James McDonald has written the book, "What's the Worst that Can Happen?" And he so graciously agreed to answer your questions in the interview below! This is fascinating stuff, tolks! I hope you enjoy this interview and then stop by Amazon and buy his book!
https://a.co/d/3ihy0C2Hello there! My blog readers are excited to hear from you! Horror movies helped me survive my childhood trauma (and still help me cope today!) Do you have a favorite horror movie? What was the biggest thing that helped you survive your childhood trauma? If you could go back and change your past, would you? Why or why not?
Thank you Eileen. I’m looking forward to answering these interesting questions. Indeed, they have got me thinking about a lot that has happened to me in life and in a good way.
I find it interesting that you turned to horror movies to help you to deal with trauma. I was the opposite – I was a very frightened child even though those in the other side of life, spirit, were very active around me. I, of course, didn’t realise that they were spirits or ghosts, as some people refer to them, back then.
My favourite horror movie was The Exorcist (1973) which I found very frightening due to, in my opinion, it being the first horror movie that I watched which I found scarier than what we had been used to previous to then. It also got me to thinking about the other side of life.
I survived my childhood by using fantasy. The upside was that it helped me through it and the downside was that I carried on into my adulthood with these habits. As a 4-year-old I would play with small teaspoons that my mother was given as a gift, probably for her wedding. Simple spoons but at the handle end they were shaped into characters that I imagined were soldiers and that one day those soldiers were going to come and rescue me. Having seen similar spoons today I now realise that they weren’t soldiers but probably St. Christophers. The issues that I brought with me into my early adulthood were what I had devised as a youngster when something traumatic happened to me. I would pretend that nothing had happened and get on with my life. The abuse came from my father and I became aware very quickly that my mother was unable to help me even although she tried her best.
What would I change from my past? That’s a question that I have thought of many times in my life. I would change nothing because I am now at a peaceful stage in my life where I have accepted what happened to me and everything has taught me something that I have been able to move forward with in life. I am retired from working now but during the latter part of my career I was working with children and was able to pass on my knowledge and experience to help others. I was able to help many people through the mental health issues brought about by covid and the subsequent lockdowns and have carried on with that work today. Had I not gone through what I did as a child I wouldn’t have written my book or gone on to become a professional counsellor especially with children.
What's your favorite movie?
My favourite movie of all time is The Life Of Brian (1979) by the Monty Python team. I have lost count of the amount of times I have watched this but I still laugh! I even laugh in anticipation of what I know is coming next. Why is this my favourite? Laughter! I love laughing.
How did you go about publishing your book?
This was a very difficult process for me and for several reasons. It was great to be writing as I was enjoying doing so but low self-esteem kicked in when I was advised (by spirit) to start sending it out to potential publishers. What if they didn’t like it? Crazy, I know, but true. I hadn’t thought about others reading my book. But it was simply another lesson to be learned. I sent it out to over eighty publishers and literary agents and of the feedback I received, most of it was positive. Back then most of the submissions were in hard copy as submission by email was in its infancy. I was changing career back then from engineering to counselling and as I began my studies at college and university I gradually shelved the book idea to learn and qualify as a counsellor. I studied psychology along with counselling and it was awesome. At the beginning of lockdown I was encouraged by spirit to submit my work again by bringing what I had written up to date. After a few weeks I was advised, again by spirit, to stop sending out submissions. I received two offers with another couple of places interested in my work. So from the initial idea to publication actually took fifteen years! I had, however, spent many of those years learning and practising counselling along with play and art therapy to work with children.
What's your favorite book?
This is actually a very difficult question for me as I have enjoyed so many books from diverse authors and especially those from Indie authors. There is truly some great talent out there. As a child when I learned how to read I would go to my local library and my favourite author then was Enid Blyton especially The famous Five and Secret Seven series of books. Looking back, I think that these books fitted in with my “fantasy” life. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle has had a great effect on me but I loved Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell as well as Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
If you could have a movie made out of your life story, who should play you and why?
I don’t know of many child actors today who could play childhood me but certainly one with a great imagination! I admire Dustin Hoffman who is multi-talented and I’m sure he could adapt to the many different roles that I have “played” during my life. I could never settle down but tried so many different things during my life. In reality, I was searching for something but that something eluded me until the day I realised that it was actually within me. I was searching for peace and contentment and didn’t realise it. Definitely Hoffman for me.
