We were lucky to catch up with Kylee Jean Marshall recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kylee Jean thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

In order to understand what it takes to be successful, I think we must first define success. I believe success is motion, movement, forward progression. It is looking back at what was and celebrating what is. Success is infinite — there is always a direction to move. And with that definition of success, I believe the number one factor in determining our success is consistency. The thing we do, day in and day out. The mindset we strengthen over time. The habits we create.

Growing up on a ranch, all I knew was hard work. But hard work didn’t necessarily equate to success if being measured in my parents’ eyes. Bills weren’t always paid and life was difficult. But as I look back on those years of consistent hard work, day in and day out, I can see the success. My parents are in a different place now then they once were. It was a consistent progression to more land, a better home, nicer cars, freedom of time. Success is not finite and can only be seen when we pause to look at the progression.

When I decided to write and publish a book, I knew that my path to success would be paved with consistency. Working a full-time job in real estate administration while also raising 3 teenagers, I dedicated 1 day per week to my writing. Consistency, for me, was showing up on that day with pen and laptop ready and writing a minimum of 1,000 worthy words per week. My goal was 1,000 worthy words per week which would equal 52,000 words to work with by the end of the year. Enough words for a book. And success was evident — words compiled, editing commenced, and publication was the next mile marker on the path. I am now consistently promoting and marketing. I am in a different point — I can bask in the moment of now and know that I am moving on to more. That is success, and consistency is my fuel.

Kylee Jean, 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?

My name is Kylee Jean Marshall. I am a Colorado native who grew up on a ranch and believe deeply in our connection to the world around us. Having earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English and education, I had the privilege of teaching high school and middle school English for nearly 17 years before making a career change into real estate administration. When asked why I left the classroom, I quickly jump to my defense and to all teachers’ defense. As a single mom, I could not make ends meet and could not create more hours in the day to take on more work, so I walked away. But as the synchronicities of the universe do, I have found my way back to teaching — not in a classroom but through writing and speaking.

My entire fabric is woven in words — I have been a reader and a writer since I could. And then passing that gift along to tweens and teenagers was nothing short of magical. I love watching a student create beauty with words; and so when my life allowed it, I decided to write my own story, a memoir, titled Of Dirt and Wildflowers.

My memoir is a collection of stories, each with a connection to mother nature and little simplicities of life as well as to the work we must do to heal, find courage, and grow. It is my story, and it is unique to me, but it is really everyone’s story and therein lies the beauty. My hope and mission in both my writing and my speaking is to connect with my audience — for them to feel the pain and hurt and fear in one moment and tap into their own memories and then to witness the gratitude and perspective and courage in the next moment and be inspired to move forward and grow.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

As I embark on my creative journey, I am focused on the mission of connecting people, mainly women, who are in the throes of womanhood and motherhood. My goal is to create a space, figuratively and literally, that brings women together where they can share their stories, write their stories, and tap into those places of their souls that are often drowned out by life and expectations and responsibilities.

There was a time in my own life when I walked into what I refer to as “the hurricane,” and all I hoped to walk out with on the other side was my own life and my children. Being fearfully alone during that period of my life led me on this creative journey to write Of Dirt and Wildflowers and now to opening Of Dirt and Wildflowers — A Creative Space for Growing and Blooming.

I envision this creative space being a place where women gather for yoga, for meditation, for growth workshops, for writing classes, for art. Having a space for women to hear themselves again is my goal and mission.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

On the back of my book, Of Dirt and Wildflowers, in the author bio, it is written that I am a recovering perfectionist. Like all addictions, perfectionism, requires my daily attention in order to stay in recovery. The greatest lesson I have learned, and I have learned it over and over again, is that perfection does not exist.

There are so many backstories to this lesson, but the one that first knocked the air out of me actually has a chapter in my book titled “Pebbles in a Can.” In this chapter, I am in my mid-twenties, mother to two babies under the age of 5, newly divorced, and living paycheck to paycheck. My life is on a shaky ground, and the only way I get through it is to make it seem like everything is fine, like it is perfect. The chapter focuses on my obsessive need to keep a clean house: every pillow in its place, floors you can eat off. But I lack to consider that my little boy is all boy and brings home shoes full of dirt, sand, and pebbles from playgrounds and parks. I spend the next 4 years of life emptying his shoes into an old coffee can; and then one day, I realize I don’t do that anymore. That he has grown. And that I missed out on so many moments striving for perfection.

My philosophy now is to choose progress and being present over perfection.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kyleemarshall.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kyleemarshallauthor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088233099449
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylee-marshall-6b7282267/
• Other: Amazon Link to Buy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C6BWMHNP

Image Credits
Lacey Borba Photography Cover Design by Victoria Wolf