Living, Playing and Moving Forward
Self-help, Inspirational
Date Published: December 8, 2020
Publisher: Balboa Press
C’mon, Let’s Play!” shares methods for the readers to play with that can help them change their lives. Here, Suberla reflects on her life journey, and uses her own examples of good and bad choices to give practical advice on how to achieve your goals. With humor, she shares her approach to making some life changing choices including how she became a hippie in the late 60s and early 70s, to her decision to retire early from her corporate job. Dee also shares her process for how she moved through breast cancer. By sharing her personals story, the author demonstrates the importance of how one’s thoughts and beliefs determine the life that he or she leads and how anyone can get more living in life by playing with the concepts in this book.
Interview
Can you tell us a little about the process of getting
this book published? How did you come up with the idea and how did you start?
I had already written a book relating to the project management
side of my business and I wanted to do something for the coaching side. Whether
I am coaching someone making changes in their career or someone who is feeling
stuck and looking for more, I use the same core material but with varied
approaches. I thought it would be great idea to get it into a book and share it
with a larger audience.
I had two chapters written when I heard about a writers’
conference in Maui. Two of the speakers were Dr. Wayne Dyer and Doreen Virtue. I
have always been interested in writing books and had a self-published book in its
second edition, but this book was different. I was motivated to get to that
conference and was successful using some of the material that would be part of
the book when it was finished. I brought my computer and the first two
chapters. After hearing Ms. Virtue speak that first night, I realized that I
had to write more so I created a new chapter one, that included the story of my
days as a hippie and many of my poor choices along the way.
Mid-way through the conference they offered an excellent
deal with their self-publishing arm, Balboa Press. The best package would have
cost about the same as what I paid for the first book but had so many other
perks with it, I had to sign up. So, publishing was paid for (with no time
limit) in June 2015 based on 3 chapters. Yes, I drafted a new first chapter
Saturday Morning on my balcony sipping coffee overlooking the ocean. The book
was released in December 2020. Balboa took less than a year… so the time in-between
I wrote, rewrote, edited, reedited and waffled… a lot.
What surprised you most about getting your book
published?
When the pandemic appeared, I asked the question: What is
the one thing I don’t want to hear myself saying after the shut-in element was
all over? The answer was – Darn, I should have published C’mon! I didn’t want
to waste that much time roaming around my house without producing something!
But the biggest surprise was when my book order showed up,
and then… Wow – they’re beautiful! OMG The hardbound copy is amazing and wow –
it’s mine and it contains a part of me! It was very hard for me to believe that I did
it! Of course, this lovely wonder and awe was nearly extinguished when I
realized that now the real work begins – marketing and promotion… during a
pandemic – ouch!
I think no matter how many books one publishes – opening
that box and holding the first real copy is a magical moment.
Tell us a little about what you do when you aren’t
writing
I am a consultant, speaker, and teacher. My area of
expertise is in project management, and I have a book called Poof You’re a
Project Manager and Other Delusions of Grandeur. That was created to help
people who seem to be thrown into the role without a lot of training. I consult
with corporations, small business and individuals. There is also a little work
there on personality testing with the DiSC and 5 Behaviors of a Cohesive Team
products from Wiley. I really enjoy my
role as adjunct faculty at the University of Chicago Graham School. I co-teach
a class call Project Management and Leadership in Healthcare as part of a
certificate program for Clinical Trials. To sum it all up I work with people at
all levels to get things done. Sometimes we focus on the starting point and
other times it’s about the planning and execution of work to make things happen,
and sometimes it is a project recovery effort. A key aspect of that is working
with a strong team. So, I do what I can to help clients make things happen. On
the coaching side it can be groups or individuals and it ranges from
career-based coaching to life coaching… that’s where this book came into play. It
represents the backdrop of my coaching techniques outside of the technical
aspects such as resumes, networking, and interviewing.
As a published author, what would you say was the most
pivotal point of your writing life?
