Riding My Book Home: Thank You for Reading and Spreading the Word about Romance Scams

What is the most exciting thing about book writing is that it is an adventurous journey to get your book out there to the world. What a very satisfying feeling it is, to be standing there on the podium at the Avid Reader Bookshop reading from my book to the audience of attentive  listeners. It is worth looking back one year and summing up my experience.

One year ago, I had moved to Gympie in order to live near my grandchildren. I am utterly grateful to my wonderful son-in-law for suggesting that move. It gave me the creative space I needed for writing. I would never have thought of it myself. I was sort of stuck in the idea of staying in my own ecological house for the rest of my life. But no, instead, the move proved to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. About that time I had also attended  Chris Henderson's coaching first ever intensive two day retreat with a few other eager women looking for real and valuable change in their lives. This all prompted me to really start developing the depth to my Love in the Line book storyline. I had been thinking the issue important enough to share with the world but had been unsure about how to truly confront my fears of putting words on paper. The retreat was the catalyst that prompted me to really start writing. My biggest challenge was my language barrier. Writing a book in my second language came to fruition with great support from my coach. I learned that everyone needs a guiding hand and a support group.

I found my support group in the Howling at the Moon women's community in Brisbane. It is great to have a healthy support system that strengthens your aspirations and lets you be yourself with no judgement. At the meetings on every full moon, it is a wonderful feeling to be able to share my thoughts with others who care about taking action for change. I can full heartedly recommend for every woman to take on a challenge of finding their own network of achievers who actively support you and your goals. Rest was just writing.

I would not say that it was a ride in the park. Having a dear friend and my long time feminist legend mentor  Dr Gloria F Orenstein as a conversation partner in some difficult situations of deciding where to take my storyline helped me to keep on course with the right message I wanted to convey to the audience. It is a blessing to have good company when you ponder on the burning world issues like the internet romance scamming with its roots deep in the world of pornography and violence against women mentality.

It is very peculiar how I had stopped my researcher career in the middle of 1990's, when the global discussion about prostitution, pornography and violence against women sort of went underground just to publish my book in time when the world is truly recognising the need to understand and take action against violence against women, romance scamming being the top #1 fraud crime in the world. That is where my book can help.

A huge thanks to getting things done in the right way goes to my son Nillo Halonen in Finland and his Spartacus team. They designed my personal author Website and the smart branding of my profile. Without Nillo's cheerful and focused prompting, the book might even now have been some time from being published.

Luckily, I had already decided on the Publisher Xlibris right at the start. Originally, I did it to encourage myself with the pressure of investing in myself and my self-publishing venture, but it turns out that it was a good deal. I have learned a lot about publishing during the gone year. Now I know what to do with the second book that I have already started writing.

So, you see that standing on that podium talking about my book to the book loving friends and listening to Chris, Fiona and Dr Cassandra Cross talking about me and my book was a culmination of a long work process on several fields, just like my book is interdisciplinary work of non-fiction combined with personal narrative and a couple of fictional short stories.

Previously I was interviewed about why I wrote the book and  just yesterday Jas Rawlinson posted a brilliant review about my book in her Thoughts from Jas blog. I am truly blessed because all the reviews and articles, so far, have been very encouraging and wonderful to me. Thank you all and everyone for reading and talking about my book and so highlighting the issue of romance scams and the source where is leads to, namely violence culture in our society.

I want to write some more and I will. The future looks like there is so much more to say. Stay tuned for the sequel. It is in the writing. For now I urge you to take action and share the story of Love on the Line. How to Recover form Romance Scams Gracefully and without Victimisation.

Time to Celebrate 'LOVE ON THE LINE' Book Launch

It is a special day for me today. It is the first of the firsts I have ever imagined. And I have imagined. 

It is a celebration of the publishing of my first book Love on the Line. How to Recover from Romance Scams Gracefully and without Victimisation. I am totally, totally stoked. 

This morning I went to the Xlibris.com.au and opened the bookstore and witnessed in realtime how my book appeared online. First it wasn't there, and then a minute later, it was. Both the hardcover and the softcover are now available. It was an incredible experience for me and a blatant display on how international we are in the publishing business. 

Very soon I can also celebrate my next milestone which is the website that has been designed by the Spartacus team and should be online any time now. That will be the second time I am able to witness something that I will always remember. The year 2016 will be such a huge year in my books, that it will stop the clocks and blow the horns loudly in my mind. It will also mean a lot of work for me. 

