Given the wicked winter weather Vancouver has been receiving, a virtual book tour makes perfect sense for me (not that I could leave home if I really wanted to, with all this snow and ice). Next Monday, I am kicking off my virtual book tour “40 Blogs in 40 (Business) Days” to promote my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself.

The plan is to visit forty blogs or ezines in the forty business days between Monday, January 22nd, and Friday, March 16th. Please visit my new Do It Myself Blog.

Looking forward to seeing you somewhere along the tour.

Nine-year-old Ashley is severely physically and mentally disabled. Three years ago, Ashley’s parents made the highly unusual decision to keep their daughter child-sized when they observed early signs of puberty.

The young girl has undergone hormone treatment that will limit her growth, which will keep her at about four feet, five inches, and 75 pounds making it easier for her to be moved. She has also had a hysterectomy and a breast bud removal.

“Ashley has no need for her uterus since she will not be bearing children,” they say, adding that the decision means she will not experience menstrual cramps.

The decision to remove her breast buds was partly to avoid sexualizing Ashley in the eyes of her caregiver, but mainly so that she would not experience discomfort when lying down.

Ashley also underwent an appendectomy during her surgery, as she would not be able to communicate pain if she were to suffer from appendicitis, they said.

Partly quoted from CTV.ca

For hours, I have been reading the parents’ blog and discussions, for and against, on other blogs. Mixed thoughts and emotions are running through me at the moment. I am somewhat reluctant to comment publicly on such a heated topic without fully absorbing and contemplating the issues involved. I can appreciate the parents’ perspective and that caring for their daughter on a daily basis is difficult and exhausting. No doubt, the lack of means of communication is one of their biggest challenges as their child cannot indicate her needs or where she hurts. But, as a person with a disability, a woman with a significant physical disability, I find “Ashley’s Treatment” terrifying and saddening; in fact, I felt nauseous as I was reading and I was beyond tears.

So many questions come to mind: is the only way to protect her from sexual abuse is to de-feminize her? How far will the removal of body parts go to prevent possible disease in the future? Will this become society’s solve for managing the care of its severely disabled citizens? Why aren’t desperately needed support systems being providing so that parents with special needs kids don’t feel the need to do it all alone? If it takes a community to raise a child, where is the community for the child with a disability?

Time to go crawl into bed, although I’m not sure how well I will sleep after such a story. Once again, I’m thankful for the parents I have.

Tags: ashley treatment

The impromptu celebration was well-timed as my friend’s sister, who is an executive chef, catered a large company Christmas party the night before and she gave us some of the leftovers! I would like to be able to publicly thank this angel; however, her client does not know they essentially sponsored my event, so she will remain “the unnamed angel”. Thank you, the food was awesome!

The event was intimate with my godfather Uncle Od and my husband Darrell giving touching toasts. (Darrell, as for your question, please give my poor thumb time to recover before I start the next one, ok?) Suzee did an excellent imitation of my speech therapy on the floor, which Jan caught on videotape. I hope to make that video available online as soon as it is edited.

And, of course, numerous books were sold and a few were signed. I was actually scared to sign directly in the book. One wrong, involuntary movement, the pen could go flying across the page and, in my eyes, ruin the book. For a few of them, I was able to type an inscription, print them on self-adhesive labels, sign them and stick them inside the books. Worst case scenario, I would reprint a label or two. But, with a houseful of people, I didn’t have the luxury of time (and a few moments of peace to figure out what the heck to say) to type out labels. I did what I had to in the moment: faced my fears and signed my “GWH” in brand new books. It seemed to work, much to my surprise!

After an evening of sharing good food and good wine with good friends, I felt like how my kitty Faith looks – totally contented, reflecting upon the fact that I am now a published author, although that might take some more time to fully sink in!

Thank you to everyone who joined me in celebrating the arrival of I’ll Do It Myself. This milestone will be preciously treasured for the rest of my life. Although there will be other books, which Darrell will make sure happens, there will never be another first book, my firstborn.

Tuesday evening, I received an email:

Hi Glenda,

I couldn’t put your book down - I’m finished it already! I am so in awe of what you’ve had to go through. You have so much strength, dedication and courage… and you’ve sure needed it! Thank you for sharing your story with us - and like Darrell says, I’ll be waiting for the next one!

All the best to you Glenda,

Lorraine Carol, Online Business Manager

My first book review! Thank you, Lorraine, one step closer to all of this sinking in.

They’re here!

