An Interview With Sara Connell
You can be successful as your own boss. Having your own business isn’t for everyone. Some people function well as part of an organization, and others prefer to work independently. For those people who choose to work alone, it’s probably best to start their own business, so they can run it according to their own rules. It wasn’t until I started my own business that I finally found job satisfaction. I enjoyed being my own boss, choosing the hours I wanted to work, deciding the type of work I wanted to do, and obtaining clients through my own efforts. I also enjoyed seeing my entertainment business thrive and took pride in that achievement.
Books have the power to shape, influence, and change our lives. Why is that so? What goes into a book that can shape lives? To address this we are interviewing people who can share a story about a book that changed their life, and why. As a part of our series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Donna F. Brown.
Donna F. Brown is a well-known published author of two books, musician, and certified yoga teacher living in Pearce, Arizona. Her first book, FINDING MEDUSA-THE MAKING OF AN UNLIKELY ROCK STAR has been receiving rave five star reviews on Amazon. Her latest novel, ONE MOONLIT NIGHT, is a thrilling murder/mystery was published in October of 2021.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory” and how you grew up?
Since childhood, I have always loved to read and write. My favorite books to read while growing up were Nancy Drew mysteries and Edgar Allen Poe horror stories. These stories had a profound influence on me and eventually led to writing my own murder/mystery stories. I started writing in earnest in my teenage years and wrote mainly poems and prose. I became feature editor of my high school newspaper and wrote predominately about high school related events. How these early writings eventually turned into murder/mysteries is even a mystery to me!
Let’s talk about what you are doing now, and how you achieved the success that you currently enjoy. Can you tell our readers a bit about the work you are doing?
I am currently attending book festivals, doing book signings, and radio and podcast interviews to market my books. This keeps me very busy. I was honored to be an independent author exhibitor at the internationally known Tucson Festival of Books that is held every March. I am also working on creating new music and collaborating with other musicians to keep our music alive, and do shows locally at open mics and other venues.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
- Determination– knowing and relentlessly pursuing your purpose. I didn’t immediately know what my life purpose was. I worked as a nurse for over thirty years, and found this career very unsatisfying. It was merely a means to make a living. My main area of nursing was working in ICU in different hospitals. I quickly became burned out.
A phone call one day changed my life. Before becoming a nurse, I played guitar in a rock band in Chicago called Medusa. We played together for three years until I left the band to attend nursing school. The band split soon after I left. I married Gary, the lead guitarist, and we moved to Colorado. Some forty odd years later, a producer from a well-known Chicago record label discovered a 45 of our music at a record convention. He called asking for the original recordings of our music created in the early ’70s, and a year later in 2013, our first album was released and it received worldwide acclaim! In our mid-sixties we were ready to retire, until the phone call changed our plans. We reformed the band, toured the country, and lugged heavy amps, guitars and music equipment as we played gigs and received wild fanfare wherever we played. Music reunited me with my true life purpose as a musician, and I haven’t looked back since.
2. Motivation — the drive behind your determination to succeed. There are many things that motivate us to succeed, such as making more money, seeking power and control, and even the fear of failure. The burnout I experienced in nursing motivated me to pursue the things I truly love doing such as playing music and writing books and articles.
3. Self-confidence — trusting in your ability to be successful in whatever endeavor you choose to pursue. Working as a nurse for long ten to twelve hour shifts was exhausting and overwhelming. When I left nursing, I had very little self-esteem. What truly boosted my flagging self-esteem was seeing the effect the music I helped create with Medusa had on every audience we played for. I never received standing ovations as a nurse!
What’s the WHY behind the work that you do? Please share a story about this if you can.
I write books and articles about topics that are meaningful and enjoyable for me as well as for my readers. I recall receiving an email that came from a CEO of a company located in Canada. This CEO wrote about how much he enjoyed reading my magazine articles, and he even extended an offer for me to speak to a support group he sponsored in Canada known as “Bloomers.” This led to several other speaking opportunities. I also enjoy playing music in my community because this is a rural area that is isolated and remote. The residents of this community really enjoy having entertainment available, and it gives me great pleasure to share what I love doing with others.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
That particular person is, without a doubt, my husband, Gary! He inspires me to be the best writer and musician I can be. He is my partner in just about everything. I met him in Chicago, Illinois, where we both were born. Medusa rehearsed in his garage. We first met when I auditioned to get into his rock band, and we’ve been together ever since. We’ve known each other for almost 50 years and that’s a lot of togetherness!
