You are probably wondering what this blog is all about! Let me tell you.

Let me introduce myself. My name is LaRene Ellis. I came into this life like everyone else. I wasn’t hatched but what happened afterward was different. I lost my parents and siblings. It was sad that I never was allowed to belong to a family. It changed my life and made me who I am today. A person full of hope and joy. It changed my life to where I help others get through their tough times to put a smile on their face.

My childhood was taken from me. It put me a deep depression at the age of four. Happiness was a foreign feeling. Out of it, I learned a simple recipe to live life with joy even during the challenge of breast cancer. In my book, How to Rebuild Shattered Dreams. I will give you a simple recipe that you can follow so you can be happy no matter what is happening in your life. You’ll learn to be in control.

What I learned helped when breast cancer knocked on my door. The recipe allowed me to feel joy and happiness through chemo and all the challenges you face. The experience made filled me with gratitude for my past. What I learned made it all worth while. The peace to know ‘I’m not afraid of the future and I’m not hiding my past. I enjoy the moment without baggage. It keeps me always in control.

On my website, My Journal - has stories in it about how I got started writing. You might find it interesting or numb. I don’t know. It’s hard to put yourself out there, when you’re really shy. If you knew me, you would know how hard this is. I do it because I have hope and I know how you can have it too.

Seminars - By request of my readers, this is what I started to do when I contracted Breast Cancer. It’s Her2/neu – Positive Breast Cancer at stage four. It is a vicious cancer that likes to move fast and it did. I had it in my liver and bones besides my breast. It’s out of my breast with 70% gone in liver after nine weeks. Now, they are focused on my liver. I hope to get back to presenting seminars that changes people’s lives permanently. I teach how to live without fear and have hope as a constant companion. You will okay no matter what happens to you in your life.

Case Studies - Are different areas that I’ve helped people overcome. I started this page right before I contracted cancer. I have a lot more to put into it and I will as I get time. If you know someone who is facing cancer treatment,  you’ll find the herbs and oils that have helped me eliminate some of the side effects of chemo. You can purchase from me some of the remedies. During chemo, I wasn’t able to go out in public so I would appreciate buying anything on line.  I’m not making money from it after my overhead of shipping it myself to you. I hope I do not go into the hole.  There is not a large profit margin in herbs and oil, which is why you don’t see everyone jumping into trying to push them to make money. Some of the remedies, you will have to purchase from the store and they worked wonderfully. I hope they do for you too.

Positive Living – Here you will find video made by other authors regarding positive life style. I’ve started with a video from the author ‘The Secret.’ She has a beautiful video about affirmations. I have tips on how to get the most out of the videos and how to apply them to your life. Each week, I plan on adding a new video.

Look around and I hope you find something that will help you in my articles. Don’t feel like you need to buy my books. If you choose too, I will autograph it from this site. Amazon also carry them. We all like Amazon because they have everything.

You are probably wondering why one website would feature Confessions of an Aspiring Author, and a Healing Coach. Let me break them down and explain. The main reason is this is who I am.  The title Rebuild Shattered Dreams is a book that I wrote about my journey of being abandoned at the age of four. What amazing lessons on life, I learned.

I learned how to stop sabotaging myself and build the kind of life, I desire. Even when life throws you a curve, I found what I learned from my past very valuable. On November 10, 2008, I was diagnosed with grade three – Invasive Ductal Carcinoma or in other word – Breast Cancer. You are always shocked but it took me only five minutes to bring my life back into focus and feel okay about my challenge. I was back in control again.

In this book, I wrote about my experiences as a lost soul, abandoned and unwanted at the age of four. In my life, I learned the principles that bring you peace and protected from pain, fear, anger, guilt or frustration. With my emotional scars removed, I was free to decided how I was going to handle my Breast Cancer. No old programing interfered with my choices. I was free to choose peace and love. Every second of my life is filled with it. My invisible prisons are gone and they did not return with the news of cancer.

Breast Cancer is a new twist in my life. It doesn’t need to a negative one. I’m looking forward to see where it is going to take my family and I. There is always a silver lining in any situation. I’m deeply grateful to know exactly how to open it. I am truly in control of my life and it feel great even though I have a foreign substance inside of me, trying to kill me.

