I grew up on the Canadian Prairie, which means that it gets dark in the winter by 5 p.m. I got a paper route when I was nine years old and spent a lot of time walking my neighborhood delivering papers, and telling stories to keep myself entertained. I was sure I was going to have my first novel published by the time I was 12.

This is a little story I use on my LinkedIn profile to create an instant connection with people interested in finding out more about me. You are more likely to remember me now than if I had simply told you, “I knew from nine years old that I wanted to be a writer”, or worse, if I had presented it to you in bullet points:

• Paper route at nine years-old
• Lived in Canada
• It was cold
• Talked to herself in the dark

I told you a story. By the time you get to the end of this article, you may very well forgot all 5 tips for successful storytelling, but you’ll remember my cute little story of how I got my start in writing. There’s a reason for that. We are ingrained to remember stories, and telling a story is the most powerful way to activate our brains.

Why Stories Work

A story, if broken down into the simplest form, is a connection of cause and effect. And that is exactly how we think. We think in narratives all day long, no matter if it is about having a shower, whether we think about work or what we are going to have for dinner. We make up (short) stories in our heads for every action and conversation.

Whenever we hear a story, we want to relate it to one of our existing experiences. That’s why metaphors work so well with us. Our brains get busy searching for a similar experience, and this helps us relate to that same experience of pain, joy, or disgust.

Why This Is Good For Business

If people can relate to you, and like you, they are more likely to want to do business with you. And you can use stories everywhere: in presentations, meetings, blog posts, social media, your website. Try telling a story to replace charts, graphs and facts. My general rule of thumb is that if there is a place in my presentation where people’s eyes tend to glaze over, or I myself am bored, that’s where I need to tell a story. As long as you are able to make the connection between the story and your main point, your message will be more inherently interesting, memorable and impactful.

Here are 5 tips to help you tell your story more effectively:

Be Brief

To start, write the story out in its entirety and then go over it and take out any points that are not essential. Tighten it up. Take out extraneous words and only use adjectives sparingly. Adjectives should be carefully chosen and used only if they add to the story. Opening with a strong punch will draw your readers in and they’ll be more likely to stay invested.

Keep it simple

The simpler a story, the more likely it will stick. Using simple language and low complexity is the best way to activate the brain regions that make us truly relate to a story. Try for example to reduce the number of complicated nouns and exchange them with simple, heartfelt language.

Be Specific

When you tell a story, choose only the best detail about each person and item in the story. After picking the detail, if it’s appropriate, play with saying it in a different way. Instead of saying, “I didn’t like being a teacher”, try “I spent seven years trying hard to love teaching,” or “my seven years as a teacher showed me what a good entrepreneur I am.”

Be specific in your details and comparisons. Saying that “everything that made me a really bad teacher makes me a really great entrepreneur” is more memorable than saying: “I was never meant to be a teacher.”

Use All Five Senses

Many storytellers forget smell, but think about the effect of a well-described smell when it hits and triggers the brain: “The girl’s bedroom had all the sadness of a beef slaughterhouse, and smelled about the same.”

If You Don’t Have Your Own Story, Start With Someone Else’s

When we start out writing, it’s natural to worry about making it believable by using personal stories if you don’t feel you have any relevant stories to tell. The best way to get around this is by starting with someone else’s: try asking for quotes from experts in your field or find relevant quotes online. It’s a great way to add credibility.

Learn how to tell a good story and I guarantee you, you’ll be more memorable than if you just report the facts or information. The information doesn’t matter; it’s the story that will win their hearts.

At least that what my nine year-old self told me.

If you’d like to connect with me on LinkedIn, please go here: www.linkedin.com/in/frontroweseat/

I had a conversation with your unfinished manuscript and here’s what it asked me: what have you done for me lately?

If you are not writing today, or you didn’t write this morning, or you’re not going to be writing tonight, then you aren’t actually writing your book; you are talking about writing your book. Now while talking about writing your book is an important part of the writing process, that’s a subject for a different post. Today, we’re talking about taking action.

