My Xmas presents came a bit late and I only received them near the end of January. The first gift was that an international airline magazine was the first to buy one of my stories that I’d written while I was travelling in SE Asia. It was about a cooking course that I’d done in Cambodia www.garyhirson.com/portfolio/travel/cambodia. Upon receiving the news that they were interested in both the text and the images lifted my spirits considerably as I’d reached a goal of becoming a travel writer and photographer.
My second gift- related to my upcoming book- was that I found an Educational Psychologist who was willing to read my edited manuscript and recommend any changes if need be. As I was writing to children about goal-setting, visualization, affirmation and positive thinking- with education in mind- it was very important that I had all my facts straight. I mean, how rosy would my future be if what I had written about inflicted some irreversible damage on my readers? Having a psychologist give the thumbs up also gave my book credibility and went a long way in convincing teachers and parents that- even though I’m not a parent, teacher or psychologist-the book must be okay if an educational psychologist says so.
There were very few changes which I was extremely happy about as, not only was I ecstatic that I knew what I was writing about but also, the writing was now done and I could now get myself down to the beach for a bit of sunning and relaxation.
Reviewer: Catherine Normand –Educational Psychologist
“Hirson does an excellent job of illustrating the power of imagination in our lives and how we can harness this for positive thinking and goal-setting. The book demonstrates these essential life-skills, as well as how to make use of visualisation and personal affirmation.” Normand adds that, “many of our young people struggle with developing personal cognitive agency – so to be able to think about one’s thought processes is empowering.”
It’s funny how the mind works, but at that time, besides enjoying my belated Xmas gifts, my mind started to throw up thoughts like,”how can you write about this stuff-what qualifies you to tell people about these concepts?”
A real mood swinger at times is our mind.
The insecurities and sleepless nights did start to set in but then I did realise something.
Not only had I been reading about, attending courses etc for the last 12 years or so on these topics but I’d also put into practice that which I was preaching.
I had set a goal of self publishing a book- which I did, and I had set a goal of becoming a travel writer and photographer. Selling that one story (with many more to follow) had enabled me to stand up and say that I had reached a pre-set goal or two, and even though I don’t have any degrees on these subjects I had experienced it by living it.
Does this make me an expert?
I’m not too sure. But the so called experts once thought the world was flat, so I’m not too attached to being one.
Insecurities out the way and manuscript edited and Ok’d a designer was what I needed next.