Learning through teaching, writing & travel
My first novel, See What Flowers, is now available on Amazon.
Here’s the top ten quotes from the novel. But hey, I’m biased. I wrote ’em!
Do you agree? Check out my Goodreads author profile for more See What Flowers quotes.
For more info on the inspiration behind See What Flowers, read my author Q & A for the Toronto-based website, Shedoesthecity.
As an author on Goodreads, readers are able to ask me questions about my book.
Here are my answers to some of their questions!
Follow me on Goodreads to join the conversation!
I’m so honoured to be featured on Shedoesthecity, a Toronto based site that explores anything from bizarre fashion trends to battling the tough stuff. SDTC was interested in learning more about the inspiration behind See What Flowers, my writing process, and what I learned through the writing and research of my novel.
Click here to read the article.
After my début novel, See What Flowers, was published last week, the website Goodreads accepted me as an “author.” Check out my profile here.
Goodreads is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations. Their mission is to help people find and share books they love. It has 55 Million members and is a great way for authors to connect with readers and for readers to discover books that appeal to their interests.
As an author, readers will be able to discuss themes, post reviews, add comments, and ask questions about See What Flowers. They can also highlight, discuss, and comment on quotes from the book as they read.
Here are some quotes from See What Flowers that stand out the most to me. But hey, I’m biased…I wrote them!
If you’re not on Goodreads, I encourage you to register. It’s free! It’s kind of like an online book club. Also, I encourage you to join the discussion about See What Flowers and add your comments as you read.
Since I was a little girl, swept away by books such as Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, and The Hobbit, I’ve dreamed of publishing a book.
Today I published a book!
Click here to access the eBook of my début novel, See What Flowers.
Click here to access the paperback.
Hardcopies will also be available to purchase at the Toronto Book Launch on Thursday, June 15 at 7:30pm at The Steady Cafe and Bar, located at 1051 Bloor St W.
Thank you to everyone who supported me through this process.
If you read See What Flowers, I would appreciate if you could please write a customer review on Amazon. This helps with the book’s ratings and can give greater exposure to the book. Thank you!
This time next week, See What Flowers, my début novel about love and mental illness, will be available on Amazon.
Here’s a sneak preview of See What Flowers to give you a feel for what the book’s about.
By Shannon Mullen
“Struggling and suffering are the essence of a life worth living. If you’re not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you’re not demanding more from yourself – expanding and learning as you go – you’re choosing a numb existence. You’re denying yourself an extraordinary trip.”
― Dean Karnazes, Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner
The party is over. I’m floating weightlessly through the sky like Mary Poppins, grasping my flamingo pink birthday balloons so tightly that my nails puncture the skin of my sweaty palm.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Startled by the sound of myself giggling, I release the balloons. They float to the ceiling as my feet hit the floor but the giggling doesn’t stop. Instead, it becomes louder, more honest: the yelp of a dog off-leash, the squeal of a toddler chasing butterflies, the height of sexual pleasure, the subconscious release of something raw and visceral, something undeniably, yet unexplainably true.
It’s like I’ve pierced a small hole in the balloon, sucked in the helium and exhaled delirium. I’m under the effect of something, certainly too much Malbec, but perhaps also too much happiness.
After more than a decade of cramming for exams, late nights at the library, taking risks, and making tough decisions, I’ve become lighter, like in the way sticking to a running program burns excess fat. The lightness teaches me that struggle lifts us up rather than weighs us down.
I take a blue recycling bag from underneath the sink and start cleaning up empty tall cans–Steam Whistle, Mill St., Muskoka, Great Lakes, Kichesippi and other Ontario Craft beers that I’ve never seen before. Every time I go to the Beer Store, there’s a new microbrew on the market. With so much competition, what makes one product last and another disappear? By the time I’ve tossed a dozen or so empties into the recycling bag, the giggling has stopped and I’m overcome with exhaustion. I check the time on my phone. 3:30 am. There’s a missed call from Adam. Where is he?
Adam will be upset that I already washed all of the dishes—the plates and forks we used to serve my DQ cake, the wine glasses, and the Starbucks mug that that Katie used for her cab sav because we ran out of glasses. Adam wouldn’t make me clean up a mess on my birthday. He’d remind me that a real partner shares the responsibility, and that since I’m the BDG, I deserve to let him pull the weight.
I tug on the ribbon dangling from one of the balloons floating against the ceiling. I want to set it free, let it fly into the wild like a caged parrot being released in the jungle, so I put the recycling bag on the floor and collect the ribbons from all three balloons. How high will they soar before bursting to the ground? Fingers crossed these balloons will drift higher and higher and higher into a limitless universe.
I shiver slightly as a draft of cold air floods the apartment the second the front door opens, like winter has suddenly arrived even though summer’s just around the corner.
I spin around to see who it is. I already know.
Adam.
He’s holding a couple of pink tulips in his hand, freshly picked from the neighbours’ garden. His eyes are glowing with the droopy haze of booze and he looks like a maniac, a wild dog. We are both high on the energy of the party and the awareness that we are on the brink of something wonderful. As I float towards him, a nagging question tugs me back; I want to swat it away like an annoying mosquito. But it keeps buzzing inside me. I shiver again.
Is there such a thing as being too happy?
He hands me the tulips, luscious lips in full bloom. As I accept the flowers, I release my grip on the balloons, and they bounce gently against the ceiling the way they did before—hovering, annoyed, frustrated, contained by the ceiling and disappointed by the limits of life.
He hugs me tightly and an electric current shoots through me as though he’s resuscitating a heart that’s already beating. We hold each other, our bodies linking in the courtship ritual of dragonflies, our brilliant green darners hover as one above our apartment.
