Flyover People Daily News

It’s like an out-of-body experience seeing my book on the shelves at Town Crier, at my hometown bookstore.

Even though I’ve thought about the possibility of writing a book since I was young, this doesn’t seem real, but there it is.

And it will seem freaky to see the book on the shelves at my public library, too. On the other hand, it will be nice if I don’t see it on the shelves at the library, because that means it’s checked out.

It’s been a long journey. It took many years before this book could claim six inches of space on Town Crier’s shelf. The writing wasn’t the hard part, although there were many days when I tried to pull sentences out of my head and what landed on the page was gibberish.

All of my life I have wanted to publish. And I had been planning a book of columns/essays ever since I started writing the column in 2003, but every time I began to pull columns together to create book, I hit a wall.

And probably no one heard about this wall more than Tracy, a friend who is also a writer. But I could never explain this publishing wall properly, even to myself. I couldn’t figure out how to get over, under, around, or through it. I mean, the writing was done – all I had to do was put the dang book together.

Of course, the wall was all in my head. All walls are, I believe. So I started cleaning out some of the darkness up there. I examined the dark and scary things in my mind, various emotional injuries and traumas, the self-defeating thoughts and behaviors, one by one, and began replacing them with better, more progressive thoughts. I began to look for new ways of seeing things, new angles, new perspectives.

This was a process that took me more than a year. I had created lot of mental garbage over the years and I had to clear that out. It took awhile. I began feeling lighter and happier. I began seeing hope instead of obstacles.

And then one day this past March, I met Tracy and Wendy (another writer friend) at Java Cat and Tracy told me about how she had put together a perfect-bound yearbook for the Kansas Authors Club and had it published by an online company. In one moment, it hit me – I can do this!

With the sesquicentennial coming up in January, I knew the book would have to be self-published if it was going to be out before 2011. And suddenly, I was OK with that. I had always wanted the prestige of having it sold to a publishing house, but that need suddenly dissolved. And my wall was beginning to dissolve.

Cleared of tons of junk, my mind (although there will always be some form of disruptive thinking in my head), was now able to see possibilities – and Tracy had just handed me a possibility. From there, it all fell together.

I asked my brother if he’d be my editor and he readily agreed. Leon knew how to publish books and led me along the path. If not for Leon and his guidance, I might have backed out of the process. But my wise and capable brother was there every day for me. Every day.

Things began to click on many levels. When I needed help, assistance, allies, they showed up for me. It’s amazing the good that can flow to you when you simply change your attitude and outlook.

I got quotes from several printing companies and chose Mennonite Press in Newton. Not only were they competitive in pricing, but I really wanted to have the book printed in Kansas.

The book was a lot of work. Even though the essays were already written, I was surprised by how much time it took, how much needed to be done – and how many times a book has to be proofed. (!)

And, now, looking at the published book, so clean and beautiful with Dave’s incredible photo on the front, it looks like it was a breeze to complete, as if there were never any walls to tear down. And maybe, like giving birth, an author forgets the pain of the process.

Creating the book was easy compared to the process of fixing my head, clearing out the old traumas, the self-inflicted issues, the old ways of thinking.

There’s that familiar saying:  When the student is ready, the teacher appears. And that’s true – when the mind and heart are cleansed and prepared and open, when the old ways of living and thinking are released, new and better opportunities can find their way into one’s life.

Cheryl Flyover Book, life on the ground