In the past, I have worked with the majors, including the New York Times and Dell Publishing. But I love the family feel of a small publishing house. Laura Baumbach, my publisher for this and other books, is an award-winning author in her own right.
Christopher Stone – 23 November 2017
The Back Flap
For the fourth in their highly successful series of guided meditations books, Christopher Stone and Mary Sheldon focus upon the LGBTQ Community, offering a month’s worth of contemplative spiritual adventures to enhance confidence and tranquility while inspiring self-acceptance, love, peace, pride, and dignity. Edited by Kris Jacen, the book explains the process of focused attention known as meditation and it offers a simple relaxation technique to induce a meditative state of mind.
About the book
What is the book about?
The LGBTQ Meditation Journal is the fourth book in Mary Sheldon and my Meditation Journal series. It offers thirty, daily guided meditations to enhance tranquility and well-being as it inspires self-acceptance, love, peace, pride, and dignity. The book also explains meditation simply, and it offers an easy technique for inducing a meditative state.
When did you start writing the book?
The summer of 2016.
How long did it take you to write it?
Basically, one year.
Where did you get the idea from?
Because Mary Sheldon and I had written three previous meditation journal books and they had been successful, we decided to turn our focus for the fourth in this series to the LGBTQ Community, of which I am a part.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
I am a daily meditator and a former teacher of meditation classes. Mary is a longtime meditator. Struggle was not a part of our process.
What came easily?
Raw ideas and titles for specific meditations came abundantly and easily. The bulk of our work was developing the ideas and titles into full-blown, easy-to-use, effective meditations.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
Being nonfiction, the book has no characters as such. But I consider the volume’s metaphysical ideas to be our version of characters.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
Mary Baker Eddy, Jane Roberts, and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale have assisted my metaphysical development. But rather than these authors, my meditation teacher of twelve years, Carmen Montez was most directly instrumental in developing the ideas that Mary Sheldon and I use in our meditation journals.
Do you have a target reader?
LBTQ, or not, every reader who meditates, or simply needs and wants to increase the tranquility and well-being in their lives will benefit.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
My writing process begins with consistency and discipline. I write five days a week, eight or more hours per day, forty-nine or fifty weeks per year.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
Most definitely. My publishers, my editors, and I need to know where I am going before I get there.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
Yes and yes. It varies with the project. Some of my book outlines have been highly detailed; in other cases, the strokes of my outline have been broad.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
I listen to music bigtime when writing, Old Time rock and roll, Motown, vocals from the Great American Songbook, Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Streisand and Broadway. All of them get my feet tapping and my fingers snapping.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
My longtime literary agent passed in ‘06 and I have worked directly with publishers ever since. So far, so good.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
In the past, I have worked with the majors, including the New York Times and Dell Publishing. But I love the family feel of a small publishing house. Laura Baumbach, my publisher for this and other books, is an award-winning author in her own right. As a publisher, she is warm and welcoming, making me feel like family. Kris Jacen, who edited this book, is the company’s Executive Editor, and an author’s dream come true.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
The amazing cover is a product of Laura Baumbach’s MLR Press.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
I am a book marketing neophyte, trying to learn the ropes in an effective, organized manner. To any book marketing pro, I must look like a clumsy neophyte who is winging it.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Being a professional author is a hard row to hoe – one unsuited to the faint of heart, those with low energy, and/or the undisciplined. If there is something that you love doing more, then do it.
But if writing is what you most love, go for it! But please approach your career with consistency, discipline, and vigor. And by all means, develop an immunity to rejection.
About You
Where did you grow up?
I was born in Bronx, New York, but raised in Fresno, California.
Where do you live now?
My home is in small-town, Coastal Los Angeles County.
What would you like readers to know about you?
I am incurably romantic and a cockeyed optimist. I am given to counting my multitudinous blessings, and I am dazzled by life’s possibilities.
What are you working on now?
I am in edits with The Coming of Beth, the second book in my Minnow Saint James Metaphysical Adventures series.
End of Interview:
For more from Christopher, visit his website, like his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter.
Get your copy of The LGBTQ Meditation Journal from Amazon US or Amazon UK.
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