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Susanne Alexander-Heaton continued the interview.
She talked about her writing experience, “I never
in a million years would have thought the word author and my name would appear
on the same line. My book was inspired and dedicated to my friend’s
12-year-old daughter, Sarah, who passed away from a very rare brain
tumor. Sarah came to me in a dream the night after she passed away. She
was back to her giggly, mischievous old self and twirling around in a meadow
filled with wildflowers and she said to me, ‘Susanne, I have faery wings instead
of angel wings, because faery wings are so much easier to run and play around
in.’ This dream forever changed my destiny.”
She continued, “I started to research everything that I
could about faeries and I found out two things: 1. They are considered
nature’s angels and 2. They are a wee bit mischievous! A few years
later, while on a sea-kayaking trip totally immersed in nature, the whole idea
for the book came streaming in. I literally could not write the ideas down
quick enough. I had the initial draft of the book ½ written during the
10-day trip. I returned back to Calgary totally dumbfounded by the entire
experience."
Susanne discussed her exhaustion, “At that time, I was also
working in my corporate job. Management changed and I ended up doing two
jobs, which resulted in my burnout in June 2008. I ended up needing to
take a leave of absence for my health. During that time, my father who had
been suffering from chronic leukemia was continually getting worse and the doctors
could not determine why. The bottom line was that they had missed a
six-inch cancerous tumor on his liver and he was given only three months to
live. During this time we had some heart to heart conversations. At one
point he looked at me and said, ‘Susanne, get yourself out of that corporate
job, and go and focus on your book.’ If you had known my father, you would
realize just how shocking it was to hear him say these words. He had
always been so proud of my accomplishments and believed in giving everything
you could to your company. Dad passed January 20, 2009. I announced
my resignation to work effective March 15, 2009 and I have never looked
back. I continued working on the book and hired an amazing illustrator by
the name of Chantal Gabriell from Seashine Design who helped to make each and
every faery come to life. I considered going the traditional publisher
route, but I discovered that they could change absolutely everything about the
book. Because the book was so close to my heart, I didn’t want that to
happen, so I decided to self-publish. I received many positive reviews on
the manuscript. Then just one month prior to going to the presses, I had a
Best-Selling Canadian Author agree to review my book. I was so excited,
until I received her response, which was, ‘I cannot review this book. It
is not my cup of tea. It is too Hallmarky. You are not saying
anything new. If you want some really good poetry, read Dennis Lee’s Alligator
Pie.’ I was totally devastated. The inner critic in my mind went
wild with this information asking me, ‘Who do you think you are, really?’ I
finally decided to muster up the courage to go to the library and read Alligator
Pie. I had read it to my brothers when I was younger, but I couldn’t
remember everything that was in it. When I found the book and read the
first poem, I burst into laughter. I realized that this Best-Selling
Canadian author had no idea of what I was trying to say. It ended up that
she gave me the greatest gift that anyone could have given me. Not
everyone is going to like my work, just like not everyone likes the same music,
movies...or books. You have to learn not to take it personally and write
for those that truly understand the message you are trying to convey. If I
had listened to her, I would not have published this book which is now an award
winner many times over and has helped to raise over $20,000 for worthy
causes. Awards won include:
-Winner of the 2011 USA Best Book Books Awards for
Inspirational Poetry
- Award-Winning Finalist
in the 2011 Global e-Book Awards
- Award-Winning Finalist
in the Best Interior Design, Children's Educational and Children's
Mind/Body/Spirit categories of the 2011 International Book Awards
- Nominee for the
Alberta 2010 Best Book of the Year Award for Children by the Book
Publishers of Alberta
- Bronze Medal for cover
design in the 2010 Summit Awards, Artwork by Chantal T. Gabriell,
Seashine Design”
She shared her journey through hardship, “My rock bottom was
dealing with my father’s death. We had kept him at our family home until
his passing, so watching his slow decline was painful because he had always
been such a proud man. When he passed, I wanted the earth to stop
spinning, just for one minute, to acknowledge my pain and loss. But it
didn’t. Everything just kept on moving right along. I had thought I
had really understood when other friends of mine had lost their parents, but I
realized then, that you couldn’t know the full depths of grief until a similar situation
has happened to you. Certain friends I had expected to be there for me,
just plain and simple, were not. Others that I never would have expected
to were there. I ended up finding a grief support group and that was so
incredibly healing. It was really good to know that I was not alone in my
thoughts, feelings and frustrations. It is like you become part of a
secret society that totally understands one another. My dad sends me
plenty of signs from nature and I know that he is one of my angels looking out
for me, but there are times that I would just love to be able to have a chat
with him on this earth plane. He had always been a man of great wisdom and
support and there are times in this business venture that I
would love to be able to bounce things off of him.”
Susanne found out that with hardship comes education,
“The lessons I learned:
1. Don’t wait till later to do
something that you really want to do, because later may never come.
2. Take time to be with your loved
one and be willing to talk about their death with them. They try to be so
strong for everyone else, but deep inside, they need some comfort from you.
3. Don’t assume that people understand your
grief, especially if they have not been through a similar experience. Seek
out a grief support group if it feels like the right thing for you. All
people grieve differently.
4. That many signs are given to us,
if we are willing to watch or listen for them from our loved ones that have
passed.”
She closed with this inspirational quote, “I love
this quote by Walt Disney, ‘All your dreams can come true if you have the
courage to pursue them.’ Please pursue your dreams now, and don't wait
till later.”
Susanne’s contact information:
Twitter: abcfaeries