I’m so grateful that I have learned how to remove my emotional scars and change my Core Beliefs. Our family is very fearful of cancer but I am not. I embrace it and I feel a deep peace. Those around me feel it too. You radiate out your feeling and thoughts and others feel it. If you want to join me on this adventure, you can go to My Journal at the top of the website to read more.

I’m a published author with four books and two more on the way. They say it is easy to become a published author. Yet, it can be very difficult. For this amount of money, we can help make the experience easier for you. Is it really true?

People come up to me all the time and tell me that they have a story they want to have published. I see apprehension and excitement in their eyes and I know what they are feeling. When I decided to get my story published, I found it daunting.

As a friend, I want to do something different here. I’m going to be blunt and tell you what it’s really like. If you still want to become a published author, as a friend, I will mentor you through the maze. You can get really hurt emotionally and it is easy to pour money down the drain. I will tell you what it’s like to be picked up by a publisher or to become self-published. You can read the material and decide for yourself.

Many seasoned authors are choosing to follow the self-publishing route. You might want to read why in my free e-book, “What Does it Take to Become a Successful Published Author.” If you really want to become a published author, then you can join me and I’ll mentor you through the process. Before I mentor you, I want you to understand the advantages of both sides of the publishing world. That way you can make an intelligent decision and understand what I’m telling you.

When I decided to enter the industry, it was very overwhelming. For help, I turned to a few books. The first book I read was written by a literary agent and he was very discouraging. According to his book, he receives 5000 requests a week for his services. You can only imagine how many rejection letters he sent out on a daily basis. A literary agent will not take a new author unless they find a publisher first. Most publishers will not look at you without a literary agent.

After reading numerous books, I decided to publish my book myself. With my background, I probably have put more deals together than some literary agents. The biggest problem with self-publishing is you can and usually do make expensive mistakes. This is why I decided to mentor people. I would have loved if someone reached out and talked me through the process when I started. It cost me money and it was very emotional. I never felt so alone in a business as I did during this time of my learning.

Since I love to learn, I decided to go out and see if the books were telling me the truth. I hired someone to get me into some important places. My journey started in New York City. On this trip, I saw and spoke with people who educated me.

The first person I saw in New York City was an associated editor at Scholastic Magazine, named Lisa Feder-Feitel. As we got off the elevator, Scholastic’s offices took me back. I didn’t expect the bright colors and the décor. For a moment, I felt like I was in an elementary school. I had expected to sit in an office. Instead, we sat down at a table where our knees barely touched the edge of it. I expected any minute to have kids join us with their crayons and coloring books. It was really fun and Lisa was very warm and wonderful to talk with.

On this trip, I visited with Mark Schoenwald, an Executive Vice President of Thomas Nelson Publishers. I learned how a large publisher works and how they view new authors. You can read more in my e-book.

My visits didn’t stop with Thomas Nelson Publishers. I spent time with Peter Cannon of Publishers Weekly magazine. He was one of their editors and I learned a lot from talking with him. Publishers want to get a good review from Publishers Weekly on their new book. It helps stores buy a book they have coming out. I thought it was interesting to talk with him. For me, I never bought or read a book because of a review. I bought it because someone I trusted recommended it.

From Peter’s office, I went to a meeting with Bowker. They are the source for ISBN numbers for your books. They have other services that are important to the success of your book as well.

After I met with Bowker, I went into an hour-long meeting with Barnes and Noble’s head and regional buyers. Now, I understand how they work. Before the meeting, I bumped into Barnes and Noble Vice President, Robert C. Knowles, and I had a nice chat with him.

Now, I understood how large bookstores handle buying books. I wanted to know if it was different for small family-owned bookstores. I stopped in and interviewed numerous bookstore owners across the nation. Every bookstore owner had the same attitude on how they chose their books.

While I was there, I had some owners give me the names of independent distributors. Then I called them up to learn what challenges they had working with bookstores. They have a hard job and I really appreciate what they do.

