Posts by Susan Crossman
Tune in January 2nd to watch Susan Crossman on the Oprah Winfrey Network!
Back in the spring I was invited to participate in filming for a television program called “Oprah’s Truth Project” that was being developed for the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). You may have read my blog about that experience. The opportunity had cropped up out of the blue, as these things sometimes do, and it was an honour to be included in the show. My interviewer, Dale Curd, asked me questions about “Love and Regret” and without spoiling the punch line, “Shades of Teale” figured in my answers. There is a huge amount of work involved in putting a TV series together and after many months of attention to both the big picture vision of the program and the many details that make it work, the producers of the show have announced that the series, now renamed “Life Story,” will begin airing with back-to-back episodes on January 2nd at 9:00 pm on the Oprah Winfrey Network. I’ve been told that my segment will be airing on the inaugural night during either the 9:00 or 9:30 episode, so if you’re interested in seeing what I and other guests on the program have to say, I encourage you to tune in. The series promises to be a great exploration of the human connection and it unrolls under the able guidance of hosts Andrea Syrtash and Dale Curd. Andrea is a relationship expert, author and on-air personality. She writes extensively on the topic of relationships and speaks about effective relationships at events, conferences and in the media. Andrea is also a relationship coach who focuses on helping people live authentically in life and in love. I’m told she is a highly sensitive individual with a gift for bringing the promise of strong relationships into authentic reality. Dale, who interviewed me, is a trained psychotherapist and an experienced communicator who specializes in decoding men’s issues and de-mystifying male behaviour. He contributes to numerous TV and radio programs and among his many other achievements, he co-founded and launched Changebullying, an experiential workshop for students that’s aimed at reducing the frequency and severity of bullying in schools. I’m thrilled to be a part of this project and I hope you will join me in watching the entire series. I’ve heard that the show will be giving us all a taste of many heart-warming stories and I’m looking forward to the humbling messages of inspiration that are sure to be involved in the process. As someone who feels enormous compassion for those of us on this journey called Life, I give the Oprah Winfrey Network and its “Life Story” partner, Corus Entertainment, a big tip of the hat for bringing us all a little closer to the stories that connect us all with our own humanity. We’re all in this together and it’s wonderful to be a part of a project that brings the point home in such powerful and poignant ways. If you’d like more information on the series, check out the Corus announcement! And best wishes for a bright week! ...
Read MoreLife is a Dance!
They say that change is a constant and I see that statement confirmed everyday in my writing business. Everything from the type of work people ask me to undertake to the types of problems they ask me to solve is a fluid dance of step and respond. I’ve responded by making some changes in both how my business is structured and in the types of services I offer. Evolution of any type excites me and it’s no less true when I look at my business. I started 2012 offering mainly writing and editing services for businesses and as the year draws to a close I am looking at a client services profile that includes the writing and editing for sure, but it now also incorporates coaching. Over the past 11 months I’ve been involved in a number of coaching and training programs that have broadened my skill set and given me a much more profound understanding of performance and achievement. I am highly goal oriented myself. Over the past 12 months I: Oversaw the publication of my first novel by a traditional publishing house Oversaw the publication of my first collection of short stories Completed my MA Obtained my private pilot’s licence Went skiing in the mountains of BC Went on a spiritual retreat in BC Travelled to Nepal, a destination I’ve wanted to visit for decades Travelled to California once and Arizona three times Underwent 11 months of coaches training Was filmed for a program for the Oprah Winfrey Network Successfully billed, in one 40-day period, twice what my previous record monthly billing had been Finally organized family photos and put them up around the house (this was important because after my husband died I was shattered and couldn’t bear to look at pictures from my “happily married family years” – too much sadness was involved. Selecting the pictures with my kids’ help and putting them up around the house marked a huge turning point for us all.) Was named Director of Communications for the Intercultural Open University Foundation, an international educational organization focused on mentoring social change agents to their MA and PhD degrees It’s a sweet list! This year, in honour of the Festive Season that is fast approaching, I have put together a goal coaching package so I can share my success secrets and help other folks get the knack of developing a dreams-come-true life of their own. My coaching takes place in person, over the phone or via Skype. You’ll find details of my coaching program in an email I’ll be sending out over the next week or two. It includes a number of other seasonal specials I’m offering this year as well. The discounts are huge! And as the year draws to a close, I urge you to take a look at what I’m offering and see if my services might make a difference to your quality of life or that of someone you hold dear. Change is constant. How we respond to it is up to us....
