Note: I was featured recently in book blogger Laura Smith’s blog as a guest poster. Laura reviews books and blogs about them. What appears below is an excerpt from the post I wrote for her site.

My hope is that people who read Willful Evolution will find new strength in their own lives, take risks, set new goals, and reinvent themselves!

As I began to heal after the loss of my husband 10 years ago, I was a lost soul. I was in a relationship that didn’t work, and I didn’t know it. My relationship with my older daughter was broken, and I was largely at fault, and I didn’t know that either. My workout routine was unsustainable, and I did know it, yet I kept doing it.

Very quietly, and repeatedly, a little voice in my head told me I would be okay without my boyfriend, and very slowly, I started to listen. I figured out how to make myself financially secure. I changed my workout routine, and I got stronger—inside and out.

Only then was I able to repair relationships I’d damaged with friends—and most importantly, strengthen the bond with my daughter.

Then, I met a man and fell in love with him almost instantly. Yet, I knew I didn’t need a man anymore.

I believe we all have broken places in our lives and in our relationships. And I hope reading my book helps other women see themselves through me and learn how to turn their own vulnerability into strength.

I hope women of all ages start to listen to that persistent, whispering voice, and turn up the volume.

I hope they become inspired to be adventurous, take risks, travel.

And I hope they discover what it means to empathize.

So, who the heck am I?

I graduated from Westfield State College in 1985 with a degree in English and a minor in journalism, and I began a 15-year career as a journalist. I wrote for The Republican in Springfield, Massachusetts, then called the Springfield Morning Union, and I later wrote for the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton.

I interviewed mayors and police chiefs for my work as a beat reporter. I wrote feature stories about things like laser surgery—and passed out while attending one. I interviewed Bill Cosby when he came to speak at his alma mater, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. And then I became a full-time editor.

In 1998, I asked for two weeks off without pay, and I was denied. I realized I wanted more than two weeks off each year with my daughters, who were 9 and 11 at the time. So, I gave my notice, and I started a PR business called Beetle Press. I help business and organization leaders craft messaging, and I write things like press releases, blogs, annual reports, and articles for alumni magazines.

I’ve always wanted to be an author, but there was always something else to do—something more pressing than writing. Then, in 2019, while listening to my tiny-inside-my-head voice, I launched a new book development business called Janice Beetle Books; through it, I help people bring their book idea to the bookshelf—and the bookstore.

I also write my own works. My mind is full of book ideas, and I work to bring them to life as I am able. I have my first work of fiction in first draft form, along with a children’s book.

I live life to the fullest. I take time to travel and spend time in warm places in the winter months. I boat and kayak in the summer, and play with my grandchildren, enjoy my daughters, value friendships, and read and relax all year long.

And who are you?

I write a regular blog at JaniceBeetleBooks.com, and I’d love to have you visit, read some posts, and comment.

I’m also on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Consider following me. I’d like to hear from you.

When I started listening to myself—the solid, strong part of me—I called that year my Year of Strength. My hope is that 2021 will be yours.

If someone rubs you the wrong way, tell them.

If you want to do something that frightens you, figure out the first baby steps, and take them.

If you’re unhappy in your work—or if COVID-19 cost you your job—think about what you could do to ignite your passion, then do some research. Inch forward a bit in making the idea seem like a possibility. Once you can see it, you can make it real.

Consider reading Willful Evolution to see how I got from grief to great.

The post This Blogger Was Recently Featured by Another Book Blogger appeared first on Beetle Press.

I am still feeling the financial effects of COVID-19. 

While I continue to have new authors contact me to help them with a book project they have in mind—two contacted me just in the past week—the majority of my business clients with Beetle Press remain unable to use my PR and communications services for one reason or another.

Many of my clients had to close a year ago; some reopened quickly but with severe restrictions that didn’t allow them to offer events, for instance. Without events, my clients don’t need me to help them with promotion via a press release sent to the media or a blog they’d post on their websites. 