Again, I wish that I had someone talk me through the publishing business. You really have no idea what it’s like until you have to do it. When authors come up to me, I listen and my heart aches for them. I know most of them will never get started or they will quit at the first bump in the road. There is so much you need to learn and they have such a learning curve ahead of them.

I love the business side of publishing as much as I do writing. Most authors aren’t wired for business. Since I have so much vast knowledge of the publishing field, I decided to mentor others. It made sense to use the Internet. This way, I can mentor and still have a career and life. Join me today by downloading my free e-book, “What Does it Take to Become a Successful Published Author.” Then we will talk! E-book – Or you can go to another website for more information.

The last time, we talked. I was trapped in a room within my house. My constant campaigns were a humidifier and air purifier. Quickly, my bedroom became boring even though I had a television. I watched movie and read books. In the past, they had been a wonderful way to spend my time. Now, I found myself becoming quickly bored of the constant diet of them. My mind craved for something different. What? What could I do when I couldn’t speak a word or leave my new friends.

In real estate, I was constantly on the go physically and I had to use my mind daily. You are always thinking about how you are going to sell someone’s house or help a buyer find their dream house. With nothing to think about, I was lost. This was a new feeling and it left me frustrated and panicky. What if I never get my voice back?

Years ago, I met a woman who had lost her voice and all she could do was whisper. It was something permanent with her. The thought seemed to torment me. Would I become like her? I needed to think about something else. But what?

It was nice to see my children. I’m a mother of six. They were all adults at this time so I was really left me to myself. My oldest son didn’t live too far from me and he would stop by often on his way home from work to see how I was doing. It surprised him to find me one day in my office with my air purifier and humidifier. It took work to move everything back and worth.

He wondered, what could I possibly being doing in there? I couldn’t use the phone and I had no email address. Quickly, he started to pressure me into divulging my activities. Successfully, I sidestepped them. I didn’t want to tell him why I was there. It embarrassed me to tell him that I was writing a story. I started to dread him stopping by. I was having fun and I didn’t want my newly created world to be shattered by him telling me that I couldn’t do it.

I would like to take you back to why I decided to move my friends into my office. After a couple of day in my bedroom, I decided to move into my office, looking for something to keep me from going stir crazy. It was worth the work of moving everything, if I could find something to entertain my mind that would allow me to avoid my thoughts. The woman I talked about earlier had permanently lost her voice and could never speak above a soft whisper. I remember her story was surrounded by a mysterious illness. My situation was so unique it reminded me of her. It concerned that I would end up like her?

I wanted to do something that would help me not think about her. So I moved into my office finding nothing that I could do without my voice. Shortly after being in my office, an idea came to me. What if I could write a story? Immediately, I went into a panicked state. The thought had triggered my past emotional pain. (If you want to know why I had a fear to write, you can read about it my book, How to Rebuild Shattered Dreams.)

The panicked feeling dissipated when I promised to never allow anyone to read it. Secluded in my office, I felt protected and the story seemed to ward off my negative thoughts. Little did I know that I was about to embark on the most fantastic journey. It was beyond anything I had ever imagined.

I had no clue that I was a creative person and my mind was starved to be one. Since, I had never allowed myself to ever think or do anything with writing. I used to make fun at being a writer. My favorite phrase was, “Why write it when a picture could replace a thousands words.” If it weren’t for this experience, I would’ve never discovered a hidden talent, love and passion for something that I had thought to be unattainable.

One thing, I did years ago before this experience. I took some classes on how the mind worked. We learned that our thoughts are always vibrating and moving. This is why sometime, we can be talking with someone and we both get the same idea or thought at the same time. We both happened to latch onto the same vibration as the thought. So our minds had the same thought.

I wanted to be a receiver of a new thought. Today, I needed it to be a story. So I asked my mind to connect with a wavelength of one and bring it to me. Being a mediating state, I kept my mind clear, waiting for something to happen. How long I sat there, I do not know. I just sat there until it happened.

“Time Out, I hate time Out.” The words started to flow into my mind and I immediately started to type them into the computer. The story changed my life and I dearly love it. This post is getting long. So I’ll continue the story in part 3. If you want to keep up or start from the beginning of my journey to becoming an author. You can subscribe to my email update; you’ll receive the previous post and the future ones.