Awesome! Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. I’m an author and I believe that books have the power to change lives. Can you please tell our readers about “The Book That Changed Your Life”? Can you share a story about how it impacted you?
I have a challenging health problem known as tinnitus, or ringing in the ears. When first diagnosed with this relentless problem, a very unsympathetic doctor told me to “learn to live with it,” yet didn’t tell me how. I left his office in a state of shock. It was bad enough having to deal with tinnitus, much less have to rely on doctors who didn’t understand the problem or know how to treat it. I faced two difficult choices: either succumb to the problem, or try to overcome it, or find a solution. I chose the latter, yet didn’t know where to begin. An answer came in the form of an incredible book I was reading entitled, No Mountain Too High by Andrea Gabbard. This book tells the amazing story of seventeen women breast cancer survivors who triumphed over their illness by climbing a 22,000 foot peak in Argentina known as Aconcagua. Only four team members reached the summit, yet through all their team efforts they raised over a million dollars for cancer research. Reading this engrossing story inspired me to do my own fundraising climbs on Mt. Rainier in Washington and Mt. Hood in Oregon. I did two climbs on Mt. Rainier and one on Mt. Hood between 2000–2013, and between the three climbs I raised a total of almost half a million dollars. These funds were donated to American Tinnitus Association in Portland, Oregon, for their continued research for an eventual cure. I was excited to learn that my fundraising efforts surpassed any previous fundraising amount for ATA. This book truly changed my life, and through fundraising, I helped change the lives of millions of others in the U.S. alone who have tinnitus!
What was the moment or series of events that made you decide that you wanted to take a specific course of action based on the inspiration from the book? Can you share a story about that?
I love reading inspirational stories about people who are overcoming their own adversities and inspiring others by doing great things. I am also an avid outdoorswoman and love running, hiking, and climbing mountains. At the time I read, No Mountain Too High, I had already climbed twenty two of fifty four “fourteeners,” or 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado where I had lived for thirty two years. I had never previously had any technical mountain climbing experience. When I first saw Mt. Rainier a few years prior, Gary and I were hiking and camping in Mt. Rainier National Park. I was awestruck staring at the sheer immensity of this incredibly majestic mountain, and I knew I had to climb it! When I first contacted the ATA in 2000 and told a staff member named Barbara about my plans to climb Mt. Rainier, she was shocked at my offer. No one had ever previously offered to do such a risky endeavor as a fundraiser. She even questioned my ability to carry out an event of that magnitude. I also doubted my ability to take on this challenge, yet I was determined to succeed in my goal to raise funds for continued research as well as increase public awareness of the problem of tinnitus. To ensure that I was prepared for this tremendous adventure, I took a month long mountaineering course and trained hard for six months prior to doing the climbs. Reaching the summits of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Hood were dreams and accomplishments that far exceeded my expectations!
Can you articulate why you think books in particular have the power to create movements, revolutions, and true change?
We, as human beings, admire greatness in ourselves as well as in other people that we know and/or come in contact with. If books are compellingly written, they take us on journeys and adventures we might not have ever considered doing on our own. When we read about others who are doing great things and making positive changes in their lives, they inspire us to create similar changes in our own lives. For example, if we are struggling with problems or situations, self-help books instruct and give us guidelines on how to prevail over them.
A book has many aspects, of course. For example, you have the writing style, the narrative tense, the topic, the genre, the design, the cover, the size, etc. In your opinion, what are the main, essential ingredients needed to create a book that can change lives?
A book that can change lives should give its readers valid and persuasive reasons to want to change their lives.
