Let me introduce myself. My name is Gwladys. As I write, I’m mother of four children and my book, “Happiness, my best Friend” is about to be published by www.austinmacauley.com.
You’re thinking: “So everything’s going well for her. why does she need some financial help?” Indeed, what I need is an act of kindness. To understand why, let’s go back eight (8) years ago.
Eight (8) years ago, I left my country to join my future husband in France. I was so self-confident then. No challenge frightened me. In fact, I have a bachelor degree in human resources and an associate degree in accounting. I speak English and French fluently, and I’ve always believed that difficulties are lessons that lead to higher levels of awareness, knowledge and openness. And my big faults were: pride, stubbornness and perfectionism. My father always said it would be nice if I knew how to ask for help. Eight years of material hardship taught me humility.
Once in France, I studied music therapy and took care of handicapped children. However, we lived in a small village, for peace, calm and love of nature. I had to work odd hours and couldn’t take the bus. So I gave up looking after disabled children because I didn’t have a car. I used to borrow my husband’s car, but he found a job with better paid than mine.
I wanted to try jobs that fitted in with my qualifications. In France, I was told that my diplomas were worthless. I was offered the chance to take tests to train as a receptionist for doctors’ surgeries. Although I passed all tests, the training was offered to a Frenchwoman. I wanted to start at the very bottom of the civil service by taking competitive exams, but I couldn’t because I didn’t have French nationality.
I must admit I was disgusted. Then we had our three children and, as we were always short of money, I devoted myself to looking after them at home. Despite having studied seven years beyond high school, my husband found himself doing nothing but odd jobs. He was French, but had studied in Italy. So no, he was considered like me: without diplomas. So he focused on hard jobs so that we wouldn’t lack anything.
We had enough to eat, clothe the children and send them to school. We didn’t have any extras: no extra money for vacations, new car, or the kids’ activities. But we were happy. We like simple things: walking in the woods.
Socially, we were rejected. In our little village, material poverty was a contagious disease. And inevitably, the arguments began. He was tired of the hard jobs and the constant problems we had. I was ready to leave. But then something happened.
I love reading. I read a lot about neuroscience and lots of books on personal development. I’d forgotten to mention. Just before the birth of my eldest, I had caught a very rare virus (SHAG) and ended up with a general anesthetic and a cesarean section. For two years, I couldn’t remember anything. I couldn’t say words, cook without recipes or drive a car. I had panic attacks. But I was absolutely convinced that everything would be all right. After all, I’d always been brilliant at school. So I spent some time trying to understand how the human brain works.
And with help of music therapy, I tried a lot of sound wave therapies. Then something clicked. I wanted to write, and nine months later, the book “Happiness, my best friend” was born. It was the greatest gift I’d ever been given. I got all answers to my unhapiness. Better still, I spent the most beautiful nine months of my life: joy, contentment, euphoria, wonder. Better still, I told myself that there might be people like me who had reached the end of the tunnel and that this book could help them. The publishing house was incredibly happy to have found me. And I got a good contract. But ?????
Yes, very quickly I understood that it was a house of great renown, which liked to do things right: 6 months for production, a year for publicity before doing the accounts and paying the author. Plus I signed a participatory contract where I had to pay £5500. Any normal person would jump up and down, but not me. I’d just spent two (2) years self-publishing and I spent 130€ every month on the web master, the advertising agency and the pro bank. I also paid a lot for Facebook ads, website creation, Pinterest ads, etc…. I did pretty well. However, I closed the website, my micro-business and I owe 3250€ to the translator and 650€ to a friend. In fact, my French book was translated into English and Italian and put on the website. My husband was very unhappy because he felt we couldn’t afford all those expenses.
Then I took out a personal loan of €8,500, thanks to my publishing contract, to help with household expenses. I had small contracts for translation and AI enhancement with Tellus, Neevo and Oneforma. Soon, with the new baby, I couldn’t do it anymore. Maybe I’d given too much. I couldn’t pay my debts.
There was a time when I wished someone would solve all my problems for me. I’ve discovered that these problems have led to the creation of such a magnificent book, and I’m about to write a second one: “the storms of marriage”. What I’d like today is to be able to pay off my debts of $21,017 (£5500 + €8500 + €3250 + €600) and have a surplus of $15,000 (for the next few months), just long enough to reorganize. I see this boost like water found in the desert after a too long walk.
Of course, I would love to change our old car, or do some work on our house, or go on vacation with the kids. However, if I can pay off my debts and benefit from a surplus, I’d be delighted.
Whoever you are, I realize that you owe me nothing. So I’d like to say thank you whatever your decision and especially thank you for taking some time to read my story.
Here’s my paypal link: https://paypal.me/Behappy552?country.x=FR&locale.x=fr_FR
Thank you again.