About Author

Sandra Jeffs

Sandra Jeffs
BIOGRAPHY

I have an MFA in Creative Writing and have lived and worked abroad for 13 years. I have traveled to 35 countries and am perennially curious about everything. I have lived through tragedies and illnesses and am stronger for it all. I live each day with joy and kindness as my modus operandi.
I write about healing, kindness, finding your true self, and living an intentional life. I seek to share my experiences of opening my mind, heart, and soul to what is truly possible in life.

Sandra Jeffs's Books

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Book
Finding Home: Healing from Abuse
(1) $5.99 kindleeBook, Paperback, Signed Paperback,
Finding Home: Healing from Abuseby Sandra JeffsPoetry

Sandra Jeffs Interview On 09, Apr 2021

"Sandra Jeffs was born in the Salt Lake City, Utah area. She was a prolific reader from the moment she could read. She wrote her first book at the age of 11. She writes about healing, kindness, finding your true self, and living an intentional life. Jeffs is a talented writer with each word carefully chosen for its impact."
Where were you born? Which is your favorite childhood memory?

I was born in the Salt Lake City, Utah area. My favorite childhood memory is of all of the neighborhood kids, and I, gathering each night in the summers after dinner and playing games in an open field of about five acres. We’d have races, play “Simon says” and other things.

Do you remember the first book you read?

I don’t recall the first book. I was a prolific reader from the moment I could read. By eight years old I was reading the Hardy Boys mystery series and the Nancy Drew series.

What developed your love for writing?

Storytelling. I love stories and started making up my own and, eventually, at 11 years old, I wrote down my first “book” and made copies, stapled the pages together and gave them to my friends.

How did you begin writing your first story? Did it ever get published?

I was always writing but not completing anything due to being a wife and mother and working full-time. When I entered the MFA for Creative Writing program, I finished my first book. I had to write and publish a book to get my degree. It was published in the university library system.

What do you enjoy reading the most?

I typically have one non-fiction and one fiction book going. I read a variety of non-fiction: self-help, metaphysical, political, research studies, science, etc. I, also, read a variety of fiction: fine literature, memoirs, historical fiction, thrillers, mystery, and a lot of different genres if recommended in the two book reading groups I belong to. I rarely read love stories.

What challenges did you face while writing the book, Finding Home: Healing from Abuse?

Writing the book was no challenge. It was a series of poems I wrote to exorcise my own history of abuse in life. It was cathartic and I began to share the poems and was encouraged to publish and decided to publish them to help others. The biggest hurdle was, and has been, getting it published and marketing it.

What is the most ideal ambiance for you to write in?

I love writing alone, without interruptions. I have a writing room and I often play music, and I have plants, crystals, and beautiful art around me. I want to be supported and inspired by the comfort and beauty that surrounds me in my environment as I write.

How has been your experience of living abroad for 13 years and traveling the world impacted your writing?

Many of my poems are written about the places and the people and experiences I had while living abroad and traveling to other countries.

I am about to publish a collection of poems about my travels. Also, my novel, which is in the editing stages, was inspired and is located in a Middle-Eastern country before the main character travels and finally returns to the United States.

In what ways do you try to better understand the craft of writing?

I learn by doing and reading. My writing discussion group is also a source of knowledge, so I learn from others sharing about their writing.

In the past, I taught writing and was explaining, reading, and editing other people’s writing on a daily basis as part of my job as a writing adjunct professor at the university. Currently, I am retired from teaching at the university, so I teach and share with others as often as I can and am asked to help. I, also, am an editor which, when doing content editing, I find I am teaching a lot and learning a lot.

In addition, I find that I learn immensely from my voracious reading habit. I am inspired to write more by reading a wide variety of books. I find that being introspective with what I read helps me learn more about writing.

How do you think being an MFA in Creative Writing has helped you in your writing career?

It has been invaluable. I was able to work directly with three incredible writers who were our professors in the Creating Writing Program. We were exposed to some of the finest writers living at the time who came to speak and read their works at the university. For example, Ken Kesey, came once and I was honored to sponsor a “Wine and Cheese Meet and Greet Social” for his visit to the MFA program in my home. On Ken Kesey’s visit he first met with all the students in the program and gave us his wisdom (as did all the authors invited to speak at the university), and then gave a public reading, and afterwards, came to my home for the “Meet and Greet Social.” Furthermore, one of my professors was blessed to mentor under James Clavell (and others) and he shared their writing processes. Learning about Clavell’s writing process was something that impacted me greatly. Clavell would do extensive research and, when ready, would write his novel from start to finish and then relegate it to a bottom drawer without any edits or looking at it again and then start all over again. He would do this process four or more times until he got a version he felt was good enough to start editing!