Michelle wants to know what motivates you to write? What do you think about when you're writing?
Thank you Michelle. When I wrote “What’s The Worst That Can Happen?” it wasn’t my idea! During my forties when spirit came through to me one of the first seeds that they planted in my head was that one day I was going to write a book. That was an exciting time in my life as you might imagine and so there was a lot going on for me. Every now and again I would be reminded by spirit that the book idea was a good thing. When it came to putting pen to paper, that’s what I did in the early days, I was surprised what came to me and it all came naturally. After writing about three chapters I became aware that the spirit who was guiding me was my former English teacher from High School. That was all good motivation.
I no longer use pen and paper and can type straight onto my laptop or even my phone. For a while I was writing blogs which I enjoyed doing but haven’t been writing for a while. I’m currently promoting my book and, if there is a demand, I have a few ideas that I’d like to write about as a follow up.
When writing I try and think about the facts and stick to them but I often wander off in my head and write about things I never thought about. I have got into the habit though of keeping everything that I have written. If I think anything is irrelevant then I can edit it out at the end. Many of the ideas that I get come to me when I’m not writing. I keep a notebook with me and beside my bed to jot down ideas.
What gives you motivation to write new books? What has helped you overcome trauma? How do you stay focused while writing?
My motivation comes from my life experiences and how I can share those experiences with other people. Indeed, many people give me ideas as they speak with me and I often feel that there might be something that I can write about that might help many people. A police officer who works with adult survivors of child abuse uses my book to help other victims to have the strength and courage to come forward and testify against their abusers. That is very motivational to me.
Staying focussed isn’t always easy! I find that going for walks helps if I’m trying too hard and not getting anywhere. Once I start writing then everything seems to fall into place for me and I am fortunate enough to be able to sit for long periods of time. If I have a particular project to work on then that often helps me to remain focussed.
Overcoming trauma has been, and will be, a lifelong task for me. I am very fortunate though because I am able to pick up guidance from the other side of life. These are our lives and spirit can only help us with so much but I am grateful for the know-how I have been given. For me the issues arising from my experiences of an abusive childhood are still there within me. I have learned many techniques that I have practiced and used throughout my life with the results being that today I can deal with those issues better than I did a year ago and a year from now I will be able to deal with them much better than I can today. That’s how I evolve. I began by reading books about self-help for mental health issues and learned about myself during that journey. Some methods I would find excellent while others were not for me. As time went by I was able to adapt different methods to suit myself with some success. Today there are many different self-help techniques available to us all due to communication via the internet. What I have discovered through time is that when I deal with an issue another one appears! I compare life to school in that when we learn something then we step up a level to learn more about ourselves. I’ve always been aware that we don’t simply tick the boxes and move on; life isn’t like that. We learn and then we learn some more. I don’t see a future where I will stop learning especially about myself but it’s a challenge that I have become strong enough to take on.
Charles wants to know more about your spirit guides and how they've helped you throughout your life!
Thank you Charles. That’s actually a question that could lead to another book!
When spirit came through to me during my forties it was amazing to say the least. They then set about proving that they were always with me by showing me events from my childhood. Initially the only spirits that I saw were those who I was related to but had passed away. This was to assure me that I was safe because one of the main issues I had in life was fear. Today I see every spirit who comes through to me as a spirit guide who is guiding me or someone with me in some way.
My life changed when spirit came through to me. I began to see life in different ways. Money became less prevalent in my life but once I had learned that particular lesson I now always seem to have enough money. The big problem that I had was learning to believe in myself. Due to my childhood I had grown up with low self-esteem and would question myself; who am I to have such an amazing gift? I learned though. I had two paths in life to be taken through; learning how to use these amazing gifts that I had but also having to remember, what turned out to be, a very abusive childhood and, of course, the baggage that came with it. Spirit walked me through those experiences.
As for our own spirit guides, I believe that I have two who are with me. Their names? I have no idea! Spirit taught me how to sense and read energies and I can now detect most spirits as an energy as opposed to a name. of course I am often given names from spirits who come through to me in order to pass that information over to whoever might be with me.
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