Now that The Code of Destiny has been published, we should start discussing theories! 

Here’s the first question. Might as well start at the beginning!

Why is there Greek lettering inside the heart on the cover of the book? What do you think it means? 

Add your comments below and I’ll post clues to answer the question.

So, I decided to write it in the third person. My main character is Ava Ballantyne. The book opens in Ireland and Ava is a sophomore in college working at the YMCA in Belfast. We learn that she doesn’t like motorcycles and that she has a family secret … a gift.

Then, Ava becomes a mom and her world turns upside down. She turns to daydreaming to find her way. Her mother tries to reach out to her by offering to take Ava and her new son, Eli, on a road trip to Chicago to see Ava’s cousin graduate from Art school. They never actually see the graduation, but the trip gives her time to daydream. Little bits of information start to come out and we start to understand why Ava is the way she is and why she daydreams of secret societies and curing disease. When she returns from the road trip, she isn’t mad at God anymore and she has been struck by that feeling of connectedness to her son.

Ava Ballantyne spent months preparing for the arrival of her son. She had the nursery all set up, the name picked out, and the cutest outfits in the world hanging in the closet.  She did everything possible to ready herself to become a mom. Then Eli arrives and she doesn’t have a clue. She stumbles through the sleepless nights trying to figure out this whole motherhood thing. Nothing seems to work the way she thought it would. But then, when she least expected it –months later on a road trip with her own mother, she becomes a mom and she is forever changed. There is a moment of transformation, a moment of finding destiny, when Eli became a part of Ava and their hearts and minds become connected.

The Code of Destiny is about becoming a mother. Not just the birth or figuring out feeding routines, but that moment when a woman becomes a mom.

When I became a mom, I didn’t feel like a mom the first time I held my son or when I gave up my career or started driving a Volvo. This sense of being a true “mom” doesn’t always happen right from the start. It can happen days, months, or even years down the road. And it can be unsettling when it doesn’t happen to you.

Did your world turn upside down when your child arrived? Did you instantly feel like a mom?

I began to wonder if other mothers had ever felt this way.  It was this wonderment that gave me the inspiration to share my moment of destiny with other mothers.

We all have baggage in our trunk. Sometimes we have to repack our bags. I believe daydreaming is a useful tool to do just that. The Code of Destiny is a story of using daydreaming to repack your suitcase so that you can go on a new trip and take the journey you were always meant to take.

For me, writing has been a wonderful way to heal myself of hurts from the past. Writing starts the process of healing from frustrations and fears; from the feeling of being stuck and being scared. It gives you words to name hidden feelings that aren’t usually discussed in social settings. Writing has helped me reveal my emotion landscape as I write about my own musings, contemplations, philosophies, and ideas. Perhaps my writing will help others live life from the inside out as I am trying to do.

Join Ava on the adventure of her life, as she daydreams about the past and begins to understand our future, by reinventing her own story in The Code of Destiny.

I can’t wait to hear your stories about your journey on the road to motherhood!