The Blessing of Writing About “Walking In Broken Shoes”
January 18th, 2011
By Guest Blogger, Susan Magnuson Walsh, Author of “Walking In Broken Shoes”
Co-Founder of the non-profit organization, Little By Little
www.walkinginbrokenshoes.com
www.littlebylittlehaiti.org
I have been doing medical mission work in Haiti for 5 years. Over the years, our friends and family have been interested in our work. They were an attentive audience and it was easy to share our passions and stories in person. We were in Haiti in January 2010, on our regularly scheduled trip when the earthquake struck. This was an extremely profound experience on so many levels! Writing Walking in Broken Shoes was really in response to many inquiries that came from people who were beyond our personal circle.
Reporters were contacting me, not only to share our initial earthquake story, but also to follow our journey after our return trip to Haiti in June 2010. As I attempted to write responses, the depth and dimension of our stories were more than I could adequately articulate in just a short article or brief discussion; thus the penning of a 160-page manuscript.
I quickly became aware that timing is significant with a book release, so I planned to self-publish in order to have the book available prior to the anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti January 12, 2011. As I was working on self-editing with some literary buddies, I also sent in a prospectus to one publishing company, Grace Acres Press, while also praying for God to be my director. With great surprise and delight, Grace Acres Press liked my manuscript and decided to do a rushed process to have the books available in December. I have been so blessed by this partnership and process.
I love this line…”book as my hook”…
I founded a non-profit organization, Little by Little, several years ago. We raise money to purchase medications and supplies to sustain our medical work in a mountain village in the out skirts of Port-Au-Prince. Service learning opportunities are important to us as well.
When thinking about using my book as my hook, I get a strong visual of a double barbed fishing hook. One barb is that my words might help others hear about our work in Haiti and move people into compassionate action and empathetic prayer for Haiti. They might let go, but because of a brief heartache and their reflexive action, Haiti will get some help. The other barb is to hook them for good into thinking beyond themselves, beyond my work in Haiti and to find their own cause, their own pair of broken shoes to walk in for a while.
If my book could be a small step in helping others see that ordinary people can truly make a difference, little by little, then I will experience great joy! But more importantly, the recipients of another’s walk in service will be blessed.