Self-publishing is actually not a ride in the park as everything that leads to the success of the book and the message depends on you. That means that even though there are so many people and so many tools that can help with the outcome of the message getting to the audience, it is still your responsibility as an author to make it happen. It is a huge learning curve, to say the least. And it starts now, after the book is online and can be purchased and read by those people who find it interesting. 

It is the eye catching pink book there online, with the attention catching title and the cool cover. Or so my marketing specialist says. And it should be out there because the message is very important. It is topical and it is transformative, It is about one of the top ranking issues on everybody's toungue right now, namely scamming and love. But most of all it is about recovery and a way forwards with dignity. It is something we all should know to talk about. Lastly it is challenging. 

Every book needs to be challenging the reader. It has to deliver on the promise it gives. I really hope that my book does just that, I urge you to give it a change, get it, read it and give me your feedback. I would want to travel everywhere talking about this important issue. Surprisingly, this issue is age old in a new suit. And we need to find a way to change it. We need to find a way to deal with it and recover from the trauma. Already, I am writing the second installment. 

But first, let's all celebrate! I have done it! My book is out. My world has changed. Let's open the champagne bottle and have a toast to new beginnings. Let's toast to friendship and kindness because if there was not such deep rooted friendships and kindness, my book would never have been written. Because, despite the hard work I put into it, if there were not friends, family and compassion, I wouldn't be here saying THANK YOU, thank you everybody for listening to my story.

THE BOOK LAUNCH will be at the Avid Reader Bookstore in Brisbane at West End on Friday the 22nd of January at 6 pm. You are all warmly welcome!

How to Stretch Your Limits and Write Your Dream Book

There is a promise of very exciting times ahead in the year of 2016. Namely, I finally finished my book LOVE ON THE LINE. How to Recover from Romance Scams with Dignity and without Victimisation. It is the first book in the series of critically analyzing scamming in the modern world with its roots firmly in the world of pornography and romance book industry that I have planned on writing after becoming a victim of an online scam. The book is my ode to the new quantum paradigm and the possibility of happy endings through social change.  I have great ambitions to helping people to overcome their limits by understanding the bigger picture.

How was I able to achieve my goal, you might ask. On hind site there were a few things that contributed to the successfull execution of the plan. Namely, I was inspired into stretching my limits, overcoming a seeming language skills barrier with the help of a wonderful women's community connection, personal editor and some determination from my part. Finally, and I write it with gratitude, I was able to get my act together and finalise a long term dream of writing a book in the English language.

What I am saying here is that people should dream, set goals, make plans and work on achieving their desired happiness. They should seek to stretching their capabilities and overcoming their limits. It is worth all the angst and trouble. I should know. I was shocked enough to start writing. 

After having researched pornography, prostitution and violence against women for decades, I suddenly found myself in the clutches of an online scammer. It was a huge wake up call for me. How could I have fallen into a scam like that? Certainly, I am a savvy and intelligent woman. I would think so, at least. But the new digital world can fool anybody. It was a really low point in my life.  I felt devastated and disillusioned with the whole world. How could I have fallen so low? Luckily, I had my son to lean on to.

He inspired me, with his words of encouragement. He advised me not to dwell on the negative but keep in mind the positive memories of the romancing. So, I took his advise to heart and used it as a muse to write my best happy ending to the story in ordear to help others to avoid similar situations. My book is about to come out any day now. The launch date is already locked in. I am very excited. It is a new high for me. I am inviting everybody to participate. 

It is a new year for me, literally and symbolically. Having had huge anxiety attacks about how on earth could I write in a fluent English, I finally have had professional help to make me get my message through in a language I love but sometimes cannot express myself in. I thank my lucky stars and the community of wonderful Unstoppable Women who have encouraged me to stretch my limits and believe in myself. As a non-English speaking person, I often get corrected in my use of the English language. Sometimes, I feel like an idiot for not being able to express my thoughts in a way that deliveries the message the way I want it to be. It is frustrating!  Luckily, there are those friends that understand my blight and encourage me to expand on it and further explain my thoughts. I am blessed with good friends. I am grateful for that as well. A personal editor will make all the difference to a budding author's confidence. 

I really hope you will enjoy the results of my year of labour. I am inviting you all to the launch at the Avid Reader Bookstore in Bribane on Friday the 22nd of January at 6pm. You can register already on the website at 

http://avidreader.com.au/events/elina-juusola-love-on-the-line

My book will be online next week at

http://bookstore.xlibris.com

More information on my website at

www.elinajuusola.com