If you are not willing to take action on your book in the next 30 days, then chances are you never will.

Books are like a perishable food item: they have a shelf life. And I would estimate that time to be about a year. After that, too many factors have changed. You’re not the same person you were a year ago. And you won’t be the same person this time next year.

The market is not the same as it was a year ago: And it won’t be the same next year. If you started writing a book about vampires in 2005 and it hasn’t been published, I don’t need to tell you … you’re too late. If you’re writing the next ‘50 Shades of Grey’, well… that ship has sailed. What’s hot now may not be of interest when your book goes to print.

Hockey legend Wayne Gretsky’s is famous for his saying:

“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

So find out where the ‘puck’ is going to be in your niche of expertise.

A few ways to do this are:

Do Some Research: Who are the “experts”, or who are considered the experts in your field, what’s trending in your market, what’s selling and what isn’t?

What Value Can You Add: Look at what’s missing: are there any issues that aren’t being addressed, or aspects that people are avoiding, holes in the topic area? What new and unique angle you can bring that is not already being addressed in the industry?

Be Willing to Piss People Off:

Don’t be afraid to take a stand, and have your own opinion. What is the insight or viewpoint you have that nobody else could bring?

When I first started freelance writing, I wrote an article about some teenagers that had microwaved a cat to death. I defended them. I got so much hate mail I thought I would never write another word again. I was shocked to discover that my editors were thrilled. It was driving traffic to the blog in droves. And that was my first lesson in the world of writing and business: Embrace your haters. If you are looking to create raving fans, people who really, really love you, you have to understand that inevitably, you’re going to have people that really, really hate you. Think Ann Coulter. She takes a position and isn’t afraid to stand by it.

Prosperity expert Randy Gage says, “I can promise you, if you’re not pissing some people off, you’re not doing relevant work.”

Make some predictions. What do you think is going to happen in the marketplace in the next year? Are there new laws or bills being passed, new legislation in your industry.

Write What You Care About: There’s no surefire way of predicting what people are going to love. So I’d also ask you to consider disregarding everything I just said and writing what is of interest to you instead of trying to ride the next big wave.

So if you aren’t prepared today to take action to move your book project forward, then you’re not ready. Or you’re not willing. So be honest with yourself. And then either start writing or let it go, forgive yourself and move on! I promise you that trapped energy can be used more productively somewhere else.

…Of course, if you’d rather have someone write your book for you, just drop me a line via the contact form on this site.

I spend a lot of my time with new clients finding out who they are and getting a real sense of their overall goals for their book. This is often a matter of listening and asking the right questions. I get so many writers that write and write and write and but forget to ask key questions until after they’ve finished their book. Successfully publishing a book means asking yourself these key questions:

Are You Treating This Book As a Business Or As A Project? One of the biggest myths of the book industry is that authors are going to get rich from publishing books. There’s no money in books. So if this book is a pet project, a tribute to your grandparents, a memoir to honor the death of a loved one, a therapy book to work out all your issues, that’s fine. But be clear about that before you start, and don’t expect to get much of your investment back.If your objective is to create a book for posterity’s sake, then the good news is that you won’t have to invest a lot of time or money to produce something that’s quite acceptable. If your goal is a business venture, then treat it the same as you would any other marketing tool.

What Do You Want the Book To Do For You? Are you looking to build a speaking career, attract more clients, establish credibility and expertise, become a full-time children’s book author, land a publishing deal or write a book that your friends and family can be proud of and read for all eternity? I’ve said it before, the biggest difference between a successful author and one who has never been heard of is the ability to set clear, definable goals. Create a list, and then go about building a book that will do what you want it to, and will work for you.

