Finding your Path
As I’ve mentioned in other recent blog posts, I’ve been in the process of cleaning out the hard disk of an old computer that I’m donating to a local non-profit organization. In doing so, I’ve run into many of my writings from 1999-2004, which I’ve decided to publish. Including a book.
After selling Cram Session back in December 1998, I spent some time putzing about between various projects. One of those projects was to write a book about asking for, receiving and interpreting guidance from one’s God. I finished Finding your Path in the autumn of 2000, then re-edited the book in 2002 and called it finished.
At the time I was back in college at The Ohio State University, finishing up Bachelors’ degrees in English and Italian. I knew little about the publishing process, mainly the fact that it was a lengthy and daunting process and that writers needed to be prepared for a barrage of rejection letters until their works were either published or until the writer gave up hope. I just didn’t have the energy to commit to that process, and decided to leave the book to grow a layer of proverbial dust on the hard drive of my computer.
Today, there are any number of online self-publishing outfits. And considering I’ve long since given up any expectations of being paid for my work, I decided to make the available for free:
Finding your Path: Using Divine Guidance to Determine Your Life’s Direction
I really enjoyed the process of writing this book. When I started writing the book, I was 22 years old, and by that time in my life I had accumulated a number of experiences that I attributed to divine guidance. One story I like to tell is that for each of the first 3 jobs I took coming out of high school, when I went in for the final interview there was a crow standing on the front steps of each establishment, which I took as a sign that I should accept the job when it was offered.
Part of the process of obtaining the material for this book was to interview a number of people to find out how they experienced divine guidance in their lives, and to use some of their anonymized stories as examples. In short, I talked with some fabulous people who shared some pretty profound stories.
10 years later, writing this book was a wonderful personal growing experience. When I set out to write this book, I only believed in the idea of predestination; interviewing and having lengthy philosophical discussions with others led me to combining the ideas of predestination and free will in the book as well as my own life. It allowed me to finally think for myself, rather than always taking another’s word (regardless if derived from God, diety or human) as gospel. But more importantly, it allowed me to see life as a series of choices we make with God, rather than being dictated by God.
Hopefully making this book publicly available make a positive difference in others’ lives.
