“SELF MATTERS: Creating Your Life From the Inside Out.” I’ve had this book in my library for years but somehow could never bring myself to reading it.

Yes, it’s a self-help book, and I’ve been resistant. Not that I haven’t gleaned some helpful knowledge from these type of books in the past, but this is a celebrity-written book by Dr. Phil McGraw, mainstream television personality. (I tend to shy away from mainstream TV.) So I was about to send “SELF MATTERS” off to the second-hand bookstore until I took a final peek inside.

I’m about half-way through the book now, and I will definitely read it to the end. And kudos to good old Dr. Phil. His writing is accessible and easy to read. The premise of his book is to uncover or discover your authentic self. I know, I know, navel gazing. I, too, was resistant. Maybe it’s a throwback to our old puritanical heritage of self-sacrifice, hard work, and keeping a stiff upper lip. No, happiness and joy did not play into the puritan lifestyle—they were party poopers all around.

It’s not that I don’t believe in the generous spirit of sacrifice and giving, but the idea is if a person allows themselves to be buried under acquired negative or fruitless habits of existence, it might not leave enough room for “self” to spread happiness and good will to anyone. So “SELF MATTERS” or finding your authentic self is in that sense is not a selfish endeavor.

“SELF MATTERS” explains why our acquired or learned habits of operating in this world needs to be examined in order to make positive and fulfilling changes in our lives. The book is also a step-by-step workbook that explains how one goes about this examination and positive recreation of oneself.

Even if I don’t go off and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro after reading this book, it has given me further insights into my human nature and has offered me another avenue to grow.

Passion burned in Kevin’s eyes as he watched Marsha undress. She was more beautiful this night than in all the years he had known her. Marsha turned to Kevin, the moonlight showing the longing in her eyes. She cried a plaintive moan. In the heat of the moment he—

This is the opening paragraph from my first novel, an excerpt from my heroine’s notebook. Eve Richardson, small town news journalist by day and “accidental” romance novelist by night, is working on her second novel, but it is not going well. One of the problems with Eve is that she has had a real heart-thumping romance of her own. That is until she travels to a remote tropical island resort and finds her inspiration—handsome underwater photographer, David Adams.

In a way, I’m a lot like Eve (an accidental romance novelist). No, I didn’t plan it this way. I like to think of myself as a more serious-minded socially conscious person, but writing humorous romantic/cozy mysteries keeps me entertained. I am currently working on a sequel to this first novel.

You can read part of the first of this novel on Amazon (“look inside” feature).  You can easily connect to this book on the front of my website www.zeehuxley.com (click on the cover) or through my Goodreads page.

Enjoy!

If you read my blog from last week, you’ll know that I have been doing some serious spring cleaning in an attempt to “Fung Shui” my cluttered life. The process is taking me longer than I thought, but I’m giving it time, especially in the book department.

Many of my books are like old friends, so I’ve been sorting them with care. My best friends were the first to go back on my bookshelves, which included my favorite novels, art, and reference books. The others went into boxes where they are being held for further contemplation.

I’ve had to be cruel. I’ve saved many books in my life, not because I’ve loved them, but because I thought they would benefit me somehow. I’ve kept boring instruction books on writing essays, outdated health advisories, some classic poetry that I tried to like, but didn’t, a collection of novels that I thought I should read but when I tried could never make it past the first chapter, etcetera. These latter ones will be taking a little trip to the second-hand book store.

“Rocket City” is one of my best friend books that I found a couple of years ago at a library fund-raising sale. It’s road trip tale about a young woman named Marilee who is journeying from Los Angeles to New Mexico to surprise (and hopefully marry) her fiancé who has taken an unusual job at the Alamogordo Air Force Base. Everything was going according to plan until Marilee picks up a hitchhiking dwarf named Enoch who opens her mind to other possibilities. Marilee and Enoch’s story runs parallel with the story of a man named Figman, a paranoid insurance adjuster on the run, who relocates to New Mexico after surviving a car crash resulting in an unfair lawsuit against him.

“Rocket City” is an original and strangely moving novel. I found it to be a sensitive and awkward comedy of overcoming loneliness, which takes place against the vast and desolate backdrop of the American Southwest. I loved the writer’s voice in this offbeat book and was sucked into the storyline after the first page.

I did some further research on Rocket City’s author, Cathryn Alpert, hoping to find more of her stories. I was sad to read that “Rocket City” was her only published novel and that she had died unexpectedly a few years after it was published.

This is a book that will remain on my best friend bookshelf. Not only is it a good story and one that touched my heart, but it’s proof that a writer’s voice and spirit can live on.

 R.I.P. Catheryn Alpert.

Excerpt from Rocket City:

Marilee gazed up into the desert night—so many stars it would take a lifetime to count. She felt Enoch’s gnarled body bobbing close to hers in the water. So close, yet separate. Different and alone. A strange silence took hold of her. Night silence. She threw her head back and let the water wash over her face, fill her eyes, stream out of the corners of her mouth. Liquid smooth as desert sand. Liquid cool as starlight. She felt intoxicated by the water, the darkness, the explosion of stars. This is crazy, she thought. “Crazy and real.”