Their story begins in 19th century England, but it didn’t end there. Their love affair tragically severed, two souls meet again.
It’s 1988, and unaware of their karmic debris and the new rules at play, destiny does the backstroke to bring Kathryn and James together again.
Just out of college, Kathryn hates her corporate job and the company president who won’t keep his hands off her. She must find another job, but not just any job. With the tactical brilliance of her Jane Austen heroines, Kathryn is determined to:
- Discover her Creative Gift (the divine talent and career that will make her the envy of all those mean girls!)
- Have everything she wants in life (without ever being dependent on a man, like her mother)
- To know her soul’s plan (because life just can’t be this difficult)
Deceived by her inner voice, Kathryn returns to Chicago, but the grief that threatens to swallow her whole is interrupted by a knock on the door. Is life this easy or is it a mirrored door, an image barring access to the truth? Still searching for her ideal career, Kathryn has a gift of finding meaning where there sometimes is none, but channels her hope through her man’s guide to life, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Sun’s approach is amiss and Decorum teaches some hard lessons. Frantic, how does she know for sure that she’s listening to the right thoughts?
Book three opens in 1989 and back in the States, The Rules of the Brotherhood prevail when a confused but hasty Jason lands in Elaine’s coveted position.
James deemed a distraction, and with a little experience under her belt, Kathryn is making changes. She’s been delusional. Life isn’t a fairytale, and Kathryn sacrifices her search for the ideal career, her divine Creative Gift. Life is forcing decisions, but this time, Kathryn’s ready, crafting a set of Rules that close gaping holes in Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. It’s Independence Day; she’s ready. The question is, is he?
Book four opens where sands of time gather on shores long forgotten. Universal lessons are wished away, voices of past lives whisper in Kathryn’s ear, synchronicity tugging at her thoughts, confusing what Kathryn hears for herself.
The blow is cruel, but there’s no turning back. Post-it notes fill her journal as life tests the doorways to her soul: divine or distracted, illusive or illustrative, allusion or delusion. Switching companies was a cheap illustration but the Universal Rules force clarity. In 1993, Kathryn makes a life-altering decision by listening to many voices and it’s hard to discern which may be delusional, which were distractions or which ones, God forbid, could be divine.
In book five, Kathryn is living a life she never wanted. But Souls journey through lifetimes, the ring of time compelling us to know our universal power or lead us off the cliff of earthly distractions. Time is a rule of the human mind but in no way divine, casting doubt and judgment on Universal hints leading us away from a soul’s Chosen journey, our Exuberant Joy.
Hostilities reach a public platform, sacrifice is asking too much. Was it moment of inspiration, the Creative Voice begging her change her course or was it just wishful thinking? Guilt makes Kathryn’s days unbearable. Whispers from James’ past haunt her ear, force decisions and confuse her steps through tangled strands of time. Now 30, others insist she’s found her Gift, but inside, she’s sacrificing her needs to fit what life has given. Questioning her sanity, nascent mumblings from soul’s test Kathryn’s idea of fate. Hidden fears and talents are expressed or not, on a societal stage the universe controls but only through our chosen outlook. Is this the plan?
In book six, karmic seeds of 19th century London entwine and the Rules Kathryn has adopted for this lifetime find the souls who hunt her again. Society’s Rules still snap to the language of time and money, hammering our faith and twisting our delusions. The hostile takeover in the past, and the emerging BOIL network still simmering, her family’s role is unclear and Kathryn is a target of cruel gossip.
Exhausted managing two careers, eerie events test Kathryn’s hold on life, fueling her search for the delusional or the divine Creative Voice. Reaping the rewards after years of dismissing Kathryn’s insights, Charlotte is sharing her Gift with the world, her psychic tools lighting the dimwitted, avenging Beth’s open sisterhood with Eva and lighting a fire to Scott’s intimate alliance with Sloane.
Karmic wounds lie open in a circle of souls, bleeding rivers of time from 1856 to 2006 where Society’s pragmatic Rules choke at allusive Universal guides. Only free will is certain. A soul’s journey reaps or burns its karmic seeds sown, changing fate and the course of humanity. In book seven, Kathryn’s life changes under the will of something more powerful than time can hold.
How did she get herself into this mess, so far off course but no end in sight? Succumbing to haunting whispers, Kathryn stumbles upon secret papers. She’s married into a lie. Her color-coded Post-it notes exceed the expanse of her Wall, patterns of her thoughts emerge revealing secrets of an unknown, untested universal language.
Book eight opens when an innocent comment from Kathryn’s son sets off a violent storm within. In the middle of a vehemently contested and very public divorce, Kathryn at 50, is the shell of the woman she once dreamed she would be. Individual, Societal and Universal Rules implode at the chicanery of her once divine Creative Voice that tested her with wrong turns and delusions forcing inhumane sacrifices. But Elaine is overjoyed. There is no flight from life, no matter what or who’s Rules you live by. Drafted chapters from Kathryn’s The Art of War: A Woman’s Guide, avenge gnawing truths of her Chosen role in the hostile takeover, the BOIL and SOIL networks and the Rules we unknowingly live by.
If they just taught this stuff in school, if we knew from the get-go, if we listened, then the world would be exuberantly joyful, lighting universes beyond. But discovering our Individual Rules is part of the journey.
Using the rainbows of post-it notes from her beloved White Wall, Kathryn looks back into dreams, thoughts and insights found as she mends the threads of her wheel, revealing why we are all the Chosen Ones and how to access the omniscient, benevolent and deceptive Creative Voice that knows one’s unique Creative Gift. But James is who he is and he can be so very distracting …