The Lord Has Made Me Malleable!

It was another great start for the New Year with our return to our second family, the Makati Feast Legaspi which we haven't been to for so many months, even before the Christmas break.

Marti and I tagged along my nephew Asti whom the Feasters last saw when he was just a few months old and when they saw him already walking and in jeans, Asti's favorite Feasters Bro. Ed and Bro. Monty rushed to hug him. This is why I love coming here, you're always warmly welcomed, even warmer than attending a family reunion. Well, at least for me it feels that way. 

Tita Eva was there, with her bright smile and cozy hugs I always look forward to. Saw my Care Group (CG) mates Jen and Gail whom I haven't seen for awhile. Talked to Bro. Monty about the new CG of Separated Brothers and promised to compare notes later on how we could serve more brothers and sisters in our respective CGs.

Brother Randy's talk on "Solutions" was, as always, phenomenal. Let me share with you the notes of the talk I took down:

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Project Author 1.2: One Step Closer to My Dream of Becoming a Published Author

"Serendipitous"

Yup, as Anna put it, that's how I would describe my day at Project Author 1.2.

First off, a chunk of my solo parent budget for the month was originally meant for a web design workshop which was cancelled a few days ago due to low enrollment so I decided to attend the Project Author seminar instead. Thanks to Juliet of Salt and Light Ventures, she e-mailed me that I could pay at the event.

Entering the function room of AIM, saw that most of the attendees looked like seasoned individuals and I felt that nervousness again whenever I'm in a room full of strangers. Thankfully, I heard someone call out my name from across the room: it was Anna Santos, author of fab solo mom journal Happy Even After! I felt relieved that I knew someone there and more so it was Anna who was our MasiPag Care Group's special guest just a few days ago! We excitedly shared our book plans and I promised to talk to her more after the seminar.

The seminar started with Mr. Ardy Roberto sharing his story on how he and his wife Tingting founded Salt and Light and it was simply awe-inspiring. Talk about seeing every cloud's silver lining! Imagine one of his best-sellers "Ang Perang Hindi Bitin" was written during a horrible parasitic attack of the skin.

Ardy asked all the participants to introduce themselves and mention what kind of book we were working on and the title if any. When it was my turn I nervously shared that a friend of mine wanted to collaborate on a book on stories of solo parents but the book I was really working on for over a month now is about my own ups and downs as a solo mom with the working title as "How to Turn Your Rock Bottom into Your Launching Pad" which was inspired by J.K. Rowling's account of her life as a solo mom. Saw the approving nods around the room and also from Ardy and I felt a little confident. Now there's no chickening out anymore and procrastinating with the public admission of my attempt as an author!

The program was a powerhouse line up of best-selling authors like Samantha Sotto (Before Ever After), Larry Gamboa (Think Rich Pinoy), RJ Ledesma (Lies My Yaya Should Have Told Me, among others), multi-C. Palanca awardee Grace D. Chong (Gifts of Grace among others) and Charles Tan of Flipside, the country's pioneer in digital publishing. With the exception of RJ, all the speakers didn't have writing backgrounds before their first books, only the relentless passion to tell their stories and that alone revived my determination to share my message out there. I was especially inspired by Sam Sotto who used the 3 hours of waiting for her son's dismissal from preschool to write Before Ever After and by Larry Gamboa who has amplified the success of Think Rich Pinoy with internet marketing, speaking engagements and mentoring. 


I got really excited to hear that Larry is also a fan of Brendon Burchard of Experts Academy since Brendon was the one who inspired me to put up a website dedicated to the financial, emotional and spiritual health of solo parents and their children. Mustering up enough courage, I approached Larry after the seminar and told him of my book and the website I was putting up which was a result of the video challenge of Brendon Burchard awarding a scholarship at Experts Academy to anyone who will submit a video on 5 things to help improve people's lives. Getting tongue-tied, I gave up on the video and turned it into a book instead but after a month, all I had was a 20% book and a website that's still under construction and I didn't know where to go from there. Larry advised that I should start on the book first so that it would be come the content basis of the website and he even urged me to finish that video and e-mail it to him!  Whew, now there's another thing I can't chicken out of, with a challenge from Mr. Larry Gamboa himself :)


All in all, it was such a heartwarming experience. It felt like I belonged and was really meant to be there on that day: meeting Anna and coming up with future activities for solo parents, getting RJ to sign a book for my son who is a big fan, soliciting valuable (and free!) advise from Larry and learning from these superstar authors whose humble beginnings are no different from any of us. 


Can't wait to be a part of Ardy's mentoring program. Keep up the good work and may Salt and Light Ventures continue to be blessed so you may bless more people!

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