Author Interview with @SarahWindrum #SelfHelp #Memoir #FridayReads

I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting my next guest in real life and am so excited for her as she releases her debut book. Allow me to introduce author, Sarah Windrum, who released The Superhero I Was Born to Be on the 15^th November.  Over to Sarah…

The Fun Stuff

What part of the world do you come from?

I was born and raised in sunny Portsmouth and, although now I live over 2 hours from the sea, it will always be a part of me!

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be Kate Adie! I loved interviewing my family members and hearing them share their stories and I saw her doing that on the TV so I wanted to be her!

List three words to describe yourself.

Passionate. Pragmatic. Challenging.

Who would play you in a film about your life?

When Thelma & Louise came out my peers at school said I looked like Susan Sarandon. I’d love her to play me. She’s talented, beautiful, and sexy!

What’s your favourite snack food when writing?

I don’t eat when I write. I’m totally consumed by the writing and the moment. But I do like a hot chocolate with marshmallows to get me in the mood for writing!

If you had a super power, what would it be?

Ha ha! The book is about my superpower and how I learnt to accept it and to use it. I want to touch as many people’s lives as positively as I can. Even if only with the lightest of touches. If I had a traditional superpower to help me do that it would be the ability to read minds. I try often to hear the things that people don’t say in their words so I pay close attention to tone, body language, and presence. If I could read their mind it would be a lot easier!

 

The Sensible Side

Tell us a little about yourself. (How did you get started writing?  What do you do when you’re not writing?)

I have always written. I thought everyone did. I was honestly at secondary school before I realised not everyone wrote poetry or short stories to explore and understand their emotions. But I didn’t think about publishing my writing until I met Shelley at a workshop she ran to encourage new writers. I was so inspired by her story and I knew if I never published anything and never gave my writing a chance to be read by others, I would regret it. Aww, shucks 🙂

My day job is running an IT support and technology company called The Emerald Group. We have around 100 businesses we support with all their operational technology needs as well as helping them design a roadmap for their future requirements. It’s very different from writing but I love it also!

Where did the inspiration for your book come from?

I started writing after my counselling ended and I needed to put the things I had learnt during that process into practice in everyday life. I wrote it for me but when friends read it they all found parts that resonated deeply with them. I wanted to give everyone the chance to read it in case it might help them too.

What did you enjoy most about writing a self-help book?

That I helped my self! Writing it was like finding that book that speaks to you on every level. It’s the self-help book I would have loved to have read earlier in my life to make sense of some of my struggles. It may have helped me avoid the mistakes that deeply hurt myself and others. But life is about learning and I regret nothing of my past. I learnt from every step, especially the wrong ones!

You’ve shared your own experiences and challenges in this book. Was there anything you were reluctant to share?

All of it! My abusive relationship was difficult to write about but very necessary. It started the process of examining my superpower and realising it can help and hinder me on my journey to become a superhero. There’s also a section where I talk about discovering how to have sex with myself! I cringe a little bit when I think about my Mum reading that!!

Can you give us a brief excerpt?

On my journey to be the superhero I was born to be, I discovered that many people struggle with the same journey. Because when the world knocks our superpowers, we start to believe we are Clark Kent, instead of remembering we are Superman. That’s why I wanted to publish it and share it all with you.

A four year old doesn’t second guess his or her actions. He or she knows what they want and who they are. More so than we adults. My daughter is my superhero. You don’t have to be in her company very long to recognise her superpower. I have kept a diary for her from her birth and in those four years her power has not changed. I hope the diary will be a constant reminder to her throughout her life of what makes her great. Especially when the doubt creeps in and the knocks start coming.

Being a superhero is hard. I have four main battles to fight with Judgement; Doubt; Kryptonite; and Myself. And I have four key strategies to my essential superhero maintenance: harnessing my superpower; feeding my superpower; building my superpower team; and putting my superpower to work. After The Strategies you’ll find The Tales of putting it all into practice. The journey is not easy but I would not swap the difficulties for the safe half-life I had before. When I fall, and I will fall again and again, I remind myself …

Every moment of every day is a new chance to be the superhero I was born to be …

What can we expect from you in the future? 

I write a blog now called Healing the Whole and it’s about how I continue to put my strategies into practice. It explores the importance of being a rounded person with a strong body, mind, and heart. I have a tendency to prioritise my mind because it has always brought me success but often at the cost of neglecting the other parts of me. I would love to write more and have a few ideas for a book more closely linked to my day job running an information technology company!

How can we contact you or find out more about your books?

My very basic website (designed and programmed by my own hand in half a day!) is www.sarahwindrum.co.uk where you can order the printed copy and after 15^th November there will be a link to the digital copy too. The book is illustrated by Ella Hendy so I do recommend a printed copy to really experience it in all its true glory!

I am also on social media @SarahWindrum on Twitter and on Linked In as Sarah Windrum too so please do connect. It’s an unusual name so if you Google me, I’m the woman in tech not the woman in needlework. 😉

Book Blurb:

Sarah Windrum, company director, board member, school governor and all-round business and community advocate invites you to loosen your tie and open your heart as you read: “the culmination of every self-help book I have ever read, my experience of counselling, and every thought on personal development that I have ever had.”

In less than 80 pages!

Author Bio:

Sarah is the CEO and Co-Founder of the Emerald Group, an IT consultancy based in Warwickshire. The Group works with businesses and organisations wanting to harness technology to achieve their desired goals. She is a Board Director of the Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and a Member of the West Midlands Combined Authority Digital Board. Both roles involve working with all stakeholders to address the barriers to Digital Transformation across the region.

Passionate about our future digital talent, Sarah is on the Industry Advisory Board at Warwickshire College and working with Ukie, the national trade body for interactive entertainment, on their Digital Schoolhouse Primary School programme. She is a member of the Skills Board at Tech UK, the national industry body for the technology sector, and a champion for their Women in Tech programme. Beyond this, Sarah is also a Governor at Myton School and an Enterprise Advisor at Campion School supporting young people to ensure positive outcomes for all.

Based in Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, Sarah is an active member of the community organising the Camouflage Festival in 2016 and working with local charities such as the Warwickshire Bears Wheelchair Basketball Team and British Blind Sport. Sarah also sits on the Select Committee for Mental Health in the West Midlands to ensure we all have the greatest opportunity to thrive.

Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you enjoyed this post. Want more? Connect with me here:  Twitter @ShelleyWilson72, Instagram or check out my Facebook pages http://www.facebook.com/FantasyAuthorSLWilson and http://www.facebook.com/MotivateMeBlog. You can also find me on Pinterest