The recognition of the fact that I was in fact a writer. It
was an integral part of my life beginning with little girl poetry to journaling
to favors at work to help people with special writing assignments. I had a
longing to write a book, a desire to publish something of my own that would
help people. It took me a long time to realize the only thing left to do was to
make my decision – do it or not. I decided to do it with my first book Poof
You’re a Project Manager. And I did. Then, I had to rediscover that pivot point
for C’mon Let’s Play. Deciding to do it replaces that meandering around… should
I, shouldn’t I, what do you think? Trash all that, just decide. Now, I’ve
decided to shop around my next book, The Zing Fling to potential agents. The
decision comes faster after each book. I’ve decided that Zing will be a series.
Where do you get your best ideas and why do you think
that is?
Great question, it makes me think! My best ideas float in during that place
between sleep and awake. When I’m working on a project during that precious
time the problem is there in the background and the solutions float in and
around my brain. Most recently I was thinking about how I could make the 2nd
Zing Adventure happen in the ocean and asked the question about how they will
get around underwater in a unique way. The next morning I met my first Harken –
he entered center stage and began explaining how he and his people help friends
navigate the waters… It’s perhaps one of the most fun things I do. Sometimes,
if I can get by myself and super relaxed ideas will float in … but the most
important aspect is to first ask a great question. It’s really the only way to
get answers. Ask the question and open to the infinite possibilities; It’s what
I do. I get some great ideas and it’s because I’m open to them, and I try to
ask my questions as opened ended as possible. Periodically I have seminars on
this topic entitled “What Are You Thinking?”
Some of it is in this book C’mon Let’s Play.
What is the toughest criticism given to you as an author?
The toughest one, so far anyway, is from a reviewer who
liked the first part of the work but described why he didn’t like the second
part including information that wasn’t even in there, he put words in my mouth.
It really bothered me because he obviously hadn’t read the whole thing, he just
assumed where it was going. So, back to real life, the work left him with those
perceptions, so others could have them as well and that’s a bitter pill to
swallow. But hey, that’s the nature of the business. I typically invite
criticism in all my work – it’s a way to make things better and more polished. It’s
easier when I can see what they mean, in cases where I can’t – Ouch! But no
worries the swelling goes down in a few days.
What has been your best accomplishment as a writer?
I have to say the greatest thing just happened. I received
this message the other day:
“Hello. I was talking to a mutual colleague,
and she mentioned your book, because...poof! ...I've just become a project
manager during the pandemic! And I'm....so lost! […] I've ordered your book…
It’s a message from the bullseye in my target audience! My
primary purpose of that book was to help people find their way to the
information that is out there to help them negotiate the waters of project
management. I was thrilled. That book really helps people and there is no
greater accomplishment for me.
How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
I have one unpublished full manuscript that I’m shopping
around and 3 more in the idea stages (First, a book of Poetry, next the second
book in a Zing Fling Series, and a 3rd edition of Poof). Looks like
I have some decision making to do. I love this process. Thank you for your time
and energy on this!
About the Author
Dee G Suberla is best known for her expertise in project management. Of course, she didn’t start out that way, no she started writing poetry at an early age, then became a resource for people she worked with in the pharmaceutical industry when there was a need to write something particularly tricky. When she reflected on the favorite parts of her job it came down to coaching; she loved helping people to set and achieve their goals. Coaching wasn’t in her job description but it was a passion that she pursued after she became a consultant and wrote her first book to help new project managers called Poof You’re a Project Manager and Other Delusions of Grandeur. Recently, she was compelled to write C’mon Let’s play to share what she had learned with people who felt stuck, helpless or were looking for something new. Whether Dee is career coaching, life coaching or coaching somewhere in between, she shares much of this information with her clients and wrote this book to reach a wider audience.
Contact Links
Twitter (@DSuberla)
Purchase Links
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1 Comments
Thank you for the opportunity to be featured, along with my book on you paged. Much appreciated! Kind Regards, Dee
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