What Kind of Market Do You Want the Book In? Knowing your market will sell more books. Niche books tend to do well. Nonfiction books with a clearly-defined topic, a compelling hook and a specific target audience will be more successful than a book appealing to the masses. There are also certain topics that will always sell:

a) How to make more money
b) How to find or have more/better sex/love/romance will always do well.

Fiction is a little tougher to predict, but some genres do better than others. This is why it’s important to do your research and also why traditional publishers like authors with loyal followings. There’s a balance that you have to strike between finding a niche that you can dominate, and selling enough books in that niche each month that it matters.

Who Is Your Target Market: Please don’t say ‘my book is for everybody’, because it’s not. If you write your book “for everyone”, you are more likely to attract no one. The more clear and specific you can be about your target reader, the more likely you are to attract them. Getting clarity on your target will inform your writing choices throughout the process. It will also help you find them and get them to buy the book at launch time.

How Do You Want to Help People? Zig Ziglar said it best: “You can get everything you want out of life, if you just help enough other people get what they want.”Whether or not they realize it, your reader will always ask, ‘what’s in it for me?’ If you can clearly identify the problem they are experiencing, solve that problem and then demonstrate how you can help them, they will automatically connect with you. It’s also a way to immediately position yourself as the expert that they must listen to because you have the answers. They will keep reading, they will tell their friends, and (in theory) you will sell more books.

What’s the Message You Want to Communicate? Let me give you a hint, you are the message you want to communicate. Six-time Emmy-Award Winner Shawne Duperon asks a much better question: what are you broadcasting? “What signal are you transmitting in business”… and in your book? Whether you’re networking, posting or writing your book, you are your message. Having a message that is directly in line with who you are, what you do and what’s important to you will help you authentically connect with your reader. It will attract the perfect client and ultimately grow your business or your career.

What Do I You Have To Contribute That Is Not Already In The Marketplace? Part of doing your research is finding out what others in your field are up to. Penny Reading Sansevieri, author and CEO of Marketing Experts, Inc. says, “success leaves clues.” By following and getting to know other authors in your market, you will find out what’s trending. Their work will not only familiarize you with how others are addressing your topic, but also highlight what’s not being said, and how can you expand on that. What can you add to the conversation? What should people really be discussing? What’s your unique value proposition? Another way to position yourself, is by disagreeing with the expert opinion. When done properly, this can carry great weight and influence. It also helps you to be on top of new information, and gives you the opportunity to add any missed information.

What Is Your Budget? I meet a lot of writers who aren’t willing or prepared to invest in their books. It’s funny how authors often think that being an author doesn’t require an investment. This is mostly because they’re not yet clear on how to generate energy around that book and get a return on that investment, or have the book work for them as a marketing tool. Decide on your investment and then ask yourself: How much money am I willing to lose? Yep, I did say lose. You may earn your money back in book sales, but you may not. It’s impossible to predict how any book will do so make an investment that you are prepared to lose if things don’t go as you’d hoped.

How Do You Want To Publish? You have several options. You will want to start thinking about this at the start of your writing so you can get the ball rolling long before you complete your book. You can self-publish, seek a traditional publisher, or a hybrid route, which combines the two. Regardless of your choice, it’s important to know about digital platforms such as Amazon Kindle, iBookstore for iPad and Barnes & Noble Nook. Did you know that you can make more money selling a book digitally at $2.99 than selling a traditional book for $24.99?Get the information you need to make an informed choice. More on this in a different post.

Who Do You Need To Collaborate With: Writers tend to be the worst self-promoters. Typically what makes you a great writer (ie: you might be an introvert) makes you a terrible self-promoter. You just wanna write. If this is you, and you know this is you, then you may need to hire a team to help you finish, publish and/or market your book.

Asking all these key questions before you get started means you will be further ahead than a large portion of first-time writers in the industry.  If you want additional direction, please consider attending my upcoming webinar with expert book marketer, Lynn Serafinn – more information on this will be provided shortly.