Those who are open for business don’t know what to plan or what to promote because the pandemic continues to see them tap dancing around ever-changing protocols and processes.

In addition, many of my clients were also hurt financially, and they don’t have the funds now for communications.

Now and again, the effects of the pandemic drop me back into the year 2010, when my late husband, Ed, died four days after I lost my full-time job. 

When I get my credit card bill, and the balance is daunting—bam, I’m back in the wounded, grieving place.

When I want to do something I once wouldn’t think twice about, such as planning a trip, and I can’t—bam, I’m back there.

Yet, the past 10 years of my life were a willful evolution that took me from grieving to great. I worked hard to survive and transform my life. I learned how to make more money. I got physically stronger. I learned about patience, the perspectives of others, and I learned a whole lot about perseverance. 

I use these superpowers now as I cope with COVID. 

When I have a little session where I knock myself down, I rouse myself. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. Get up. Do your thing. Knock on doors. It’ll all be good.”

I also tell myself this: “Really? You are fine. You have first-world problems. Get over yourself. Make something happen.”

So, I’m over here getting over myself and trying to make things happen. 

I’m reaching out to lots of people. I’m checking in with clients to see how they are and if they need my help.

I’ve partnered with another writer in the area, and we are working on new creative projects. We’re sharing passages with one another and trading feedback. My project is my first work of fiction, and I’m pleased with how it’s going.

I’ve also had the time to work on transforming my Poem Pods into a children’s coloring book. I will have a draft soon, and I’m looking for 20 children between the ages of 6-10 to get a free copy of the book with a four-pack of crayons in exchange for feedback from the parents on how to make the book better. Interested? Please email me!

I’m also trying to figure out how to promote my new book, “Willful Evolution,” during a pandemic when I can’t be out there reading from it live.

“Willful Evolution” tells the story of the past decade, and it shows the ways in which I grew and got stronger over the past 10 years. I wrote the book in hopes it might help others take a fresh look at their own lives to consider if they need inspiration for their own evolution. Because that’s what my book can do. It can inspire you, and it will also make you laugh.

If you have the COVID-19-oh-my-god-how-do-I-get-passed-this-shit blues, my book could help you now. 

The short advice is: Be patient and know that change will come. Be open to all the ways you might be able to bring that about.

The post Using My Relatively New Superpowers to Fight Against COVID-19 appeared first on Beetle Press.

Memoir a sequel to Beetle’s first book,

EASTHAMPTON—Janice Beetle, a longtime writer and editor from Western Massachusetts, has released her second book, Willful Evolution: Because healing the heart takes strength, through her own publishing imprint, Janice Beetle Books LLC.

In 2010, Beetle was laid off from her full-time job in the Valley and her late husband, Ed Godleski, died four days later. Beetle tells the story of her grief journey in her first memoir, Divine Renovations, published in 2011. Her new book, Willful Evolution, is a sequel that tells the story of the past decade and how Beetle reinvented herself, revitalized her PR and communications business, Beetle Press, and also created Janice Beetle Books in 2019.

On more personal notes, the book shows how traveling, family, a series of adventures and bad turns, and exercise helped Beetle gain physical and emotional strength and survive online dating. Willful Evolution is both poignant and funny.

“My hope is that readers will be inspired to find strength in their own lives, take risks, set new goals, and reinvent themselves,” Beetle said. 

Beetle compares her book to Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert; Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle; and Daring Greatly by Brené Brown. 

Through Janice Beetle Books, Beetle also helps authors of all skill levels—as well as nonwriters—carry a book idea through to publication. She also offers writing coaching services.

Recent clients and their book titles are: Nick Grabbe, Print and Privilege: Newspaper writer tells his own story; Charlene Moses, Given to Submission: A journey of shame, truth and forgiveness; and Vincent Valetutti, If I Were President: 29 alternative ideas for solving global problems.