Our home.
“This is the happiest I’ve ever been,” I whisper.
It is.
1051 BLOOR ST W TORONTO, ON, M6H 1M4
Admission: Free
Copies of See What Flowers will be available to purchase for $20.
Cash only.
The evening will include Q & A with writer Louise Johnson and musical performance by Keira Loukes.
This is a public event, so feel free to bring along friends and family members!
For more info, check out the Facebook event.
I’m excited to announce that my début novel, See What Flowers, will be available on Amazon on May 20.
The fantastic cover was designed by Stella_e, a platinum-level Croatian designer who won the contest I ran through 99designs, the world’s largest online graphic design marketplace.
I would HIGHLY recommend using this site for any graphic designs you need ex. posters, merchandise, advertising, packaging, books & magazines, etc.
For more info about the contest click here.
Thursday, June 15, 7:30pm
1051 BLOOR ST WTORONTO, ON, M6H 1M4
I’m in the process of self-publishing my first novel and need your help!!! Please take 30 seconds to complete survey below.
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I’ve trekked in the Andes & Alaska and moved to the Arctic by myself. I’ve taken risks for love, even though I wasn’t sure if it would work out.
Telling a story at True Stories Told Live Toronto was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done.
Why?
I’d been to TSTL several times and the storytellers are always engaging and entertaining.
At school, students fall asleep in my classes all of the time…even during gym…
The last time I tried to tell a story to my friend at the bar, she excused herself after five minutes to go to the “bathroom”…
Plus, my story was scheduled during the Toronto Storytelling Festival so I was in the line-up with Charlotte Blake Alston and Karima Armin, ACTUAL storytellers who’d traveled from out of town for the event.
True Stories Told Live Toronto is a fantastic monthly storytelling event held at The Garrison. It’s organized, curated and hosted by Marsha from YesYesMarsha.com.
Although the bar is packed for shows–I’d estimate 200+ people were in the audience for my story, it feels personal, like your at a family gathering.
It’s a fresh space for connection and intimacy in a city that can sometimes feel cold, lonely, and isolating.
Somehow, I pushed through my fear and sense of impostor syndrome and told my story. It was really fun, and while of course there are things I would change for next time, my first live story definitely went better than expected. I feel proud of myself for standing up and doing something that scared me.
Click here if you want to watch my story, Arctic Basketball Team. Join the Facebook group for info about future TSTL events!
This morning I was going to get up early and go to the gym. I didn’t.
After the gym I was going to go to my fave café and get my marking out of the way so that I could spend the afternoon writing. I didn’t.
I slept in until after 10am (which rarely happens) & I lay in bed scrolling through Instagram on my phone.
But while scrolling through Instragram I came across the above post by Glennon Doyle Melton (@glennondoylemelton), founder of Momastery and author of #1 New York Times Bestseller LOVE WARRIOR, a memoir of her journey of self-discover following the implosion of her marriage. It’s an honest & inspirational account of confronting pain and claiming love. I highly recommend it. (So does Oprah!)
Glennon’s post struck me this morning because it reveals how important it is to MAKE TIME to pursue our passions. Even bestselling authors like Glennon struggle to prioritize their writing. As a mother of three children, Glennon struggled to find time to write amidst her family responsibilities. So she gets up before her family is awake to make it happen. Even if this means dragging herself out of bed when she wants the extra sleep. Her memoir, Love Warrior, is the product of her getting up at 4:30am so that she could MAKE TIME for writing.
I’m a full-time teacher during the week, so in order to meet professional standards, as well as my own personal standards for myself (which are arguably too high sometimes), I need to spend time in the evening and weekends to get marking done, and prepare my lessons. It is not fair of me to resent my job or even my students because these tasks take time away from writing.
Teaching also allows me to pay the bills and contribute to society in a meaningful way. As of now, writing is not paying the bills. So as much as writing fuels my heart, it is not fuelling my very hearty appetite. It is not paying my rent. It is not paying utilities. It is not paying for the splurge on the blue cowboy boots I bought in Arizona.
Before I wrote my first novel, See What Flowers, (which is yet to be published and maybe never will), I had the same attitude as “S”, the aspiring writer Glennon refers to in her Instagram post. I thought “One day when I have enough money, I will write. One day, when I have enough time, I will write. One day, when I am good enough to do it, I will write. One day, when I have a good enough idea, I will write.” But somehow the desire to write overcame the excuses not to and I made the time.
Having saved up a lot of money from living in the Arctic and having the privilege to live with family and not pay rent, I took 10 months off of teaching to write.
The process of writing a novel that hasn’t been published taught me how important it is for me to make time for writing in my life. Regardless of whether my novel gets published, or regardless of whether or not anyone else thinks my writing is any good…writing adds meaning and value to my life in a way that nothing else can.
I likely will never be a bestselling writer like Glennon Doyle Melton. But I certainly won’t if I don’t “SWEAT”: if I don’t make time to work on the craft. I can’t get the beach body by skipping the gym every morning…
I also won’t make time for writing if I don’t have FAITH. I need to believe that I am deserving of making time to devote to my craft.
Maybe this novel won’t be published. Maybe the next one that is yet to be started won’t be either. But for me, the process of writing is enough to justify making the time to do it, even if this means early mornings, Saturday nights in, and allowing my marking to pile up every now and then.
The next book won’t be written “one day.” The next article won’t be written “one day.” The dream won’t happen “one day.”
This means setting boundaries on other responsibilities, setting limits on how much I do for other people, and putting myself and my own dreams & desires first sometimes.
Time to hit the gym.
Shannon Mullen 