AND FINALLY, DON’T FORGET to subscribe to the ‘Write Better’ authors blog via the form at the top of this page for more tips on writing, editing, digital publishing, book promotion and marketing and much more.

And of course, if you’d rather have someone write your book for you, just drop me a line via the contact on this site.

According to the book The Millionaire Next Door there are approximately 3 percent of households in the United States with net worth in excess of $1,000,000. And that net worth is accompanied by a minimum annual income just over $135,000 per year, with an average income of $260,000. That would place them in the top 3 percent of all American households.

Authors like J.K. Rowling, Dean Koontz and Stephen King represent less than 1% of the author population, and have book sales in excess of $300 Million.

So what’s the difference between them and you?

They set clear, definable goals: The big difference is that the 3 percent group have prepared written goals with specific plans for reaching those goals. Not very many people are willing to do that.

So the best way to become a successful author is to start by creating some goals for your book. Ideally you want to create a list, five or ten goals at the least, that you wish to attain by publishing your book. You also want to create goals surrounding your marketing: How many bloggers do you want to reach? How many events do you want to do? Who are you going to connect with to help you promote your book, etc. A gentle reminder: Book sales should be at the bottom of your list. Right before ‘Get Rich and Famous.’ See my post, ‘7 Biggest Lies Writers Tell Themselves About Their Books’ for more on this. You won’t get sales without exposure. The standard in marketing is that people need seven impressions to your book, message, or product before they will consider buying. Your goals should be aligned with that focus: getting as many impressions or pieces of exposure as you can. It’s not a matter of ‘what one thing will I do to get 100 people to buy my book’, but ‘what hundred things can I do to get one person to buy my book?’ Get enough exposure and book sales will follow.

They stay focused: Focus is what separates the successful author from the one who flounders and does not complete or ever publish a book.

Authors are creative and as such, we have no shortage of ideas, we love to start new projects …Squirrel!… jot down ideas on scraps of paper … and then what? Onto another bright, shiny object. I have dozens – if not hundreds—of half-started blog posts or book ideas which I’m only just now starting to do something with. (See my article on Idea Hoarding for more suggestions on what to do with these.) But many authors suck at systems, schedules, time management, discipline, and most of us are lousy as self-promotion. So we get distracted, and have a hard time with follow- through and completion. If you have to work with someone to stay focused it could be the best money you spend –ever. Which brings me to the following point.

They know what they’re good at, and what they suck at: Successful authors build a strong team to help them with what’s not working.

This has been a tough one for me. I am a starter, a big picture thinker. What I’m not is a detail-oriented person or a “finisher.” This is not good or bad; it’s what’s so. This means I’m a really great at conceptualizing. I can carry the vision for my clients’ books, help them get clear about what they want and create a plan. I’m also a strong substantive, or content,editor – the part where I get to sink my teeth into the ideas, the flow, the overall message and tone for the book and offer critical feedback.

And I’ve learned to hire a team of people around me who are detail-oriented finishers for the rest. You know these people, they are the organizers, it comes naturally to them, and they love it. They are my proofreaders and copyeditors, and executive assistants and my director of operations; these are the people I surrounded myself with.

You need people around you who are good at what they do and who know what they’re doing because they have value and expertise that you don’t. Respect their work and respect their time.

They welcome and encourage feedback: Authors who are willing to listen and learn and get valuable input to make their work better are often more successful than authors who refuse to listen to the advice of professionals who have been in the industry forever.

Authors become emotionally attached to their work, or their cover art, or an idea that simply doesn’t work is standing in the way of their own success. Surround yourself with people who aren’t afraid to tell you the truth, who may tell you something you don’t want to hear. This will help you more than any ego-stroking in the world. The market will tell you in no uncertain terms whether or not your work is good. You might as well hear it while there is still time to improve it.

Can I guarantee that you’ll be the next Stephen King? Of course not, but these tips will get you further ahead than whatever it is you’ve been doing up until now. Understanding the basic principles of the book business will help you be more successful. Not only that, but using a solid model for business will put you light years ahead of most of the other authors out there, and with 300,000 books published a year, you need a strong model in order to succeed.

