What does a writer have to offer? When she starts to do her inner work, connects with her soul and begins to express herself as a habit, a book starts to take shape.

Without resistance and ego traps that trip her up, the book would form effortlessly, with beauty and grace just like an embryo developing into a baby that eventually gets pushed out onto the world to see the light of day. Childbirth is celebrated in our culture but creative efforts somehow don’t meet the same level of anticipation and excitement.

“Why are you writing?”, “Shouldn’t you spend time with your husband and kids?”, “You’ll never be successful.”, “You don’t have a degree in English language or literature.”, “Why do you write about yourself?”, “You’re a narcissist.”, “Of course you would write. You’re a person of no substance, without nothing else to do with your life.”

These were the questions and remarks that I attracted along the way that made me think better and feel more. Imagine if any expecting parent or anyone intending to conceive was put through so much scrutiny. We would miss out on the joy that children bring to our world.

“But… art or writing isn’t joyful. You’re writing because you’re miserable.” some might surmise and that’s not true either. To a writer, or any artist, with something to express to the world to understand her place and how she coexists with society, expressing her gift and letting it come out of her is as natural as childbirth.

So, I am now coming to the end of the writing journey and am getting ready to let go. After going through a few more chapters, rewriting and revising, I will release the manuscript to the capable hands of the publisher. I have held on long enough, it is now time to let go and let others find meaning in it.

“The Wisdom of Gifts”

“The Wisdom of Gifts” is for anyone who ever felt “different”. Perhaps they didn’t have the same values as the family they grew up in or had strange fascinations with the occult, a liking for a certain unfashionable style of music (post-punk for me), belief in UFOs and a wish to explore space, a push to go deeper in their lives and try to connect with the source that seems to animate our world.

I believe we are all creative beings creating our own life experience and that to an extent determines the level of harmony we have with the natural world within and outside of ourselves. My book is about my journey of accepting that Christmas with my Australian family is a time for presents, lots of food and drinking. It does not lack spirituality as locked within that experience I judged as “materialistic” is a deep sense of faith I had to discover within myself. Only when I was deeply grateful and empty of my judgments, could I receive the true message of family togetherness.

The book spans three Christmases in my life where I was transformed from a reluctant and Grinch-like Christmas participant (I’m a Muslim) to one who embraces all things that the Aussie Christmas brought to my life (including the shopping mall Santa in a suit and winter wonderland setting in the dead of Summer!) and I hope my words and story touch you in some way to gain greater acceptance of all you think as strange within yourself and in others.

How to Pre-order Your Copy

My book will be ready in print by mid-November, just in time for you to gift it to that special someone (yourself!) for Christmas. There will only be 50 printed copies available and it will also be available in digital format. I will never print more than 50 copies because I don’t believe there are more than 50 people in this world who will find it something worthy of holding onto for eternity and once a book is out in print, I believe it needs to be a part of your life, something you won’t give away but keep coming back to like any physical presence that takes up precious space in your living area.

There’s one price that will never change and that’s $33.30AUD for a printed copy. I like to do things in threes, what can I say? The other catch is that you must pick it up from me personally, so that may mean travelling to Lane Cove, or meeting in the Sydney CBD.

Simply transfer $33.30AUD to my bank account below and in the description write “For your gift”

Name: Eda Utku

BSB: 302-162

Acct: 1348831

Thank you, my gifted friend.

Over to you…

What is that creative project you’ve been holding in your heart for years that wants to come out of you? How will you take a step towards making it a reality?