Tuesday, August 4, 2009

The Time Has Arrived

The PSI (Postpartum Support International) conference started today. That meant debuting my book.

I knew that I would possibly not make the deadline but I received the book order in the mail yesterday, delivered them to Stephanie in the afternoon and she gave them to the bookstore this morning. How is that or timing? Phew!

I am so excited about it and very happy with how it turned out. I have to say I am so proud of myself as well as everyone who helped in making it happen.

I thought once I printed it that would be it but now I have to get immersed in trying to spread the word. So feel free to help.


Friday, July 24, 2009

What a ride!!!!

So I got the proof books back and make necessary changes and sent the book off for the first batch of final printing. Boy was I nervous to hit the send button, yet totally excited.

I will post a link that will send you to a place to purchase it once I receive the books back and all of the information is properly collected.

For now I keep you in suspense....

I am so happy with the results and feel like I climbed Mt. Everest. I hope you will be able to appreciate the book as much as I appreciated doing it.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Almost Finished

It sure has been  a while since I last posted.  That's because I don't get to do my work until after 9pm and start to get tired around midnight and have been working on the book non-stop.  Once the photo shoots starting happening things really got underway. 

Every night I make huge steps forward and just get excited all over again.  I can't wait to share this with all of you and hope that you get something out of it.  I know I have already.

The deadline is fast approaching and I am still keeping my fingers cross that I make it.  Any prayers or thoughts of encouragement even to yourself are appreciated.

Thank you for reading and being patient.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Bigger then Expected

That statement can go for a lot of things.

My book project is bigger then I expected:

More responses then expected
An abundance of support (I expected support but WOW it has been amazing.)
More work then expected.  I expected a lot of work but things pop up that I would have never thought about. I never published a book so I knew there would be a learning curve.

One thing always leads to another and I am so excited for all that is happening.  In my process of doing the photo shoots I have signed up to shoot the PSI conference in August as well as attend some of the sessions.  I am really excited and don't know which part I am more excited about.  

I thought about posting a shot or two from my photo sessions as I took them but then I thought about it a little more and decided I don't want to share them yet.  I will.  I promise.  Although have sent quite a few images off to my photoshop master I am still working on the tie that binds them.

In the meantime you can always check out my photography website at www.fleurphoto.com  If you have seen it already heck look again.  There are a lot of smiling faces that might just make you smile.

Have a blessed day.


Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Photo Shoots

I have a few photo sessions completed for the book. It has been such a great experience and all the women and their families are amazing.  You would never know they ever suffered from Postpartum because the love they have for their families and the love their families have for them is incredible. 

This project has already been so satisfying on so many levels.  

I look forward to doing more sessions.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Earthquakes

Earthquakes are my trigger and I am very very aware of it.  Once the earth starts to shake I get numb all over and my adrenaline rapidly starts increasing and the light switch in my body is turned on.

Aside from being tired and overwhelmed when my daughter was 4 months old, my family had all left town to go home from the Baptism and then the earth shook.  Granted I was sad that everyone left but I would have gotten passed it had that quake not have hit.

I am doing better then I was last year.  Is it that I am a bit more rested?  I didn't have all of the other situations going on?  Is it medicine?  I think its all of them.

I am uneasy about having 2 quakes in 3 days but I hope that its a long while before we feel another one.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

To all Mothers Near and Far,

I would like to wish you all a very Happy Mothers Day!  It's an amazing thing and you are all amazing women.

Cynthia

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Catch My Interview

In my quest to find brave women to share their stories for my book project I have come across some incredible women.  One woman, Lauren Hale, started her blog Sharing the Journey: Life After Postpartum Depression to deal with her unexpected third pregnancy.  It is now a informative site to keep other women from suffering alone.  It is on its 2nd  year and has gone from 10,000 visitors on it's first birthday to now having 44,000.

Lauren is going to share her story with me and in the interim asked if she could interview me for her blog.  That interview will be posted tomorrow, May 7th at 5am est at: 



 The address is her website which you should check out anyway.  Thank you for the support.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

What a day!!  My husband has taken my little girl out for 5 hours and I finally get to organize all of my emails, respond to most, make my excel spreed sheet and update my blog.

I want to thank everyone for all of the submissions so far.  I am still collecting stories so if you or someone you know would like to submit please send them my way.

I hope that I will be able to pull this all together but I truly am getting nervous. These few hours are precious and I need to get back to work however I wanted to let you all know that I am still pushing forward.  There is still movement.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Contact Information

A few people have inquired about how to contact me.  I myself just found out that if you go to the right of the blog and under my profile it says "View my complete profile" it will take you to a new window.  On the left side of that window it says Contact and then email.  Click email and it will set you up.

Otherwise to make it easier, my email is fleurphoto@aol.com.

Thank you.
Cynthia

Spreading the Word

I am excited to say that the word has started to spread.  Slowly but its spreading and I need your help.  Please share this blog, my story or the want for brave women to share their stories of postpartum depression for my project.