So, ready to achieve success with your writing? Coming soon: Surefire Ways To Succeed in Writing.

It takes an average of about 400 hours to write a book. That’s a lot of time and effort. I’ve had many authors approach me who have poured blood, sweat and tears into a manuscript without the first clue how to get their book edited and published properly and out to the masses. Others have published their book without one ounce of marketing. And it has flopped. When I asked them about this, I find that they’ve been making assumptions based on myths they believe about the publishing industry.

Here are a few of the biggest mistakes writers make before they publish, and the lies they tell themselves:

LIE #1: “I can write about whatever I want”

I’m always interested to hear what people writing about. I’m often surprised to discover, though, that a lot of authors haven’t done any research or taken the time to familiarize themselves with what’s selling in their industry. You need to know who else is writing about your topic. Have you bought or read their books? What’s hot in your market, what’s selling and what isn’t?Reading other people’s work is important because you really want to know what’s being said about your topic, and how it’s being addressed. Not only that, these people will become an important part of your network.

LIE #2: “If I write a great book, it will sell itself”

I’ve had many clients who are unknowingly under the impression that if they write a really fabulous book, people will somehow intuitively and magically just “know” and their book will become a bestseller. That’s crazy! Two things make a successful book: strong, solid content and a great platform. You need to be your own biggest advocate, and you are going to be the greatest asset to getting the word out about your work. And if you’re terrible at it, then hire a professional to do it for you.

LIE #3: “I’m going to get famous”

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but chances are you’re not going to get famous. What a lot of people don’t realize with best-selling authors such as Charmaine Hammond – whose book is getting turned into a movie – and others, who have started with nothing and become success stories, is that fame is always preceded by hard work, and a lot of it. It’s wonderful to have a goal of ‘making it big’, but it’s not always realistic. Most authors who have attained great success didn’t just show up at the fame-party ready to sign autographs. They spent months working tirelessly to get the word out about their book and building a strong and solid platform, both before the book was released and for many months after. Could fame happen? Anything is possible. But first focus on the work.

LIE #4: “I’m going to get rich”

I’m always saying to keep the end in mind when writing, but trust me when I tell you that the money is not the end game. You can’t guarantee book sales. Ever. You can build a strong campaign, and enroll many launch partners. What you can’t do is predict how many copies of a book will sell. Create other goals or other milestones. Yes, we all want to sell books and with a strong platform, you can, and as my previous point, this is always preceded by a lot of hard work.

LIE #5: “I can market my book after I’m done writing it”

I often have clients approach me when they have completed their book and ask, ‘now what?’ They’re in trouble. Why? Because there were 300,000 books published in 2012, and the time to start marketing your book was about 3 months ago. If you want to break through you’ll need a minimum of 6 months to get a solid campaign up and running. And the time when traditional publishers did that for you is gone. Publishers are now looking to sign authors who make it easy for them. They want great reads from authors who already have a following and are willing to promote their own work.

LIE #6: “I don’t need a marketing plan”

Since publishers are looking are looking for authors who understand the game, you should have an idea of what you’re going to do to market your book. It doesn’t have to be formal, but some kind of guideline that gives a structure to your plans, your goals, and your marketing efforts is essential.

LIE #7: “My mom can edit my book”

Oh, please don’t do this. Writing a book is the fun part; editing is where the real work takes place. You need to hire a professional. Authors often overlook this extremely important step. It’s easy to find someone to edit a book, right? My mom/sister/cousin’s dog is good at English. Wrong. Editing is a pretty specialized skill set; someone who can find “typos” isn’t a good editor. You want someone to help you raise the bar on your work and create a final product that is something you can really be proud of. An editor will give you critical feedback (especially if you’ve hired a content editor, which I highly recommend), and often improve your work beyond what you might have been able to do on your own.

