Homecomings ~ 52 Ways Back to Ourselves received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Elaine Patterson.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
The book is called Homecomings ~ 52 Ways Back to Ourselves and it was published in August 2024.
What’s the book’s first line?
The first line is from the Foreword by Karyn Prentice which reads
‘In this beautifully presented book, the reader is met with an exciting opportunity, via a year’s worth of weekly invitations, to discover more about their personal homeland and inner landscape’.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
The ‘pitch’ is as follows”
‘Welcome to ‘Homecomings: 52 Ways Back to Ourselves’ – a collection of reflective soliloquys intended to help you to return to you. It is the author’s hope that this collection can inspire you to explore what it means to belong, and to come home to yourself again and again as a foundational and invitational heart-based practice for our times. This has never been more necessary or more important if we are to discover or reclaim how we can live – in the midst of all that is happening for us personally and on the global stage – with joy, beauty, generosity, compassion, courage, kindness, wonder, reciprocity, wisdom and grace.’
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
I have felt for a long time that the art of coming home to ourselves – and finding our sense of place and belonging in our tense and fragmenting – but also astonishingly beautiful world – is both urgent and vital if we are to remember to live our lives with authenticity, courage, compassion and wisdom. I believe that this is the foundational practice – and a new art form – for us now which we need to return to again and again.
And yet, finding our way back to ourselves can be as frustrating and elusive as it is enriching – as we try to catch the threads of wisdom that life is trying to show us. It is a continual process of feeling lost and found, of arrival and departure, of disconnecting and re-connecting and of forgetting and remembering. The destination is always moving and can never feel complete because we are already changed in our setting off. As we learn to hold these frontiers for ourselves, our understanding of life and living deepens with each encounter. This book can help to illuminate our way where-ever we find ourselves.
This collection started life as handwritten journal entries and musings – with supporting creative invitations and journaling prompts – over a two-year period during the COVID lockdowns in the UK. They are now shared with love to stimulate your own exploration of the many different ways in which you can find yourself.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
The main reason someone should read this book is because it works as a lighthouse and a beacon – a loving self-care kit – calling us back home to ourselves. The 52 reflective soliloquies remind the readers how they can – in their own ways – come back whole to themselves again and again when people and life wants so much from us.
These are invitations for the reader to immerse themselves in the gentle whisperings of their soul’s essence, the passionate murmurings of their heart’s desire and the wise instinctive knowing of their bodies somatic intelligence so that we can discover how we can fully and truly be ourselves (because as Eleanor Roosevelt famously said, ‘everyone else is taken!’).
The book also has a light touch in the depths that it covers – and each soliloquy is supported by a creative and a journaling practice to take explorations deeper if desired. It is a book to be cherished and used as a trusted friend.
When did you first decide to become an author?
Writing found me. Even as a child I have always loved writing – especially by free style journal writing – but it was only when my first book ‘Reflect to Create! The Dance of Reflection for Creative Leadership, Supervision and Professional Practice’ was published in 2019 did I dare to see myself as a writer and named myself an ‘author’.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
This is the 5th book I have published. Others are: ‘Reflect to Create! The Dance of Reflection for Creative Leadership, Supervision and Professional Practice’ and its accompanying Workbook and Journal and ‘Our Humanity@Work – working with the 7Cs – the 7 Human Capacities for Insight, Learning and Change’. And then with Jackie Arnold ‘Tomorrows Leader’s Today: Executive Reflection for Wise Leadership in Turbulent Times’; with Karyn Prentice ‘The Compass Rose – 8 Ways to Awaken your Creativity and Re-Source your Life and Practice’ Workbook and Journal’ and finally with Anne Berthelin, Agathe Potel, Jean-Francois Thiriet and Karyn Prentice a book in French ‘Superviser de Coeur a Coeur – Guide pour Superviseurs, Coachs et Accompagnants’
Prior to that I had contributed chapters to other people’s books on coaching supervision, executive reflection and leadership plus the publication of my MA research ‘What are leaders’ experiences of reflection’ in the Reflective Practice Journal.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I am an Executive Coach, Coaching Supervisor, Designer and Creator co-hosting two flagship programmes called ‘Cultivating and Choreographing the Rich Tapestry of your Wholehearted Creativity’ and ‘Bridging the Unknown: From Role Work to Soul Calling in Later Life.’ When I am not working I am Nordic walking, reading, crafting and watching films.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
I like to write first thing in the morning Monday to Friday by candlelight with a mug of coffee close by for about 90 minutes to 2 hours with my dog Lara keeping me company. This is my time with the blank page before I get distracted by the requests and demands of the day.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
I love the creative and design freedom being an indie gives me.
On the reverse side the hardest part of being an indie is sometimes the loneliness of the writing life but mainly it is me having to do my own marketing to reach new audiences who might be interested in my writing.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
My advice would be to only write about what you love. Trust your voice, trust yourself, do what you love and do not be deflected by others. And get a great editor!
Write for yourself and just hope that it might be of interest to others!
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Yes, ~ I would be interested to explore with a traditional publisher how we could perhaps work together and how I could still honour my unique voice and design concepts.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
I am only motivated by the joy of writing – and the hope that people might be able to find some inspiration, companionship and nourishment from my words which supports and resources them in their own personal or working lives. I feel that life is precious and wild, and my interest is how we can all live well lived lives in the midst of all that is happening in and around us.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
I am an avid reader – and I admire every book I have read often for different reasons as I know the courage and commitment it has taken to create a book word by word and line by line.
But the writer I most admire is the late John O’Donohue for how he blended his powerful oratory with his beautiful poetry and elegant prose.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
I wish that I had written David Whyte’s book ‘Crossing the Unknown Sea – Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity’ which was bold and revolutionary when it was first published.