internet. You will find me there listed under the expert section as the Courage Expert. David was talking about an e-book class he would be teaching for 8 weeks. I was intrigued, but had no intention of taking the class. My husband Cody had been in the other room and asked how the call was. I said it was good and sounded like a great way to learn more about writing e-books. I had been writing for years and stuffing it under the bed! We talked a bit and Cody said he thought I should take the course. He was very persistent, which surprised me. He walked me to the computer and signed me up. He asked if I could commit to something very foreign to me that would take a great deal of time and effort. I said a huge YES. The course was fantastic for me, and more work than I had anticipated. I disappeared for almost 3 months from regular life. I was trying to learn about blogs, social networking, branding, websites, navigating the internet, using my new Mac, SEO, studying internet gurus and their techniques, learning about writing, e-books, articles, editing, pdf and word doc files, you name it. Cody, along with my amazing friend Nicole McKinney were constant sources of encouragement. Since we all were involved in business projects at the same time, support for each other has been key. Cody is at 2media and Nicole is in Toronto Canada running very successful branding company for corporations - you can contact her at nicole.mckinney@sypatico.ca.

While taking David’s class, he strongly suggested we each join a master mind group. I love the group I joined, who will never know how much they helped me grow, as I knew nothing, zero, zip, when I joined. 10 of us from the master mind have just completed a group e-book “Guide to Home Based Business,” my chapter being the last in the book and on balance while working at home. You can download the free e-book at Guide to Home Based Business.

I have met some wonderful people. I and am now working on different projects with a few of them. In regards to my book, I started by writing articles and put some of them together for this short e-book. I used a wonderful editor Andrea Glass at WritersWay, who was very patient and fantastic to work with.

Chris Cade has been a constant source of inspiration who has helped me with my writing, along with some editing. You will find Chris Cade at Spiritual Stories and Parables, or in my blogroll.

There have been moments I wanted to pull my hair out with frustration at trying to learn so much in such a short period of time, and days of pure bliss and gratitude. I am so happy to be on this journey and it is just beginning. I will begin my next book, which will involve interviewing people around the world, writing, and learning many new skills. It took all the courage I could muster to get through leaving a 28 year career and following my inner guidance system as I took action each day. I know that I am being led perfectly each day in every action. I anticipate wonderful changes, movement and growth for this website. It has only been 3 months! Think what will happen in the next year. What an amazing time we live in. Many changes are occurring now that have been spoken of throughout history. I for one and excited to be participating in the great and many changes that are coming our way. This world will change, and as it does, I hope Living in Courage will be a place people can come for hope, courage, strength, honor, comfort, fun and information that will help heal the heart. Thank you for sharing this journey with me.

Posted in Books I Read, Courage, My Music, My Stories, Quotes that Rock | 2 Comments »