It’s good to remember that publishing isn’t just about finding the right place to print and publish your book. It’s about a lot more than that: publishing is a business; if you treat it as a business model you will always succeed.

To read more of my content-rich blog posts, visit www.KarenRowe.com/category/blog

I’m going to say something and you’re not going to like it. Ready? Writer’s Block is a sham. It doesn’t exist. It’s a  figment of your imagination. If you wrote yesterday, you can write today. It’s really just a question of whether you can do it to your own satisfaction. It’s not your fear of writing that’s blocking you; it’s your fear of not writing well.

Think about this: Have you ever been blocked while playing Yahtzee? Eating blueberry pie? Playing air guitar in your living room? These are joyful things and there’s nothing at stake: if you fail, who cares? Nobody. If there are no rules, and no judgment, psychological blocks are impossible.

There is no term for engineer-block, mechanic-block, or flame-thrower block. Every creative pursuit faces similar pressures, so my advice is:

Tip #1: Loosen up.
Play. Don’t over-think. Smile. Sing. Dance. Walk Away From Your Computer. Do what you gotta.

Tip #2:  Write everyday
Once you’re done mouthing the words to Adele and singing into a hairbrush, set aside a block of writing time every day which is non negotiable. Once you’ve got that time blocked, sit down and commit to that time. Even if you don’t write a word. Do your part and show up at the page.

And here’s the thing: it doesn’t even matter what you write about. Write a word, or a sentence. Write about how pissed off you are that you can’t write.

Tip #3: Find A System That Works For You
I have been trying for years to mediate every morning, and I was off-and-on with it until I made the deal with myself that I didn’t get to do anything else until the meditation was done. That meant no breakfast, no coffee, no Facebook.

That helped a little more with consistency. But what really solidified my practice was finding a system that worked for me.

The part I hated about meditating was the way I was doing it. I used to sit on the couch and have to have everything ‘just so’… it took forever, and I found all sorts of ways to procrastinate.

Finally, I started doing a guided meditation. What really solidified it for me was that I started listening to my mediation in bed first thing in the morning. It gave me a chance to wake up, be peaceful and ease into my day, while still providing me with all the benefits of meditation.

It can be the same with your writing. If it’s not working for you, ask yourself:

- What don’t I like about the way I’m doing this?

- How can I change it so that it becomes a habit?

The reason you’re not writing is because you’re scared. You’re scared that what you have to say isn’t good enough. You’re scared of being exposed for not being perfect enough. You’re scared that people might read this and judge you.

Let me help you. No one is perfect, everyone is judging you and what you have to say is important.

So go write ahead.

“You’re going to be moving. Like, relocating.”

As soon as she said it, my heart sank.

I knew she was talking about Tampa.

‘It’s not Paris, is it?’ I asked her, hoping for the best.

‘No. It’s not Paris. It’s a place that keeps coming up and you keep putting it off.’

I nodded silently.

Fuck.

