As Guest Speaker at Women Alive

 Tuesday, May 2, 2023 I was guest speaker at "Women Alive" in Elliot Lake.   I share my 'talk' here with you.  It's my pleasure to share a little about my writing journey.  I speak about my latest book, titled "Shh!  We Don't Talk About That" which you will find, along with all my publications, on all Amazon sites.  My author's page is found at https://amazon.com/author/audreyaustin

Good evening, everyone.  My name is Audrey Austin and it’s my pleasure to be here.  Thank you, Pat, for your invitation to come to speak about myself and my adventure with creative writing.

 I’ve brought along a few  books with me that I hope will interest you.

I’m a semi-retired psychospiritual practitioner.  I say semi-retired because each Thursday I offer Table Talk which is Empowerment Counseling for Women. 

My hobby is acrylic painting.  My passion is creative writing. 

I mention my positions as counselor and author because one has a very powerful impact on the other.  I write primarily about social issues.

My writing career began fifteen years ago when I reached retirement age.  My friend, Shirley Green, introduced me to the WynLit writing competitions offered by Wynterblue Publishing Company which was in North Bay.   I was blessed to have some of my short stories take first place in competitions.

This success encouraged me to write my first novel which is titled Sara, a Canadian Saga.   With the help and encouragement of Maggie Kirton, my publisher, within a year my novel was available on all Amazon sites in paperback and kindle formats.  No one in the world was more excited than me when I held my first book in my hands.

Wynterblue continued to be there for me, and they published several more of my books before, sadly, they had to announce that they, like many small presses, needed to fold.

I no longer had a publisher.  What to do?

I was by then well into my seventies. I didn’t like the idea of sending manuscripts to publishers and then having to wait a year or two for their response, if there was to be one.  I was far from rich and didn’t want to spend money I couldn’t afford on vanity publishing.

 It was quite the learning curve, but I decided that my only option was to learn how to do it all by myself.

From that point on, I became author, formatter, editor, and publisher of my own work.  I even learned how to create book covers. Today, I remain a proud independent author. 

I currently have 77 publications available exclusively on Amazon.  25 of these are books available in both Kindle and Paperback formats.  Five of these are also available as audio books.  The remaining publications are short stories that, like Daniel, dare to stand alone in the Kindle Store. 

 I’ve been busy.  To speak to you about all my books I would need at least a month.  So I decided that this evening, I would speak to you about the one book that I most recently completed. It is titled “Shhh!  We don’t talk about that!”

Primarily I write fiction. This book is something a little different.

This book recalls many mystical memories.  I reference many topics including premonitions and dreams. 

Long ago in my studies at the Transformational Arts College in Toronto I was introduced to the work of psychologist, Carl Jung.    He described dreams as “God’s Forgotten Language”.

If it were not for a repetitive dream way back in the early nineties, I would not be living here in Elliot Lake today.   I have loved living here in town for 23 years now and being here is, literally, a dream come true. 

I would like to share the story of the dream that brought me here. 

 I was living in Toronto.  At first, I simply found the dream interesting.  But, by the time the dream had repeated itself multiple times it was beginning to really annoy me. 

The only thing I would remember upon awakening were the words ‘Elliot Lake’.      Repeatedly, I would wake up in the morning with Elliot Lake alive in my thoughts.

In my reality I had never heard of a lake called Elliot.   I had no idea where this lake was located.    And I had no idea why it should be important to me.

I began a little research, and it didn’t take me long to find out that there, indeed, was a lake called Elliot.  I also learned that there was a place called the City of Elliot Lake. 

When I learned that Elliot Lake was located in Ontario, and not in some far-off land like India or Africa, I decided that I needed to visit. I phoned my sister, who, at that time, was living in Newmarket.

I shared with her the persistent Elliot Lake dreams and why I felt the need to visit Elliot Lake. I asked her if she would accompany me. Although she was a driver, she had no desire to drive on such a long trip. 

She was, however, willing to make the bus trip with me and so it was arranged.  I called and reserved a room for us at the Algo Inn in Elliot Lake. 

Our bus trip began.  It was, we discovered, a long trip.

When we arrived in Sprague we had a good laugh when we realized that the bus that would take us into Elliot Lake was a very small school bus.   That was certainly unexpected.   When that little school bus began its trek up Highway 108, everything felt comfortable; and strangely familiar. I turned to my sister and said, “I’m coming home.”  

