The other day, I was trying to upload my book on to Amazon.com so that people can buy it from Amazon’s site. This was my second attempt - somehow my first one disappeared into cyber space some moons ago. One of the features they offered was to include a review.

In all the reviews I’ve read, the focus is on how I survived retinoblastoma, my struggles as someone with a vision impairment, and the search for my identity. Pretty standard, really, as these were the major themes in my book.

But not the only elements of note.

Simone, of Outfit Inspirations, just finished reading “Beyond the Red Door”, and wrote her own review of it in A Life Worth Writing Reading Sharing and Celebrating

Simone was entranced by the memories I shared of my life, finding so many similarities and images that took her back to her past. It made me realise that there is more to my book than just the images and themes the media target.

Simone and I met at blog school, a forum where a few of us bloggers meet every fortnight to support and teach each other about the mysteries and opportunities of the blogosphere. She is an amazingly talented person, and her site is prolific with its entertaining blogs that are pearls of wisdom.

Have a look at Outfit Inspirations
 
Thanks Simone for such a refreshing review.

I read a post today which was called Remember When: Creating Memories to Inspire Others Simone, the author, was emphasising the important role of positive memories to enhance our inner strengths. The memories can be from way back in our past, but it’s still vital to recall them, share them with others, and reflect on happy times which were significant in our lives.

When I was thinking about this in terms of writing my autobiography, ‘Beyond the Red Door’, I wondered about the value of recalling negative times in our lives. I know that when I go back and read about the funny and happy times in my childhood, particularly, I am so glad I put them in the book. They remind me of the strong child I was before outside forces tried to sway me from my path. And I use the image of this child when I need some strength and comfort, because I know she’s still there.

But then I realised the value of all the negative times I wrote about in my book. Although they were dark times for me, and they make everyone cry when they read them, they serve a purpose for me now. I can look back on them and see how I have survived in truly difficult times. Because I’ve described them so clearly, the pain and emotion come through, taking me back to that part of my life. I often find myself transfixed when I read some of these accounts, and wondering how on earth I coped at the time. It’s almost as though someone else wrote about these events.

So now when I’m facing yet another hurdle in my life, it’s useful for me to look at where I’ve come from and see how strong I’ve been. I think this goes for us all. If we remember the hard times in our lives which we’ve overcome, we can steel ourselves to get over the next obstacle.

Reading Simone’s post has reminded me to keep those happy memories in the front of my mind. They play a powerful role in channeling our energies into things that matter, rather than getting boggged down and stuck in things that don’t.

A couple of great bits of information have come my way recently which will help you to get your copy of ‘Beyond the Red Door’ closer to home.

I had an email from someone in the UK who had searched everywhere for my book. His father-in-law had been on a cruise around the Scottish Isles where he’d spied my book on the boat and started reading it. But he never finished it before leaving the boat, and asked his son-in-law if he could find the elusive book!

Luckily, the son-in-law found my website and bought a copy. We exchanged emails and I soon discovered that the major bookseller in the UK, Waterstones, has my book listed as ‘unavailable’. So the mission began. With this guy’s help, I finally discovered who in the UK could change this status on bookseller’s websites. I’ve now sent an email to Nielsen’s BookData, and hope that very soon, UK residents can order through an online bookstore like Waterstones. I’m assuming that they would order the book in for you, which would reduce the postage costs. Let’s wait and see.

The second fantastic thing that I learned is that I can list my book on amazon.com. Yes, it is there already,and some of you have bought it that way, but have you looked at amazon.com lately? There are three copies left, two new and one used. The new copies are hugely inflated in price. I can only guess it’s because they believe there are no more copies anywhere in the world.

So I’m rectifying this by placing my reprinted copy on their site. Again, this should bring prices down for people overseas, as postage costs will be lower. I’ll keep an eye on this one as well.

It’s great when you stumble on these things. Oh, and the gentleman in the UK who wanted my book actually phoned me to thank me for sending it over! Now that was a real buzz.