It’s Tampa.

~~~

Back in May, I went to Tampa with a client to meet his sales & marketing team. It was a life-changing trip for me. Not only were we shuttled around in limos the entire time, but I found out that you can buy a 2-bed, 2-bath home blocks from the beach for $80,000. $80,000?!!! You can’t even buy a bathroom for that price in Calgary. Not to mention, all that I learned and saw in the business realm. I tell you, there is opportunity for me there.

What Tampa did for me was open a door that I thought was closed and locked. I have long since given up my dream of being a homeowner in Calgary. At least under present circumstances. It was enough to rekindle the thought of home ownership being a possibility for me. Flash forward 4 months and there I am in front of an Angel Card reader who is saying things like:

‘It’s in your soul’s chart. It’s pretty much unavoidable.’ She is nodding emphatically.

‘Right now, this is the freest you’re ever going to be in your life again.’

And I’m blinking at her waiting for her to say something different.

And as I’m driving home from the reading, I catch myself trying to talk myself out of it. “I can’t move to Tampa. That’s just crazy talk. What kind of CRAZY PERSON moves to a different COUNTRY based on an Angel Card Reading?? I’m not the type of girl who can just uproot her life and move to Tampa…on an Angel Card Reading.”

Am I?

I mean, you know. There’s a fine line between trusting your intuition and being completely delusional.

So I asked the Universe for a CLEAR sign. There are a couple of things you need to know when asking the Universe for a clear sign:

1. You need to be clear and specific about what question you want answered.
2. You need to be clear and specific about what sign you want to see.
3. You need to be clear and specific about the time frame in which you want to see it in.
4. You need to be open to that sign taking a different shape or form than you imagine. (It might not look exactly how you think it will.)

And the most important:

5. If you do see the sign, you had better be prepared to take action. Which is why my mantra has become: “When the universe gives you a mandate, you shut up, be still and listen. Then you act on that mandate, without hesitation or question.” So don’t ask the Universe for a sign unless you REALLY want to know the answer, and unless you are really willing to take action on it. It’s powerful stuff we’re dealing with here. So don’t fuck around.

~~~

So I said, “Universe, if I am meant to move to Tampa, I need to see a purple elephant in the next 24 hours.”

And I promptly forgot all about it.

The first 24 hours came and went.

Two days after the Angel reading, I walked into a store in the mall. I never go to the mall. I happened to be there doing a promo for Samsung. A lady was trying on a belt.

She was trying on a belt with a purple elephant on it. I walked passed her. And kept walking. I turned on my heel and circled around the store. I hovered around her, stealing furtive glances, trying not to look weird, or stalkerish, which is exactly what I was. I walked past her, trying to get a closer look. “Maybe it’s a dolphin. No, no, no, no, no, NO. It can’t be. NO. Maybe it’s royal blue, not purple. Nope. That’s not a purple elephant. The lighting in here is playing tricks with my head. Fuckshitdamnhell. It is. It is a purple elephant. There is no denying it. It is a fancy bejeweled purple elephant. A Karen Rowe purple elephant. My purple elephant.”

I walked out of the store with dread and fear and sheer utter shock and incredulity. I drove home on auto-pilot.

My mind was working hard to get out of it. “It doesn’t count! It’s late. I said, 24 hours, and it is 25.5 hours late. It doesn’t count. Nope. Doesn’t count.”

Does it?

Another 24 hours pass, a second purple elephant shows up:

The next day, a man in a Tampa Bay Lightening T-Shirt walks into the store I was working in.

I am in full-on denial at this point.

And 24 hours after that, on a Sunday evening, I am watching the Rachel Zoe project (don’t judge!), a reality show that I had recorded on my DVR. And Brad is holding…

The kicker? The show had been recorded on Tuesday. As in, within the 24-hour time frame. I just hadn’t gotten around to watching the program until Sunday.

So that was it. Irrefutable.

There was no arguing it. I was moving to Tampa.

Ever since then, I’ve been seeing purple elephants everywhere. It’s taken me about a month to wrap my head around all of this. There is a huge amount of trust that’s being called on from me. I am trusting my gut. I’ve got to go to Tampa. If you ask me why, my answer will be, I don’t know why. But I’m going.

There’s so much that’s moving forward, and I can’t see any of it. I have had many long conversations with friends and family. And it comes down to this:

There is nothing for me here in Calgary. The only thing that’s keeping me here is my own fear.

The Angel card reader said, ‘If it’s right for you, it’ll plague you. No matter how much we push it away, it’ll keep coming back.’

She also said,  “You’re on the golden path, Karen. Expect opportunity, opportunity, opportunity.”

And the clincher:

“Your guy. He’s not here. He’s not in Calgary. Your guy is somewhere saying, ‘Holy Hell, connect me with her already.’ And he can’t find you because you live in Canada.”

So, that’s all I need to know.

I am going.