If Books Are Your Love Language

and you're needing more courage

Last Friday I woke up from a vivid dream. I was standing in a field, charred but also plowed. It was planted with words, like pieces of magnetic poetry. A later dream snippet showed that a river flowed next to this field.

Editing a book manuscript the day before is likely the most literal source of my dream image (the author writing about her childhood in Holland under Nazi occupation, her father part of the Resistance). My inner dream-artist was also reiterating that we writers can plant the seeds of ideas and words in fertile—albeit burned—soil.

I also recognized that ground in the acres surrounding where I live. Every spring, the weeds are burned, the tractors make tidy rows, the irrigation pipes are cleared of mud and crawdads, and the seeds are planted, or the orchards are pruned. I went looking for proof in my photo archives and came up with this.

In my dream, each row was filled with tiny words, like pieces of magnetic poetry.

Imagine each of those rows planted with words of wisdom, words that would someday become books that create more courage for the complexity of being human! The day I walked by that field, I noticed the water had been diverted by a plug of weed-roots. (It doesn’t take much, does it, to divert our creative flow?)

I have to say, I’m feeling dismayed since the U.S. election. In the reality we’re about to face in less than eight weeks, we’re going to need more courage of all kinds to get up every day and live fully aligned with our values, leading and living with integrity…caring for self and others … cultivating resilience and tending the threads of the tapestry of our lives … deciding what really matters beyond material goods, finding happiness while healing generational patterns … nurturing LOVE! Living into life’s questions, finding your inner wisdom, and how to be brave.

These aren’t just words, but ideas that authors have planted in books that we published under Creative Courage Press.

Please consider this an INVITATION to SHARE books as your LOVE language, if any of these idea resonate with you this season.

From November 25 to December 2, we’re discounting our books 25~30% direct from me at Creative Courage Press via IngramSpark.

I publish “print on demand” books mostly through IngramSpark. For Cyber Week 2024, Ingram is waiving their per-book service fee for books ordered directly through their site. That means that the authors and I will earn a little bit more, saving the distribution fees of Amazon or other bookstores. They’ll print+ship direct to you.

Two products are one’s I’ll mail from my house to yours — the Supposing oracle card deck and the children’s book Eleven Brave Pinecones, both discounted 25% plus postage.

When I was deciding whether to participate in CyberWeek and to push go on this post, I sat with my worries and ambivalence. I have to admit, as an author who needs creative courage herself, it’s daunting to put my own books out there amidst the competition and noise of this week. Yet I’m also a publisher with other authors who rely on me to help spread the word. So I shuffled my Supposing cards, requesting insights from my inner artist. This card fell into my lap, so I turned it over.

The Supposing deck is also available in digital form on the Deckible app.

Messaging: What kind of message would change what you’re planning? Who needs your message?

So here you go! Five of my favorite books and a box of 63 cards. If you’re interested, you can find Cyber Week 2024 deals from Creative Courage Press at https://bit.ly/CW24ccp.

Thank you for reading! Sending you love, courage and gratitude!
— Shelly xo