At first, I was discouraged by learning this and then I moved into a place of wanting my own work to be as excellent as his and I determined to be the best writer I could and to “know” when I had written something worth working further on and, only then, put it out into the world. My MFA program was priceless to me.

What inspires you to write about healing, kindness, finding your true self, and living an intentional life?

I have found that my own culture, and most of Western Society’s cultures, are predicated on the stance of “survival of the fittest” and there is a struggle to achieve more and do more and have more. Healing, kindness, finding your true self, and living an intentional life are often marginalized, or avoided, or denigrated and categorized as “weak,” as “Snowflake,” and ineffective.

I found that by not healing the abuse I experienced, that by avoiding it, the wounds festered in me and would often raise their ugly heads and sabotage me in work, relationships, confidence, etc. I used “doing acts of kindness” for myself and others as a way to heal. I found that getting off the programming of what society branded as acceptable for me to be and do, allowed me to find out who I truly was and what I wanted to share with the world and how I wanted to be in service to the world. This brought me FREEDOM. I learned that happiness was a fleeting emotion. Gaining freedom from pain, victimhood, societal norms and to give unconditional kindness was a paradigm shift for me.

Living with daily intention allows me to choose the life I am creating rather than simply reacting to the life that occurs. Living with kindness every day, for myself and for others, allows me to make a difference, even if it’s miniscule. I know and see and hear the difference kindness makes in life.

These are the reasons I write about healing, kindness, finding your true self, and living an intentional life. They are “the difference that makes a difference” in life.

Is attracting the right people into our lives conscious or unconscious?

It is both. People come into our lives constantly, without our volition. Living a conscious life is about listening to the people that cross our path and learning who they are and what path they are walking and consciously choosing, without judgment, those who we want to enfold into our hearts and minds. We allow those on a different journey to move on with our blessings. Doing that is being aware and conscious.

Also, we can consciously attract people who vibrate at a similar frequency to us, or a frequency we are striving to achieve. For me, I find that that happens by “walking my talk.” I know myself for who I am now in my growth and I clearly envision my path forward and stay open to lessons and guidance from experiences, relationships, and energy around me and I walk, and speak, in that reality. I strive to breathe it in and out, and self-correct with self-love when necessary. By doing that, I attract like minded people.

Does it typically take an editor more than one editing round to finish a properly edited book?

As an editor for others, it does for me. I do at least two rounds of editing to make sure I haven’t gotten lost in their story and am able to stay objective, helpful, and unbiased in the feedback I’m giving.

When I am editing my own work to get it to the stage where I can pass it on to an editor, I can do four or more edits. I send my editor the work I feel is the best I can do. I listen to my intuition that it is “ready,” and then pass it on to an objective editor to help me polish and perfect the manuscript.

I am speaking of fiction or non-fiction here. I do not edit other people’s poetry. I advise, if asked, and I point out any grammar that hindered my understanding, but I DO NOT EDIT OTHER PEOPLE’S POETRY.

Which is the next book you are writing? Give us an insight into it.

I am re-publishing my first collection of poetry called Beyond the Seventh Day. It is the book I wrote to get my MFA and it is a collection of work about life and what happens in life: cancer, loss of a loved one who dies, the joys of loving life, of happiness with work and dancing and singing and laughing. It’s very eclectic, as am I. I also have my book of poetry mentioned earlier about traveling the world which is called I am The Voyageur which is a collection of poems about personal and spiritual growth. It chronicles the beauty of the places I have tasted and embraced in my travels. Both of these books are in the publication stages now.

My workbook called Kindness Practice: Daily acts of kindness is on hold, for now. Currently I am hoping to finish the editing of my novel with the working title of The Envoy and get it to an editor. It’s a fictional saga of a woman who suddenly is imbued with the ability to heal with her touch and the message she learns she must share with the world as she travels and heals millions of people.

How has your experience of being associated with AllAuthor been?

I have benefited greatly. I love the weekly banners that are sent. The quality is fantastic. It is worth every dime I paid for it and I highly recommend it to any author out there.  Five-Stars!

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