We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Leah Lindeman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Leah below.
Leah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
Suitcase in hand and a ready heart to hit the open road to go on my first book tour in Halifax, 2017—I was like a giddy child thinking that nothing could dash the swell of confidence that I had from booking the tour. Every detail was playing out as I intended even while tugging along my four month old son, my mom, and family friend.
My first stop on the book tour was a roaring success! I was the featured speaker of the hour along with two others authors in our designated room at the Halifax Public Library that was hosting Canada’s largest book and magazine festival Word on the Street (Halifax being one of the three cities that hosted the festival). My talk was well received, and I sold more copies than I thought I would.
My next event was giving a talk at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Although I viewed my talk and sales at the Word on the Street as epic, I regarded the museum talk as intrinsically important to my mission. Through my historical fiction novel “Redeemed From the Ashes,” my mission was to remind the public about the significant tragedy of the Halifax Explosion of 1917, the largest man-made explosion to that date levelling the city of Halifax on the home front during WWI.
When I arrived, there were no guests. As I was setting up my computer and slides, ten trickled in. The lights were dimmed. The butterflies threatened to swarm me from within. I inhaled deeply to keep them at bay and began.
Halfway through the presentation, a persistent and pernicious tickle in the back of my throat demanded attention. I coughed a few times to get rid of it except the action exacerbated the issue. Water!—I needed it desperately. My airways were constricted, and my eyes teared up. I must have been coughing for near five minutes straight as the onlookers eyed me uncomfortably. Finally, the museum attendant brought me a glass of water, not tall enough with not nearly the amount of water I needed to make the tickle go away.
The rest of the talk was agonizing as I struggled to keep the tickle at bay, drink a few sips, keep the best composure I could, and remember the message I wanted to impart. I was falling apart, all because I had forgotten to bring my own water bottle. I imagine I looked like clown with painted on tears attempting to juggle and make the crowd laugh. It was humiliating!
Despite the laughing stock of a presentation, whoever was in attendance and hadn’t left during my debacle bought my book. I sold two.
That talk could have easily been my last one. Instead, it was the gateway to many more talks online and in person.
Success isn’t about hitting the marks as they are easily laid before your feet. It’s about crawling through the mud, pulling yourself up a rope when no one is reaching down to give you a hand, and keeping your eyes on the prize. The prize may be ever changing but your focus isn’t.
When you’ve reached “the limit,” you wonder what new worlds of opportunity you can explore. So what if you look foolish or you fail to hit the mark! You’re not a failure unless you give up. Attaining and maintaining success is possible when you’ve cultivated a strong mindset led by clarity and intention. Take action, imperfect or not, and momentum will carry you to great heights.
Leah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
From early childhood, I was driven to be in service to others. In my elementary years, I wanted to be a missionary. As soon as I started high school, that changed to wanting to be a cardio-thoracic surgeon.
One day when I was sixteen, I was lying on my trampoline staring at the clouds. Suddenly, lines of poetry sprung from within me. I raced inside to write them all down. I began to take daily walks and create poems as I did. I was deeply inspired by the Victorian poets and novelists I was studying in English Lit. The calling to write grew until I knew I couldn’t ignore this newfound passion and gift.
My parents signed me up for a writing course given by the Institute of Children’s Literature. The last assignment given was to write the first three chapters of a book.
The past summer, on a camping trip, my family and I were sitting around the fire. My dad shared an article he had read in the Montreal Gazette about the Halifax Explosion of 1917. I was stunned that I had never heard about this piece of Canadian history. It haunted me for weeks until the story of a woman losing her husband in the explosion burgeoned in my mind. Those three chapters became the first three chapters of my novel “Redeemed From the Ashes.”
The idea of writing a series with each book featuring a different Canadian province/territory during a certain historical time period was born quickly into writing my first book. It is the Canadian Reminiscence Series.
See, I was searching for a way to time travel. Alas, I couldn’t find any technology that could grant my wish. So I made my own way, with the power of words.
I enable readers to time travel to Canada’s past.
A year or two after publishing my first book, I knew I wanted to help other writers achieve their dream of writing and publishing a book. For many years, I attended webinars, took courses, read many books about creating courses, running a coaching business, and growing in my personal development.
Last year, I founded my company WriteNow, a high performance writing coaching company that teaches clients how to cultivate a strong mindset to achieve their dream of writing a book.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
I wish I had been part of a strong writing community earlier on in my journey. I embodied the lone wolf type. I wasn’t part of any writing groups online nor in my local community.
It would have been helpful and productive to have learned from authors who had already achieved the success I was looking for.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
The two books that have impacted me the most and increased an urgency within me to found WriteNow is “High Performance Habits” by Brendon Burchard and “Magnetic Marketing” by Dan S. Kennedy.
“High Performance Habits” launched my personal development journey. It has given me the mental tools to manage myself and my goals, and to fulfill my calling. That book and Burchard’s GrowthDay app has increased my self-awareness to actually begin my entrepreneurship in the founding of WriteNow.
“Magnetic Marketing” rewired my brain completely on what marketing really is and how to go about it. It’s given me an excitement to try new things and increased my effectiveness on building an audience.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://leahlindeman.com
- Instagram: @leahtlind
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/leahtlind/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leah-lindeman-5908604b/
- Twitter: @leahtlind
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/pentopaper
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/leah-lindeman-1
- Other: https://linktr.ee/leahtlind
