My Thanks to an Amazing Mentor…
When I first started the Secrets of the 100 Golden Keys, it had a different title and a different focus. I hadn’t written it from the perspective of who I am; I had written instead about what I knew. I was happy when I finished the first version of the book, but a little part of me was also unsure; something was missing.
I met Patricia Drain in the normal course of running my small artistic services business in Scottsdale, Arizona. She called me to schedule a consultation at her lovely custom home and when we met there, we clicked. Patricia offered to trade me a consulting package of her services for a consulting package of mine; I got the better end of the deal. Patricia read my manuscript as part of our exchange and her honest, cut-to-the-chase feedback went right to the heart of the matter. She told me that my work was very powerful and filled with wisdom, but that as an author I had hidden behind a veneer of humor and self-deprecation rather than owning my own power and wisdom. Her astute observation stunned me; I knew immediately it was true – I was exposed! I had no PhD to validate my opinions or support my philosophy and so in the back of my mind as I wrote the book was the persistent thought, who am I to write a book that tells others how to improve their lives? My life’s not perfect!
Patricia Drain had the insight, life experience and courage to call me out on something I had been unable to identify before; fear of being vulnerable and all that comes with that – rejection, ridicule, exposure, criticism…failure! My writing reflected my true state of being at the time – I had remained hidden within my work, rather than opening myself up through it. That exchange between us transformed my life, and my writing; Patricia Drain, as a powerful woman role model and mentor, had given me permission to rip away that final fig leaf and embrace exactly who I am in front of the whole world. I didn’t have to live out my life as the pearl or the shell in my personal masterpiece – I was Venus!
I scrapped the original book and spent a year and a half re-writing The Secrets of the 100 Golden Keys, and on May 15th 2009, the book was released as the fruit of that labor. Thank you, Patricia Drain.
Mia Pratt
www.100goldenkeys.com
