I never know when I write a book if there will be an audience for it, but A Story of Becoming has been lovingly embraced by many with over 8,000 ebooks going out all over the English speaking world in only the past few months. It is now a best selling book on Amazon and my most successful book to date. People often ask me how I come up with the ideas for the stories. If we can just still our minds for a little bit, its amazing what our
imaginations can offer us. Generally I take a nice bath with a journal close by, and once I become a little dreamy then if I'm lucky a story comes along and wants to be written. I think of the stories more as files downloaded by the muses. I never decide on the length or the audience or really follow any rules. I try to keep my personality and inner editor quiet so that my imagination can have some real fun. Of course, the work comes after the story arrives. Then there is the
seemingly endless editing, the proofs, teamwork with my illustrator Belle Crow duCray (who often dreams the images as I write them) and then finally we have a book.
There is always a story behind the writing of a book. A Story of Becoming was written for my kids in 2003. I was going through a divorce and it was an attempt to help all of our family members understand that although things change, that we can be a stronger and more vibrant community than ever
before. The kids read it, illustrated it in their own way and then stuck it in a drawer. It was eleven years before Belle duCray found the book and insisted on drawing the illustrations for it. That marked the beginning of five years of collaborating on books. It took her two years to draw the illustrations for A Story of Becoming, and then was published in 2014.
The book won 15 awards in 2015, and I was thrilled this morning to receive the announcement
that A Story of Becoming had won the Spiritual division of the Beverly Hills Book Awards. It has won in both adult and children's categories making it a unique book that we call visionary fiction. This award makes the 16th Literary Award this book has won. I'm really grateful to have been able to bring this book of miracles and hope into the world. It's a message that is needed at this time. I remind myself every day to focus on what is good and true. For more on A Story of
Becoming visit my website:
http://ayncatessullivan.com