Rohini Townsend and her husband, Earl, are well known in the community for being the masterminds behind Groe Inc., a local nonprofit that serves snack bags to children and hosts community events. On top of holding down a full-time job, co-leading a nonprofit, serving as an ordained minister and raising five children, Townsend is a talented writer who just released her first book, Put Some Shoes On.
The Recorder recently caught up with Townsend to talk about it.
Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper: Tell me about Put Some Shoes On. Is this your first book, and what inspired you to write it?
Townsend: This is, in fact, my first book. I wasn’t really inspired; more so, I felt a call to write it. I’ve experienced almost every variety of trauma for 28 consecutive years of my 37-year-old life, and by God’s grace, I’ve lived through it all with not only my sanity intact, but also an entirely new perspective on life.
Can you tell me about the publishing process? Did you self-publish or go the traditional route?
I went the self-publishing route. I used CreateSpace, which is Amazon’s publishing platform. It was very easy and intuitive. There were no upfront costs, and the CreateSpace site walks you through every step with detailed explanations. I’m extremely fortunate to have skilled and supportive people around me who were willing to edit, proof, help with formatting and cover art, so I didn’t have to come out-of-pocket for much of anything. For those who might plan to use CreateSpace, they offer all those services as well for nominal fees.
What do you hope people who read Put Some Shoes On take away from the story?
Rather than hoping that people take something away from my story, I hope they are able to confront and start to demolish roadblocks in their own stories. Oftentimes we utilize several coping or defense mechanisms to mask the effects of difficulties that we’ve had in our lives, and it can fester in our spirits. The longer we enable those things through repression, deflection, denial and the like, the more different areas of our lives will be negatively affected. I genuinely want to inspire people to purge their traumas.
What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Just do it. Don’t doubt yourself, don’t wallow in discouragement; utilize the resources available to you, particularly people around you, and even if the journey seems endless, keep taking steps forward, even small ones.
Put Some Shoes On is available for purchase on createspace.com.
