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Norm:

Please tell our readers a little bit about your personal and professional background.

Maureen:

Thank you, Norm, for talking with me!  Let's see, I achieved my Ph.D in Metaphysics at the age of 57. You can do anything if you enjoy what you are doing!  I find my calling in the Healing Arts, and I am a member of several healing groups.  I am a Reiki Master and I enjoy helping others.  We are all healers we just have to learn to use our gifts.

I started writing years ago, and had several poems and articles published and I put writing aside as I found I was working longer hours and several jobs and had less time to pursue what I loved to do.  I still work a full time job in the accounting field, but I am able to juggle my time and spend time writing.  I very much enjoy writing books and articles that help people learn to enjoy their lives and find their spirituality.  Circle Magazine has published several of my articles.  I remember my excitement when I got my first “fan” letter!

Nevada is home with my husband, Bob, and our fur-baby a Lab named Frankie.

Norm:

What motivated you to write As If: An 8-week Adventure to discovering You! Whom do you believe will benefit from your book and why?

Maureen:

I started writing AS IF to help me on my personal journey of trying to find my Sacred Self.  I came up with a plan of sorts.  What if I could live just one day AS IF I were a patient person?  I decided to live just one day AS IF I had patience.  Not just live a day with patience, I would be a patient person. Just one day.  I took it a little further and as I lived AS IF I found I became what I was trying to achieve.  As I jotted down notes and thoughts in my journal a book evolved and took on a life of it's own.

Anyone wanting to live a more stress-free life and those who are looking for something more within their life will benefit from what I call "working the weeks" of AS IF.  The concept can be modified  for children, the workplace, church or spiritual groups, just about everyone can benefit from spending time to recognize we are all one, we are all connected to each other and to a higher presence.

Norm:

Why do you think this is an important book at this time?

Maureen:

Norm, we all seem to be running as fast as we can.  In today's economy, with the recession, jobs lost, fear seems to be taking over our thoughts and our lives.  Will I be the next to lose my job?  Will I be the next to lose my house?  How can I help others if I can't seem to help myself?  Those thoughts are running through the minds of many, and if we just take some time to slow down, and reach that Sacred Space within us, and listen, really listen to that Sacred voice that speaks to us and through us, we can overcome the fear and live joyfully.

I do see a change happening.  I notice that people stop to talk more.  I notice that families are spending time together in the park and just enjoying themselves instead of running to the mall, or planting themselves in front of the television.  A charity I support gives books to children and the children write thank you notes about how they read to their younger siblings and how much they enjoy reading "their" books.  We want to live a more peaceful, spiritual, fulfilling life we just need the tools and inspiration to help us find the Divine within us.

Norm:

What kind of research did you do to write this book?

Maureen:

The first research I did was what would work for me!  I was teaching some online classes when I started the book, and one of the students was a soldier who had just returned from Afghanistan.  He e-mailed me and asked if I had any ideas on helping him "heal his psyche.”  He wanted to "return to that former person he was before the war".  I had the outline of the book started, and I sent it to him and we began to "work the weeks".  He began to reach his Sacred Self, and the person he was before he went to war.  Several military men and women have worked through the eight weeks of AS IF and have found the meditations and the connections a great help to them.  They have found there is Sacredness in all and that we are all one.  That was really an eye opener for me.  If a soldier who had seen the worst of humanity was able to now see the best of humanity and connect to the Divine within, then anyone can!

Further research took me to the "connections"; the quotes to help us realize that others before us have found this Divine and joy within.  I must have collected hundreds of quotes and whittled them down to the quotes/connections in AS IF.  It was actually a lot of fun to research the "connections" ... I got to read a lot of books!

Norm:

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

Maureen:

I wish I could say I immediately learned how to become a patient person! What I can say is that I am a much more patient person than I used to be!

Seriously, I have been amazed at the people who are willing to do the work to change themselves and their attitudes.  I have learned that most of us want to find our Sacred Self; we want to be loving, peaceful and joyful.  We want a relationship with God we just need to learn to use the blessings and gifts we have within us to form that relationship.


Norm:

What challenges or obstacles did you encounter while writing your book? How did you overcome these challenges?

Maureen:

One of the challenges was finding the time to sit down and write.  I so admire the parents that find the time to work the weeks of AS IF.  Many times they work full time, and take care of the house and kids and everything else, yet they recognize that they need to go within and find the Sacredness.  And once they do, they share that Divine nature with everyone they meet.  Always the circle-ever connected.

I overcame the challenge of finding time by getting up a little earlier and writing on my lunch breaks at work.  I printed out whatever page I was on, and took that with me during the day.  I wrote longhand and then when I had time on the weekend, I entered my longhand into the computer and the manuscript.

Another challenge I had as I was putting finishing touches on the workbook was I lost my job.  I was unemployed, and it really took me by surprise.  I was also working on my Dissertation at the time.  After the initial shock, I realized that I had been given a gift of time.  I would have never given myself time off to finish my Dissertation or my book.  So between sending out resumes and going on interviews, I took advantage of the gift I had been given and finished my Dissertation and AS IF.  Ironically 17 days after I received my Ph.D, I was employed again.  There are no coincidences in life, and I know I was given the gift of time to finish my degree and to finish AS IF!

Norm:

Any unique ways you'll be marketing your book that is different from
how others authors market their books?

Maureen:

My publisher Booklocker.com has enabled their authors to get listed with Apple's iBookstore.  Shortly you will be able to purchase AS IF with your iPad or IPhone if you have one.  It should be exciting to see if sales take off with this new medium.

One thing I have been throwing around in my head is teaching classes on living AS IF.  The book would be our textbook.  I believe many would benefit from the classes.  Employers could use the classes to help employees.  Morale at many companies is at an all time low, and the meditations, connections and working the weeks and living AS IF would certainly bring morale up and make for a more healthy and productive environment.

Norm:

Where can our readers find out more about you and your book?

Maureen:

They can always stop by my website www.maureendelaney.net.  I also have a page on Facebook called Living AS IF. And of course my publishers site http://www.booklocker.com/books/4705.html  Feel free to send me an e-mail at maureen@maureendelaney.net

Norm:

Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered?

Maureen:

I would love to wake up one morning knowing that thousands are "working the weeks" of AS IF.  Knowing that people would be living their Sacred Self; that people would recognize we are all one, all connected to the greater good.  Wouldn't it be wonderful?

Thanks again and good luck with all of your future endeavors

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