Blog Tour: Grit & Grace by Deborah Rudell #memoir #nonfiction #giveaway #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours

The Transformation of a Ship & a Soul

Memoir

Date Published: February 27th, 2025

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

Deborah Rudell’s world unravels when the leaders of her spiritual commune are exposed, arrested, and imprisoned for bioterrorism and attempted murder. Crushed and adrift, she moves her family off the commune to create a sense of normalcy. But when her husband seeks an opportunity to dismantle and rebuild a derelict fifty-foot schooner, Deborah uproots their children once again and joins him in Kauai. For the next five years, she dedicates her life to restoring a boat.

Pouring herself into the work at hand can only distract her so much as disillusionment about the cult’s lies and manipulation slowly rises to the surface. While she grapples with emotional turmoil and contemplates a new life path, Deborah sets out to accomplish something she never thought possible: sailing across the Pacific to the Olympic Peninsula. Will the dangers that come with navigating the ocean be too much to bear, or will she find resolution and fortitude in the turbulent adventure?

Grit & Grace: The Transformation of a Ship & a Soul is one woman’s account of conquering overwhelming challenges with tenacity and ingenuity and ultimately discovering her inner strength.

Interview

What was your main drive to write this book?

To speak up about my perspective of life on the Ranch in Oregon and some of the controversial issues surrounding Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)

What do you hope readers will learn by reading this book?

1. You can do whatever you dream to do, (even if you don’t know anything about it and haven’t a clue where to start) if you are tenacious and never ever give up.

2. Freedom is the most important thing = freedom from blame = learning your responsibility in all the life situations you find yourself in.

3. And if you are, or have ever been, disillusioned with something, something that changes the inner framework of how to navigate your life, I hope this book will be an example of how to find a way through to greater self-acceptance as well as a deeper connection to the Divine.

Did you do much research when planning this book?

A little in the Oregonian for dates and chronological sequences of when things happened around Rajneeshpuram …. And quite a lot in my own diaries and photo journals of rebuilding the boat.

Did you have any main people who helped you in the process of this book or influenced you to write it?

1. The neighbor who told me I should write my story down and just start anywhere.

2. San Diego Writers Ink = with writing classes and groups = Marni Freeman and Tracy Jones Certificate in Memoir Writing Classes and Tracy Jones and the Writeous Sisters (my read and critique group)

3. International Memoir Writers Association = all the classes and meetings about how to write and publish a memoir.

How long did this book take you to write from initial thought to hitting publish?

It was sixteen years ago that the neighbor encouraged me to write and I wrote my first scenes. I started writing it in earnest about nine years ago.

Do you have plans to write more about this topic or new topics?

I have plans to write more about new topics … maybe the time before I was at the Ranch and living off-grid in the 1970’s.

About the Author

A college professor in San Diego, California, Deborah Rudell participates in her city’s vibrant writing community. She is a graduate of Hay House Writer’s Workshop and the Certificate in Memoir Writing program at San Diego Writers, Ink. Her work has been published in the International Memoir Writers Association’s anthology, Shaking the Tree: I Didn't See That One Coming.

Deborah lives with her black cat in a tiny house built in 1906 by a retired sea captain, who carved a sailing ship into the front door. This is her first book.

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