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BLURB:
When Marissa’s fiancé leaves her unexpectedly, she is left trying to put the broken pieces of her life back together again. The magical years of her childhood are now lost or long forgotten and, trapped in a downward spiral of worry and anxiety, nothing seems to be bringing the magic back any time soon.
Training to become a therapist, Marissa discovers an unforeseen talent for helping others and, for a while at least, she puts her own needs and concerns to one side. An unexpected windfall prompts a spontaneous trip to Peru, and an encounter while she is there triggers an astonishing series of events. Shaken but excited, Marissa embarks on a wonderful journey of revelation and adventure – after which, her life will never be the same again.
Marissa’s story is your story, is my story, is everybody’s story: we each must find our own true path through life, our one true way.
Abby Wynne, author and Shamanic Psychotherapist, brings all her wisdom to bear on Marissa’s amazing tale of discovery and healing. A catalyst for people’s healing processes, Abby is a problem solver, a creative artist, an alchemist, a healer, a mother, a daughter, a lover of life - and it shows in this, her first novel.
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EXCERPT:
Marissa looked out the window at the moonlight. It was half a moon and seemed to glisten through the tree branches. The leaves were falling, the days were getting darker earlier and earlier. A single star blinked in the pale sky, but the sky was too bright with light pollution to see anything more. She looked at the cloud as it crawled towards the moon, shifting and changing its shape. She could see a dragon in it for a moment, then it turned into puffs of smoke, and then the moon was hidden.
She put the notebook down beside her laptop and climbed into bed, leaving the curtains open. She liked moonlight. Her room in the half-light felt like an in-between place, her breathing slowing down, her body relaxing. Tobermory jumped up beside her, looking straight into her eyes. She stroked his back.
‘My familiar, my friend, my cat,’ she said, ‘what do you think? Do you have an answer for me?’
As usual, Tobermory was silent, but he held eye contact for a moment longer than Marissa expected him to. Perhaps he understood her? He mewed, then curled himself into a black circle on the bed beside her and began to purr.
Training, she thought to herself as she settled under the covers. But who is going to teach me?’
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Author Bio:
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Abby Wynne is the bestselling author of the “One Day at a Time Diary”, “How to Be Well” and “Energy Healing made Easy.” The Inner Compass Trilogy is her first novel, weaving her knowledge of shamanism, psychotherapy and energy healing into an exciting, fast-paced story which spans across many dimensions. Abby’s based in Ireland and lives with her husband, 4 children, a dog and a cat! Abby offers many ways to feel supported while you are on your path of healing; her mission is to empower people by teaching them how to heal themselves.
You can find Abby on her website www.abby-wynne.com or www.abbysonlineacademy.com
You can listen to her podcast Healing for Healers https://shor.by/healingforhealerspodcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbynrghealing/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbbyEnergyHealing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCERq5P7DyYu7capgJHIFijw
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What made you decide to write a work of fiction? Did your background make it easier or harder to develop?
Thanks for asking such a great question! I have published over 10 books in the genre of self-help. I’ve even published a colouring book! If you were to ask me which of my previous books would be the most helpful for a person to navigate their life I would say “How to Be Well” and “Heal your Inner Wounds”. These, in my humble opinion are the manuals you need, the instruction books for life that you feel you didn’t get. You don’t really need anything more if you do the work in both of these books. So what to write next?
I felt for a long time that if I was to write another self-care book, ( I prefer to call them self-care books because they’re imminently practical), it would be a dilution, or a variation of what is already in these two books. Now I could happily do that, but because I am who I am, I actually wouldn’t be happy doing that, I get bored easily.
So I worked with my clients for a while, and I continued to write poetry. I’ve been writing poetry for a long time, since I was about 10 years old, that’s 40 years now! I don’t claim to be good at it by any means, however I have explained some difficult spiritual concepts through poetry, and when I posted poems on social media they seemed to go down well.
In my work as a shamanic psychotherapist, I do come across some amazing and magical things. When I look at a client and see what their issue is, sometimes the issue unravels itself as a story. So I began to write short stories as an elaboration of my poetry practice, to explain difficult spiritual concepts, and to tell some very interesting tales in the process. I ended up with quite a collection of these, so I published them all in a book called Planting The Seeds, short stories, poetry and prayers.
I began to wonder about how to use story as a way to teach spiritual concepts. The greatest spiritual mystery that we come across every day of our lives is good and evil. How does it all work? And why are we here? If I could expand on the short story form I felt I might be able to explain this. I decided to write a semi-autobiographical novel through the eyes of a fictional character (Marissa)/ The books follow her journey of Spiritual awakening, the ups and downs, the balance and imbalance of suddenly discovering there is more to the world than meets the eye. (Because there most certainly is!). Anyway, Marissa slowly became more substantial to me, as did the other characters that appeared along the way, and the story arc then appeared, to bring her on an epic journey to answer these questions. It became a trilogy. As I wrote the story unfolded itself to me, and as I immersed myself in it more and more complexity and beauty revealed itself to me. It was a wonderful experience.
That answers the first part of your question, to answer the second part, my background of being an avid reader, a poet, a writer, a creative, an artist and an abstract thinker enabled me to play with words that came, and the fact that I have done my inner work allowed me to step out of the way to a greater degree, so I could listen as the story told itself to me. That was a remarkable experience. I just nipped and tucked it here and there, fluffed it up in some parts, toned it down in others. And of course my editor helped polish the language a little too. But the story most definitely told itself to me. I would lie sitting with Marissa in her counselling room wondering who would be showing up for a healing session with her. I’d hear the characters speak and wonder why they said what they said, or did what they did, and then a little ways down the line that would become more apparent. I was sad to finish, but it did have to finish to be complete. (I like to finish things!) And now that I’ve finished it, I’m clearing the decks, so to speak, for more stories to come in and share themselves with me. I really hope they do! And I hope you enjoy reading them too.
GIVEAWAY:
Abby Wynne will be awarding a International - €50 off any of the digital products on the author's website www.abbysonlineacademy.com to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