We arrived in Elliot Lake and had a short walk to the Algo Inn.  It felt strange but I knew where everything was located.  My repetitive dream was coming true.   We walked directly to the Algo Inn and settled in before enjoying a meal at Peachy’s Restaurant downstairs in the Algo Mall.

The following morning, as it happened, there was a Wellness Fair at the Elliot Lake High School.  Surprisingly, we didn’t need directions. We walked there.

Upon leaving the fair, we exited the school and were delighted to see the beautiful, large sheer rockface wall.  We leaned against this wall, soaking up the warmth of the sun. 

While we were there at the rock, a man approached us.  He seemed to ignore my sister who was standing right beside me.  He spoke directly to me and simply said, “You are meant to be here.”

Before I had a chance to say or do anything, he turned his back on us and began to walk away.  That was very strange. Stranger still, believe it or not, that man vanished.  He was a short distance from us and then he was suddenly gone.  Weird!  It was very weird!

I believe this left me in some kind of shock.  I turned to my sister and asked, “Did you hear what he said?”

“I did,” she said, and she repeated the words to me.  Then she asked me, “Where did he go?”

“I had no idea!”

This was an event that she and I talked about many times.  Who was this man?  Surely, we didn’t both imagine the exact same event.  How on earth did he disappear?  Was he an angel? 

“You are meant to be here,” he said to me. 

And I knew he was speaking truth. 

We returned home but I enjoyed three more vacations in Elliot Lake after that.  After my first trip, I had made the decision to make my move to Elliot Lake.   But it wasn’t a move I could make immediately.  There were too many things to be considered, not the least of which was how to earn an income.  I was self-employed, working as a therapist in a private practice,  in Toronto.  I would need to work in Elliot Lake.  How?  Where?  I had no idea.

In Toronto I began telling friends and family that I was planning a move to Elliot Lake.  It took me some time though. 

In January of 2000, I travelled again to Elliot Lake, again with my sister.  Not for the first time we kept an appointment with realtor, Clarence Bardot, who was kind enough to, once again, show us through some homes that were on the market for sale.   Unlike earlier home viewings, on this trip, I purchased a house located on Central Avenue. 

April 1^st, 2000 I moved into my house. My only friend in town was Dudley, my Jack Russell Terrier.  

I was not so unrealistic as to believe I could magically set up a counseling practice overnight.  Thankfully I was able to support myself by working from home at my computer preparing legal transcripts for the Official Examiner’s office in Toronto.  It worked out very well and I continued in this position until retirement.

During these years I also offered many well-attended workshops for women here in town; some at my own home; some through Learning in Retirement, and later, at our public library.  I offered meditation circles at Holy Trinity United Church and, later, at the Ren Centre.

I had been living in Elliot Lake for about two years when I met Brian, the love of my life.   Soon after that my sister and her husband, who was then ready for retirement, moved to Elliot Lake.

Shortly after that, my daughter  made the move to Elliot Lake.  Then my second daughter and her husband moved here and began to build their home on Dunlop Lake.  Not long after they made their home here in Elliot Lake, her sons, my three grandsons all made the move and shared a home in town.  

The years have passed happily.  My lovely great-granddaughter was born, the first family member to be born in Elliot Lake.

I often think of the angel at the rock who said, “You are meant to be here.”   He was so right!   I feel that I was meant to be exactly where I am. 

When I reached retirement age, thanks to Wynterblue Publishing Company, I began to write creatively.  I try to ensure that each of my novels has some mention of the name, Elliot Lake.  Sometimes it is an actual location,  a setting for a story.

I wrote a poem about my repetitive dream of Elliot Lake.  That poem has since been transformed into lyrics.  The title of the song is “I Followed My Heart to the 108 Highway”.  I wrote the lyrics.  My friend, the very talented Johnny Tyger composed the music.  We first presented this song as part of a Creative Connections event at our local Civic Centre where it was performed by another very talented friend who later recorded this song as part of an album in Nashville.

And that is the story of the dream that brought me to Elliot Lake.

It is one of several mystical memories that I share in my book titled “Shhh! We Don’t Talk About That”

Since I’ve reached what I call the bragging age, I find it is good to stay busy.   I continue to write, to paint, and to offer empowerment counseling for women. 

I am thankful when you buy my books.  I am grateful that my hands allow me to paint my pictures.  I am blessed when during a counseling session, a woman feels empowered to be her authentic self.

Thanks for listening to me this evening and I’ll close with the words of Albert Einstein who said,  “Do not grow old no matter how long you live.”

Thank you and God bless. 

https://amazon.com/author/audreyaustin