Willful Evolution and Beetle’s client books were printed by Off the Common Books in Amherst and carry its imprint as well as Beetle’s own insignia. The books are available at JaniceBeetleBooks.com, Levellers Press, and on Amazon.

Beetle, of Easthampton, holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Westfield State College. 

For more information visit JaniceBeetleBooks.com.

The post Janice Beetle Books Releases Willful Evolution appeared first on Beetle Press.

Writing a memoir is like painting a landscape or sculpting a jewel-studded necklace. Each work of art starts as a vision, an idea; then, it evolves into a sketch, and slowly, something real and meaningful emerges. 

As the artist applies more heart, soul, truth, reflection, creativity, time, and talent, the richer the piece taking shape.

My second memoir, Willful Evolution, started merely as a reprint of the original blogs I wrote over the past 10 years. Those online posts were the canvas—or the gold chain. They planted the seed of an idea that I thought well-enough conveyed the story I wanted to tell.

But the more I worked on the compilation, the more I realized many of the blogs were written in haste and did not carry a level of detail that would make me proud. Nor did they well lay out the story. They were only a level above a sketch, an uncut stone.

I tinkered, and my fussing added enough dimension, color, and depth that I felt comfortable showing the book to others for feedback. As I received others’ thoughts, the deeper I dove into my own process.

As a result, there is very little left of the original material I mined for the book. It’s been replaced by insights, honesty, and other gemstones I wrenched from my heart, wit, and wisdom as I reflected and dug deeper into my own truth. 

Willful Evolution tells the story of the 10 years that have passed since my late husband, Ed, died from lung cancer—only four days after I was laid off from my full-time job. It’s a painful story, with turns I own and feel pride in, my own Cinderella story, with me as the prince holding the glass slipper.

Just as my inner psyche, confidence, and abilities grew and developed over the past decade, so too has this memoir, which is a sequel to Divine Renovations, the story of meeting Ed, falling in love, and losing him.

Early readers said things like this: “It’s great, and there’s too much of your travels with your daughter Molly in the beginning, but I don’t know what to suggest you cut.” (I didn’t either.)

“There’s so much of Molly, but not much of your daughter Sally.” (I knew that was because the past eight of those ten years were difficult for Sally and me. How to tell that part of the story?)

Others said they wanted to see more of Craig, my housemate for most of this period and also a best friend. 

While I had gobs of time in March and April to work on the book, getting it to the point where I showed friends and colleagues, as soon as I began receiving feedback, I began receiving client work again as well. 

I used the lack of time as an excuse to not really think about how to solve the very real problems and holes people had poked in the manuscript. Then, as often happens when I am working on a long body of work, the inspirations started to come. 

I focused on the images that showed my vulnerabilities and the ways in which I began to conquer them, and that led me to know which of the travel scenes with Molly to release from the book. 

I followed my heart, and that showed me what to include in terms of the evolution of my relationship with my daughter Sally. And my heart helped me have the conversation with her about the material.

It was easiest to add scenes featuring Craig. Some are amusing, some are sweet; some bittersweet. 

Including Craig also pointed me toward the real beginning of the story—the two women I hosted when they were students at the International Language Institute. It was welcoming them into my home for a month at a time each that helped me know I wanted to find someone to live with me permanently.

Focusing more on Craig also brought another a-ha. I met Craig in a business networking group called Business Network International. BNI played an enormous role in my personal growth, and in my ability to secure my own future. Of course it belonged in the book, along with several other of my colleagues, and the work I did to grow my business.

A discovery of my grandmother’s writing last fall has also been woven into the prologue. 

Each addition brought new and finer brush strokes, more painstaking cutting and polishing of the gemstones.

This week, I will begin designing the inside pages of Willful Evolution, and I expect I will have the book out in print in the first quarter of 2021. That brings me to the “overcoming fear” part of the process—the part where you have angst over hanging the work in a gallery for others to gawk at and evaluate. 

I’m working on that part! 

One moment at a time.

The post Weaving in the Gemstones appeared first on Beetle Press.