The sword is mightier than the pen…when it comes to opening boxes…

Box top…I’m very impressed with how with the books are packaged.

This sight brought tears to my eyes. In this moment, my dream became reality. I did it! I have written and self-published my autobiography — and I have 500 copies to prove it.

…and 50 large-print copies!

Pam Slim, of Escape from Cubicle Nation, coaches people on how to go from corporate prisoner to thriving entrepreneur. Her blog gives practical and down-to-earth information on how to break free from the restrictive corporate world and live the life that you are truly meant to live. As you can imagine, she has a large and ever-increasing following.

We met on her blog. It was her post in which she realized there is, indeed, room for her book with her unique experiences amongst the crowded bookshelf that drew me to her. We connected at the writer level. She then kindly interviewed me for her March newsletter. From there, we have become “virtually sisters”, offering each other support, comic relief and a gentle kick when needed, usually late at night.

When she wrote her Open letter to CEOs, COOs, CIOs and CFOs across the corporate world, I was the first to say that post would garner her serious media attention. I am glad to see I called this one correctly. This woman is hot! She has been called for many media interviews since then. And many opportunities have availed themselves to her as a result, including interviewing Gloria Steinem.

To have I’ll Do It Myself receive a nod of approval by being included on Pam’s Top 10 list means a lot to me. Pam says this about my book:

[It] is Glenda’s life story of living a strong, sassy and courageous life with Cerebral Palsy. She has written it all using only her left thumb. A great gift for parents of children with disabilities, it is also a great, uplifting story for anyone about what you can do to overcome obstacles in your life with some grit, humor, fierce will and determination. I personally want this to become a bestseller and I want to see Glenda on Oprah, perhaps in the episode after Ramit.

Thanks sis! I truly value your support, encouragement and wisdom.

Be sure to check out the other things on her Top 10 Favourite Things list. They would all make great Christmas gifts, particularly I’ll Do It Myself!

Visit Books by Glenda to order your copies!

Hitting the send button also meant my dream was over. For thirty years, I’ve been dreaming about and preparing for writing and publishing this book one day. Now that the book exists, I am without my dream, without my security blanket, and that is also surprisingly scary. Now what will be my guiding star? I guess it is now time for a new dream, although I have no clue at this point what it will be. But I can imagine God thinking, “Would you please hurry up and get that book printed so that I can plant this dream seed. If you thought writing your autobiography was big, you ain’t seen anything yet, girl!”

As of Tuesday, the books were printed, the covers were laminated, and they were scheduled for binding today! I will have actual books in my hand early next week! I think it will be a “fall on my knees” when the boxes arrive.

The next step is to get them out to readers so that the book can begin fulfilling its purpose. Visit my site at www.BooksbyGlenda.com to pre-order your copies. I will pop in them in the mail as soon as I receive them – just in time for Christmas giving!

Sorry, but this story really irks me. There are so many people with inspiring, motivating, uplifting stories that go untold because they can’t find a publisher. Yet, O.J. lands a publisher and all the media coverage he can handle because of who he is….and people will eat it up. Is something wrong with our society?

Now that I have that off my chest, I can go to bed and resume the shoestring-budget promotion of my self-published autobiography I’ll Do It Myself tomorrow.

Tags: O.J. Simpson, publishing, books

After dreaming about and my book for the past thirty years and writing for the last three or four years, my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself is nearly done! I’m so close to finishing that I can almost taste it! My book is looking like an actual book.

I am doing the final proofreading, for which Dr. Kathy King, who has written ten books, offered me these words of advice:

• Take plenty of breaks so you don’t get too bleary eyed.
• Keep a great sense of humor.
• Watch out for homonyms! (Yes, they got me a few times; for example, shoot for chute. Oops!)

  Thanks Kathy. I plan on taking part of tomorrow off to celebrate my birthday – the big four-o!

Today was a self-taught, crash course in interior book design and layout. With several books opened on my desk, I designed my title and copyright pages, minus the “Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data”, which I’m still waiting to receive from Ottawa. The next step is the chapter headings. I would also like to add a dedication if my Muse is still speaking to me.

Thanks to tremendous time and effort by Debbie Fierst, the major editing is completed, and now it’s only the minor changes and final proofreading left to do. I confess that the editing hasn’t been the most enjoyable stage of this journey. However, it was an opportunity to grow as a writer.

The plan is to send my baby I’ll Do It Myself to the printer next week! Then it will be the nail-biting stage: what will people think of my baby? Will any errors be found? And countless other questions that plague writers.