I have to give big Props to Stephanie M. for using her network of resources to help spread the word.

I have received some correspondence and have to say that I am more inspired to do this then ever.  Thank you to all or have submitted so far.

Through all of this I have also read many blogs and websites and am so thrilled that so many people are on the crusade to broaden the awareness and offer support for women.  Had I only knew how much their was out their 10 months ago.  Now I know and will pass on any information I have to others in the future.

The one thing I still am stuck on is the idea of self publishing.  I have gotten many avenues to explore but having never done this before I feel like I am at a crossroads.  I am still researching all of the possibilities and believe it will all work out in the end.  However, if you have any insights or experiences on self publishing please let me know.

Spread the word.  PPD is real and we need make it prominent in the eyes of everyone so that sufferers have many resources to get help and others don't ignore that it exists.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

An Important Piece

How could I forget??? A portion of the proceeds from the book will be given to PSI (Postpartum Support International). It's another way that I hope will help raise the awareness.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Dilemmas, Questions, Known and Unknown

First I need to clear a few things up.  A few people have asked me exactly what I want.  I know what I want but then there is a lot I don't know having never "created a book".

I know:
-I want brave women willing to share their stories with Postpartum Depression.  It can be a story of what they went through, what they are going through, a poem, a drawing.  Anything but photography since the photography will be from what I shoot.
-I will do a free photo session for each submission within the Los Angeles area
-The person submitting will get (1) 8x10 print of their choice photo and (1) print of the final page with photos that will be in the book
-I have amazing support and encouragement that keeps the "movement" forward
-I have a deadline

I don't know:
-Where or how to self publish a book.  I have gotten some leads and one great site but why is it everyone is afraid of giving out phone numbers?  I can't call the company because they don't have a number.  They quote "it's easier to streamline requests via email". Or something like that.
-What size the book will be
-How many pages it will be
-How many words each submission should be.  I originally thought that I would publish them the way they come in  but then I realized I wanted some uniformity.  However, someone edited down their piece and I didn't think it was as moving. they weren't able to get to the  heart of their experience and I felt cut off.  It was still a great piece of writing however, I know what it was edited own from and it just didn't feel the same.  So, I am working on figuring out the guidelines. 

As I work on this project more and more, it seems like the more questions come up.

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Movement

Movement - the quality of suggesting motion in a work of art.

All of our lives are a piece of art and everyday there is movement towards our masterpiece. 

Movement can also happen when we are still.  We need a little motionless time in our lives.  If I don't get some motionless time I know I start to fall apart. 

Right now though I am in "motion movement".  I am psychically moving a lot, mentally moving a lot and not get much motionless time.  I know where this can lead me and I am going to try to take some time to unwind so I don't fall hard and fast again.  I am just very excited about everything that is happening.

I have gotten a few more inquiries about submissions and looking forward to reading them and setting up our portrait sessions.

Keeping moving.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Deadlines are good.

So my deadline is August 1st.  I have been working closely with Stephanie M., a LMFT (http://www.stephaniemoralesmft.com/), Erin S. and Tawna T.  Three great incredilbly smart, energetic, and passionate Moms.  

Stephanie works with a lot of support groups for PPD (Postpartum Depression) and there is a big conference happening in August with PSI (Postpartum Support International -http://postpartum.net/ ).  The goal is to self publish my book and have it ready for the conference.

That being said I need to work fast.  I like deadlines.  There is a goal to look forward to.  I can't do this without brave women willing to tell their stories.  Not only will their submissions be so gratifying since they will be helping others but if they are within the Los Angeles area I will be doing photo shoots in which 1 or more images will accompany their work in the final book.  They will receive as compensation, an 8x10 image of their choice from the shoot as well as an image of the final page with photographs that are printed in the book.

And to quote Erin S. "the more we share, the less we fear."

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Introduction

My name is Cynthia and I am a survivor of Postpartum Depression, a photographer, a wife to a great husband, blessed mother to my daughter and step-mother to my step-son.  Four months after giving birth to my beautiful baby girl I had a breakdown and it happened as fast as turning on a light switch. I was exhausted and overwhelmed and thought it was natural feelings after having a child. However, I dreaded the moment my daughter would wake up because I had no choice but to start my day and I didn’t even want to get out of bed. That I knew was not normal. Not uncommon but not normal. With the help of my husband, my brother, my friend Michelle, some great Moms I had recently met and wonderful professionals I quickly got on the road to recovery. I had to take one minute at a time. The thought of one day at a time was too daunting. The road to recovery is constant with numerous twists and turns. I am now reaching out to others to hopefully make an impact in their recovery.

I am working on a book project and looking for women who would like to share their stories.  If you are interested, please let me know. You can email me and we can discuss it further.

Thank you for your support and I wish you much love and happiness and looking forward to our future correspondence.