An Interview With Dreama Collins: Author

Sylvia: Hi Dreama, it is such a pleasure to interview you.  Please give our readers a brief introduction of yourself and a little about your book.

Dreama: Sylvia, I think it’s a wonderful thing that you do to help women authors spread word about

Image Courtesy of Dreama Collins

their books, thank you.  My name is Dreama Collins. I am a divorced woman living in Ootelwah, Tn. I began writing this book a year or so after my dad passed away. The pain and grief just over took me and I needed an outlet. I began scouring the Internet for any comfort at all. One day I simply Google searched into the universe “I Miss My Daddy”. At the time not much came back. Then I remembered the last words my dad said to me were “Stay the way you are and keep helping people.” So I formed a Yahoo group and named it “I Miss My Daddy”. Soon others like me began to join and share their stories and I found healing in knowing others were going through the same thing I was. Well I knew what I needed to do next. I began writing my book and asked the gals (at the time the group was for women who had lost their fathers) to contribute their own stories if they felt led. I got a lot of feedback and had to narrow them down some as I had never written anything more than some public speeches before and I didn’t want to take on too much. Well before long the group evolved into something much more. As my healing was taking place I found myself wanting to help not just women who had lost their dads but anyone who had lost anyone or knew they were going to lose someone and this included relationships because we grieve for those too and few of us know that. Life kept getting in my way so it took a few years to complete the book which I finally did this week and I’m very proud of it. Having learned all that I have and received more stories I’m already working on a follow up to this one.

 

Sylvia: You are very welcome. It has been a wonderful and insightful journey for me to learn about more than 50 women authors throughout the world. Wow!  What inspired you to write your first book? 

Dreama: I wanted to help others like myself who were grieving so badly for the loss of their fathers. I

Image Courtesy of Dreama Collins

know what that emptiness feels like and after a few years I also know how it feels to have that pain turn into fuel for growth. I wanted to make my own dad proud by doing what he last told me to do “keep helping others”. The more I heard from others about where they were on their own grieving process the more of a pattern I saw emerging and soon realized this pattern flows over into other losses not just the loss of a parent but the loss of a relationship, a home, a job etc. The book focuses on the loss of a father but does touch base on other losses that will be discussed in further depth in the follow up book. Selfishly, in writing this book showing others that there is a light on their path I have helped myself to grow and heal and continue to do so with each written word.

 

Sylvia: That’s so special. I can tell you and your father had a wonderful relationship. I admire that!  Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Dreama: Mine is not a novel but more of a self-help journey that never ends. I’d like readers to come to understand that grief is a necessary and health process that while it does change us forever it helps us to evolve into better human beings, more caring compassionate ones. Whatever their place, it’s ok to feel what they feel and to go at it at their pace. We have a saying in my group… “We don’t believe in getting over it, but we do believe in getting on with it” and sometimes we need a little help with that but it is perfectly ok to be where you are at this moment right now and to be feeling whatever you feel because that’s YOUR process. But it does get better and you do grow… I promise.

 

Sylvia: Do you have any advice for other writers?

Dreama: Well, this being my first book I feel a bit presumptuous in offering advice. However, if there is one thing I could say it’s to just be yourself. Let your words flow from within and don’t second guess yourself and while it’s fine to get opinions of others what really matters is how your book makes YOU feel.

 

Sylvia: That’s great advice! There is always a lesson to be learned from ones journey.  What marketing techniques have you used to sell your books and which ones have been most successful? 

Dreama: Again, this is my first book and I’m still searching for ways to market myself so I don’t have enough experience to really answer this one but it so far it looks like word of mouth words pretty well. I am utilizing social networks as they tend to be the fastest and easiest way not to mention the cheapest to get the word out.

 

Sylvia: Make sure you join my community as there is a group called ‘Women Authors’ where you can pick up ideas from members of the group. Why should we buy your book?

Dreama: Going on what others have said… it’s a healing tool. It is much more than the reader expects. It touches your heart and heals your soul in ways you just don’t expect when you first pick it up. Might want a few tissues I’m told it’s made a few folks cry here and there but even those tears re healing tears. Whether you’ve experienced a loss or not it’s something we all go through eventually so you might consider it a tool that can prepare you and one you may use over and over to remind you how strong you are and how much you’re growing when it’s your time to go through such a painful loss. So just cause you haven’t lost a father or close loved yet in no way means you should bypass this book.

 

Sylvia: Is there a special place that you prefer when you write? 

Dreama: For now where ever there is peace and quiet. I prefer nature around me if that’s not possible just where ever I can find peace and quiet. Sometimes I take a notebook along for the day, sometimes I sit and type away on my lap top.  

 

Sylvia: What projects are you currently working on? 

Dreama: I’m glad you asked. I’m currently working on two… the first being the follow up to “I Miss My Daddy” which will include more stories and a more in depth look at just what kinds of losses cause us to grieve and how we get through each. My other project is going to be sort of autobiographical in the sense that I’m creating characters to live out real life events that I myself have been through from losing my dad, being homeless… twice and getting divorced as well as some other significant events in my life that shaped me to be the woman I am today. That is going to begin a new series of books with each story being its own creation.

 

Sylvia: Wow, sounds inspiring!  Good luck on those upcoming book ideas. What is your POWER WORD?  Why this word?

Dreama: My power word seems to be pain. Most folks associate that as a negative but think about it, pain protects us from harm. Pain reminds us that we are alive and pain can also be used to heal us such as is the case with grief. If you break a bone, the doctor must sometimes cause you more pain to reset it so you can heal. Pain… it’s more of a positive thing than most people believe or understand.

 

Sylvia: Hmmmm, interesting concept. I would never think of ‘PAIN’ as a power word, but I like your spin on it.

Do you plan to continue your writing? 

Dreama: Yes, I’ve been writing since I was young everything from poems to public speeches and now books. I believe I have been given a gift for words or so I’m told and if my words help even one person, even if that person is only me then it’s all worth it and my life will not have been in vain. But I believe I have something to say too many others as I speak from the heart and as someone once told me, “It feels like you’re right there in the room speaking directly to me.”

 

Sylvia: Your first book took you several years to complete. How long do you think it will be before the follow up is available?

Dreama: While writing that first book I had many distractions of which you will be able to read about in my new series. My life although still having a few stormy seas I have learned how to focus and ride the waves. I expect the follow up to be available in 6 months or less and the first of the new series I hope to make available before Christmas of 2012.

 

Sylvia: Dreama, this has been great. Thank you for your time. I enjoyed learning more about you and your book. Please let our readers know how to contact you.

Dreama: You are very welcome. See below.

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