by Alvin Ramirez March 23, 2017
On this episode of Book Journeys, Vice President for The Author Incubator, Jenn McRobbie, interviews Susan Mercer, author of A Graceful Goodbye: A New Outlook on Death.
Susan Mercer began her present path of being an end-of-life doula when she answered a newspaper ad for hospice volunteers. It was after she became one that she received training as an end-of-life doula, one which she took to, as she didn’t have a fear of death the way others did. It was as an end-of-life doula that she witnessed the way the dying were treated, and while Susan remarked that doctors and the medical profession are highly competent where the medical aspects are concerned, her role as a doula filled the need for the dying and the members of the family of the dying where emotional and other support was concerned. She also witnessed the passage of people in ICU’s, which she described as being literally cold places where the patients wear only thin hospital gowns and are covered only in thin blankets, and figured that there had to be ways where the room the dying person could be made more welcoming and more personal. As a result, one of her goals is to create a transition room in every nursing home, hospital and care facility, a place where the dying can be comfortable in as they transition.
Susan has always been spiritual, and she thus looks for signs in her life that would help show her which steps to next take, similar to what she experienced when she answered to the hospice volunteers ad. She came across Angela Lauria’s program without deliberately doing so, and as it resonated with her she then decided to join it. Susan admitted that she had tried writing before, and that the process had been challenging for her, but that being mentored by the Difference Process enabled her to get through the process, even though it wasn’t entirely easy, as witnessed by how she struggled to get her message across. Susan found that having an ideal reader helped her out greatly, as she could visualize the person she was writing the book to and for, and that the discipline, set to her by Angela, of setting aside a particular time every week likewise helped. Susan then noted that she always wrote her chapters out initially in longhand using a special purple pen, and always in the presence of a special candle which she lit before writing, as she wanted to always keep moving forward, which she might not have done had she written the book out in a computer. Susan noted that she always finally typed out her work into a computer, and this is when she edited what she had written.
Jenn remarked that having a book gives its author some weight where the topic is concerned, and Susan agreed. Susan also remarked that her being a published author has given her a sense of confidence where her being an end-of-life doula is concerned, and that A Graceful Goodbye offers its readers an opportunity and a venue to absorb the information within at their own pace, even before a loved one dies.
Listen to the Susan Mercer Interview on Book Journeys Radio
(Transcript) Susan Mercer – Book Journeys Author Interview – March 23, 2017
DOWNLOAD the PDF: Book Journeys Author Interview – Susan Mercer – Mar. 23, 2017
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