Self Memoir

On the first day of high school, Kristina Ellis' mom - a single, working mother who lost her husband to cancer - informed her that she could not financially support her after graduation. Kristina would need to find her own way to pay for college. As an average student with less-than-impressive test scores, Kristina realized she would have to sell herself to scholarship committees if she wanted to stand out. That's when she devised the plan that led to her receiving over $500,000 in scholarships.

Journey to Safe Harbor covers three generations of a family where the personal and emotional sacrifices made in the name of mission, commitment and duty, aiming "to do good in the world", ended with unintended tragic consequences for their children. It is about a professional family, educated, religious and idealistic, but did they understand love?

Covering seven decades of living, traveling, and growing, Does My Voice Matter? follows James’ journey of self-discovery and authenticity as she gradually recognizes that she has a voice—and learns how to use it. She uses her own life experiences as a backdrop for her exploration of how the voice is used as a tool of engagement.

Brian Craig takes you on his journey with him around the world, ending up back in the Northwest where he started his life as a creative entrepreneur, husband, and a local musician. Funny, honest, and surprising, Craig's memoir will bring listeners inside both his life and his local musical journey, sharing his story, voice, and perspective.

“Note to Self” explores the journey of a young individual, Dr. Rodney Macon, as he navigates life from a humble beginning in a small town to experiencing pivotal moments that lead to transformative change. The story delves into his early years in Benson, Louisiana, and his perception of success despite living below the poverty line. Facing challenges such as a broken family structure and a learning disability, Rodney struggles to find his path.

Acclaimed author Lauren Slater ruminates on what it means to be family. Lauren Slater's rocky childhood left her cold to the idea of ever creating a family of her own, but a husband, two dogs, two children, and three houses later, she came around to the challenges, trials, and unexpected rewards of playing house. In these autobiographical pieces, Slater presents snapshots of domestic life, populating them with the gritty details and jarring realities of sharing home, life, and body in the curious institution called "family."

Failure is no stranger to Amy Murphy. Born and raised in rural Nova Scotia, she left home to find a career in acting, which took her from coast to coast in Canada and even to Hollywood. While acting, she picked up side hustles to help pay the bills, with many of these side hustles ending up costing her more money than she ever earned.

Author Melissa Dawn shares the story of how she navigated a difficult life journey to successfully create a meaningful life and business that is heart-led and joy-inspired. Discover the practical steps and key strategies she used to transform failures to create an orgasmically joyful life and business. I Attract What I Am is a healing and informative book that will provide you with an inspirational lifeline.

Completed after eight years of writing and research, Nicole Waybright's memoir tells the true story of her coming-of-age struggles while deployed as an officer on a US Navy destroyer. With heartbreaking and fearless realism, the author chronicles the despair and psychological crisis that she experienced while yet in the early days of a five-year military obligation.

Journey to My Daughter is about becoming a mother. It details everything from author Jennifer Rose Asher’s decision to have a child, two miscarriages, a whirlwind trip to Vietnam, and how she eventually found her daughter. Along the way, Jennifer and her husband tried multiple approaches while looking for a child and would never have predicted how and where they would find her.

Suspended between gang boundaries drawn with red and blue rags, young Norman Anthony Coulter Jr. navigated Inglewood and South Central Los Angeles like a Viking unsure of what lay west. Always slow to “throw” punches in the face of provocation, he later found that the world at large was not any different from the ‘hood. People seek safety by assimilating into tribes. But our true selves allow us to align our behaviors with our core beliefs whereas false versions of ourselves take on the identity of the tribe.

You cannot undo this, one of the surgeons told me, you have to be sure. I was sure. My choices were frightening, grim, and daunting. I possess the rare breast cancer genetic mutation BRCA2 and I saw it as a death sentence. My choices were drastic, my actions were immediate. Complete hysterectomy followed by prophylactic double mastectomy with 2. I will never be the same. In so many ways. It was, and is, such a journey.

Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam had a great belief in the power of the youth. He met over 21 million children and young people in India and outside and spoke to them about the power of knowledge, ambition, moral behaviour and the need to bring about change in society. He travelled to almost every corner of the country meeting the youth in schools, universities and institutions and interacted with them like a committed teacher. In Learning How to Fly, some of his nearly 2,000 lectures have been compiled.

What if you were kidnapped, tied to a wall for a month, starved, humiliated, tortured and then they tried to murder you, but you survived? What stories would you tell of how you were able to survive and the struggles you went though? What if you went to the police and they did not believe you? What would you do to evade those trying to kill you and how would you bring the criminals to justice before they struck again? How would that change your life and the way you perceived the world and people?

In Whistled, Dawn Duhamel shares her story, chronicling the events that shaped her. Living under the belief that working hard always pays off, and experiencing success that proved her theory, Duhamel was unprepared when, at the age of 50, an anonymous, contrived whistleblower complaint was filed against her, ultimately resulting in her controversial termination. Blindsided by being fired for the first time, the ensuing self-doubt suffocated her spirit until, after 24 months of questioning and processing, she discovered what truly mattered, and the reasons to love herself again.

Healing, Wholeness, and Wellness are your birthrights. God did not design any of us to live a life full of Fear, Lack, and Unhappiness. However, many of us find ourselves living in this state on a daily basis so much so that it’s become the normal way of living.

A survivor of 20 years of abuse and battles that would destroy most, from incest to sexual molestation, physical and verbal abuse, rape, and abandonment, speaks out. I am a woman who knows my past and understands that my experiences are purely lessons meant to bring me closer to self-knowledge and unconditional self-love. I also know that without God, I am nothing. My life was Perfectly Planned by the Lord himself.

Women today feel a constant pressure to improve themselves and just never feel like they’re “enough.” All too often, they live their daily lives disheartened, disillusioned, and disappointed. That’s because joy doesn’t come from a new self-improvement strategy; it comes from rooting their identity in who God says they are and what he has done on their behalf.

At age 54, Chris Monnette is diagnosed with neovascular macular degeneration, an incurable retinal disease that slowly robs him of his eyesight. As each cell in his macula dies and his vision diminishes, he is forced, literally and figuratively, to see the world through different eyes. Raised in the shadow of an emotionally stifled father, Chris learns early on to mirror the belief that vulnerability equals weakness. A piercingly honest meditation on the emotional legacy of stoicism, Seeing Clearly is much-needed proof that being a man and being vulnerable are one and the same.

Christine has always felt she is just half: Half American, half Japanese. As a biracial Japanese American who was born in Tokyo but raised in the US, she knows all too well what it’s like to be a part of two different worlds but never feeling as though you belong to either. Now on the brink of adulthood, Christine decides it’s time to return to the place she once called home. So she sets forth on a year abroad in Tokyo, believing that this is where she truly belongs. After years of feeling like an outsider, she will finally be complete. Except Tokyo isn’t the answer she thought it would be.