Read MoreOf waves and water, life and dreams
A number of people have asked me why I chose to open my novel, “Shades of Teale” on a rainy beach and I love that question because it brings back such lovely memories for me. The truth of the matter is that at the time I began writing this novel there was a stunning beach located right outside my back door. The beach had become a powerful part of my life and it was exceedingly easy for me to imagine poor sodden Teale sitting cramped and hopeful on the sand just beyond my property line. My husband and I had moved to Port Stanley, Ontario, a few years before I began writing “Teale,” and we were steeped in the wonder of our beachfront home. We had decided to give up on life in the big city and live “The Dream.” And what a dream it was! The house itself was an open concept beauty with four bedrooms and three levels, and huge windows gave us panoramic views of Lake Erie. At the time we had only three children, each of them on access schedules with their other biological parents. We had two big dogs, a Chocolate Lab named “Zeppy” and a German Shepherd we had called “Jedi.” I used to go out every morning and walk the beach with my dogs, treading the snow dunes with them in the cold winter months, and throwing sticks for them to chase the rest of the year. It was a peaceful life, idyllic and comfortable, and it was on those morning walks that Teale’s story began to take shape. After our sandy journey along the edge of the shore, I would head back into my office and start my work day. As a writer focused on PR, corporate communications and marketing work, it was easy to work out of my home and I was always grateful for the balcony that lay just beyond my desk. It was never too much of a distraction as I always had the option of ending my day with another jaunt along the beach — pure luxury! In those years on the beach I discovered how fascinating a beach and its lake can be. The color of the water ranged from steely gray in sour weather to deep cosmic blue on a fine summer day. When I actually started writing Teale’s story I realized that it matched the kind of beach day that is cold and unfriendly, the kind of day that invites a retreat back into the house for a cup of hot tea and a book by the fire. I have wonderful memories of living on the beach and both my husband and I were sad when the time came to move on into a different chapter of our lives. The beach will always live on for me, however, in the pages of the book that got its start in the comforting sand of what is, in my mind, still to this day, a truly Great Lake....
Read MoreGetting Away and Gaining Insight – A Writer Goes to Nepal
I could never have imagined the depth of experience two weeks in Nepal would deliver and I have no doubt that the sights, sounds, smells and memories of Kathmandu and points beyond will stay with me for a very long time. My travels within this small country perched between China and India will no doubt enlighten my writing in surprising ways and I can’t wait to see what bubbles up over the next few years. But describing what I did and saw will be easier than trying to encapsulate the emotional experience of being in a Third World country for the first time. I’ve come home with a renewed sense of how privileged I am to live in a place where electricity, hot water and medical care are always at my fingertips. The 36 hours it took to get to Nepal was like a passage to another time, another world. This is a country where cows roam the streets at will and killing one, even accidentally, is punishable by 20 years in jail. There is a large wild dog population in Nepal and they all seemed to spend their days sleeping comfortably on sidewalks or public monuments. I could hear them howling and barking at night as they did whatever wild dogs do in the dark. Sometimes I wasn’t sure the barking I heard was canine in origin. Sometimes it was a chilling sound. I saw a variety of other types of wildlife in urban settings in Nepal as well — chickens, goats and monkeys seemed to be everywhere and how they all maintained their lives in the relentless stream of traffic was beyond me. In Kathmandu, at least, the streets were filled with all manner of vehicles and drivers seemed to have an intuitive sense of space and impeccable timing that I don’t think I could replicate. I saw many historic sites in Nepal, and some were UNESCO world heritage sites, ancient and steeped in mystery. I also saw the country’s living Goddess, the Kumari, a young girl whose glance is rare and highly prized. Heading into the mountains I was part of a ceremony dedicated to the consecration of land on an organic coffee plantation and I was blessed by the Hindu priest who performed the ceremony. Buddhist monks at a mountain top monastery said prayers for me and my travelling companions, and the hand-made metal singing bowl I purchased at a traditional bowl maker’s shop was blessed by the abbot of another Buddhist monastery. At a book signing in a classical and very beautiful garden, I met Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche, author of “Living Fully,” a book about finding calm and purpose in a modern world. I took a small airplane ride along the spine of the Himalayas and saw Mount Everest from the air. I spoke with a miller’s daughter in a rural village. I witnessed a traditional witch doctor performing channelled healing rituals on people suffering a variety of ailments and I climbed to the sacred Temple of Wishes where people brought goats, chickens and pigeons to be sacrificed in the pursuit of their heart-felt hopes for their lives and those they loved. In short, the kaleidoscope of life that swept past my eyes and heart in Nepal was dizzying and vast. I’m home now and carried away again by the hectic rhythm of work and family, business and life. But part of me is still gazing out over the mountainsides and terraced rice fields of what is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful countries on Earth. The words will...
Read MoreNew Book
It’s hard to believe that this time last year I was floating on the cloud of excitement that preceded the publication of “Shades of Teale.” The novel, my first, was published by Manor House Publishing in late November, 2011, and it’s been thrilling to see my first book in print. The thrill is even bigger this year as I await the arrival of a second creative work under the Manor House banner, “Passages to Epiphany.” Due out later this fall, the book is a collection of short stories and creative non-fiction pieces that looks at the subject of awakenings. I’ve long been intrigued by that little moment where understanding dawns in our minds and hearts and we suddenly come to see a situation, or even our entire lives, in a new and different light. This book is focused around those moments in both fictional and non-fictional scenarios. The new stories vary in length and topic matter – the heroines of my short stories are all very unique and the non-fiction pieces are all about moments in my life that have been particularly affecting. These stories dovetail nicely with some other work I’ve been doing this year. Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been training with International author, speaker and coach Jennifer Hough, and I hope to earn certification as an Awakened Coach by early November. The coaching is teaching me how to help other people drop the baggage that has been weighing them down so they can move forward into their own success. The tie-in with “Life of a Writer” may not be immediately obvious, but I do see my writing as a tool for helping people do pretty much the same thing. I like a book that makes me think, feel and wonder at the world around me and I hope that’s something I deliver to readers as well. As some of you may know, I make my living as a business writer and for decades my writing time has been spent primarily on producing newsletter and web content, speeches, white papers, articles and blog posts. I love my work and I’m privileged to work with some amazing people who make my days enjoyable and interesting. I never thought I would be able to combine business writing with creative writing but here I am, doing just that! I am indeed a lucky lady!...
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