Writing style, the subject, genre, narrative tense, cover design, and size are all important. Just as important is whatever message the book is conveying and how that message comes across to the readers. For example, when I read No Mountain Too High, the message that came across loud and clear to me was that anything is possible when people team up to take a stand against a situation they believe needs to change. In this story, the breast cancer survivors decided to climb a mountain. The author’s intent was to show that breast cancer doesn’t always have a fatal outcome. It can also be viewed as a motivating factor to effect a positive change. This doesn’t mean that everyone who reads this book will want to go out and climb a mountain.
The message the author conveyed was to inform readers that a negative situation can have a positive outcome, and it empowers the reader to decide what the outcome will be.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started My Career” and why?
There are many things I wish I could’ve known before I discovered it was okay to do things I loved! This leads me to share the
following tips:
- It’s okay to do what you love! It’s not only okay. Doing what you love is crucial for your physical, mental, and emotional health. In my situation, I worked in an unsatisfying career as a nurse for over thirty years and suffered from burnout before I decided to change careers and do something I loved. All I knew at the time was that I enjoyed music, writing and watching comedians on TV (i.e. Jerry Lewis, Red Skelton, and Marcel Marceau). I didn’t know I could actually make a career out of being an author or an entertainer until I attended my first mime performance one evening. As I watched the mimes performing and conveying their stories without speaking a word, I knew I needed to leave nursing once and for all. This performance motivated me to attend a few professional mime schools and start my own entertainment business. I performed at schools, libraries, senior centers, and entertained at weddings, birthday parties, and numerous other events. This rich experience gave me the courage and expertise to perform as both a pantomime and musician in front of live audiences.
- If you fail at one thing it doesn’t mean you’re a failure at everything. Failing at one thing means that there is something that we are better suited for in our future. Failure is a powerful motivator to propel us in the right direction of finding a successful and satisfying career.
- Parents aren’t always the best career role models for their children. My first aspiration as a child was to become a doctor, yet my mother disagreed. She told me that women don’t become doctors. When I asked her why, her only response was, “They just don’t. Women become nurses.” In that moment, she decided my future career, and I regretted that decision for my entire nursing career. I wish that I had a career coach or mentor to encourage and support my decision to become a doctor and enable me to feel more in control of my career choices.
- The grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence. Nursing is a very stressful and demanding career. It requires working long ten to twelve hour shifts often without bathroom or meal breaks. You are making daily life and death decisions, caring for terminally ill patients, and often working without help from other nurses. I” job hopped” from one hospital to another thinking that I would find satisfaction in a different facility. What I didn’t realize was that nursing was just as stressful regardless of what facility I worked for.. I also learned that job hopping doesn’t look good on your resume, and lessens your chance of finding “the perfect job.”
- You can be successful as your own boss. Having your own business isn’t for everyone. Some people function well as part of an organization, and others prefer to work independently. For those people who choose to work alone, it’s probably best to start their own business, so they can run it according to their own rules. It wasn’t until I started my own business that I finally found job satisfaction. I enjoyed being my own boss, choosing the hours I wanted to work, deciding the type of work I wanted to do, and obtaining clients through my own efforts. I also enjoyed seeing my entertainment business thrive and took pride in that achievement.
The world, of course, needs progress in many areas. What movement do you hope someone (or you!) starts next? Can you explain why that is so important?
As an avid reader and author, I love to read and write great books and share these books with others. I feel sharing and recommending books to others helps authors get more recognition and exposure. When reading a variety of books, readers broaden their perspectives on the world around them, and perhaps even add to their favorite genre/s. The movement I would love to start, or be part of, involves paying it forward to authors by writing reviews to support the authors of the books we really enjoy. Reviews are the greatest gifts you can give to authors to show appreciation for their inspirational and impactful stories!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Readers can further follow my work on Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, and LinkedIn:
https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Medusa-Making-Unlikely-Rock/dp/1732728569/ref=sr_1_1?
https://www.amazon.com/Moonlit-Night-Donna-Fields-Brown/dp/1736855204/ref=sr_1_1?
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19085732.Donna_F_Brown
https://www.linkedin.com/in/donna-brown-733a20169/
https://www.facebook.com/writeondonna/
Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us and our readers. We know that it will make a tremendous difference and impact thousands of lives. We are excited to connect further and we wish you so much joy in your next success.
Thank you for this interview!
Donna F Brown On The Book That Changed Her Life was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.