Author: Stacy Hawkins Adams

Through her fiction and nonfiction, author, journalist and writing coach Stacy Hawkins Adams inspires readers (and budding writers) to find meaning in their own stories, grow from life's lessons and thrive. Like this post? Please leave a comment, then share it with others. Also visit Stacy at StacyHawkinsAdams.com to sign up for her newsletter, and friend/follow her on Instagram @StacyInspires, X(Twitter) @StacyInspires and Facebook @StacyInspires. Learn more about her coaching services at AuthorInYou.com.

Keep Reading, Keep Growing

There is power in stories. 

They help you better understand yourself and others, and they help you make sense of the world in which we live. 

Before this week ends, why not commit to reading some short fiction or a novel over the course of this month? Or pick up a memoir; perhaps a biography.

Read to laugh, weep, learn or grow. 

Read to gain context, read to know.

Whether you choose some of my work or that of some of my fellow authors, enjoy, immerse yourself and reap the benefits of immersing yourself in stories, long after you’ve reached The End.

Your Personal Masterpiece

It’s your choice whether to risk the lack of comfort that comes with living fully or to play it safe and end up with a list of “What ifs?”

Be willing to do the work to create your personal masterpiece. 

This will be the memories you someday cherish most, and perhaps, your legacy. It just may offer a roadmap, and a nudge, for generations that follow you.

Moving with Courage in Troubled Times

These days, the happenings in our world may leave you unsettled. Rather than getting stuck in unease, however, how about finding ways during these troubling times to lean into your divine purpose?

Faith without works is dead.

So let us move…. with integrity, courage and hope, because it’s your ticket to an inner peace that surpasses all understanding. 

Walk in your purpose with boldness. 

Use your voice, your prayers, your platform, your expertise and your influence for the greater good.

What we choose to do today will determine the tomorrows that all of us, including our children and their children, may or may not have an opportunity to experience.

Your singular pebble in the ocean does matter. Paired with others’ it can indeed shift the waves. 

Pace Yourself

Becoming is a lifelong journey. Don’t stop inventing, re-inventing and getting to know yourself.

Pace yourself, 

listen to yourself, 

trust yourself and 

find some joy in every chapter of your journey. 

My Timeless Reads

As summertime reading season kicks in, I’m excited to share that under the wonderful Carol Hill-Mackey’s leadership, Recorded Books has developed 4 of my 9 novels into audiobooks.

And just in time for the release of these audiobooks is the paperback reprinting of two of these novels – 

Speak To My Heart,  my first nationally published novel which centers on two women friends (and a teen) making life-changing decisions that could make them or break them, 

and its sequel, 

Nothing But the Right Thing, a book that explores the emotional and physical toll domestic violence takes on victims and those who seek to support them, and how the things we sometimes long for most can arrive in unexpected ways.

The third book in that series, Watercolored Pearls, has been in 2nd printing for a while (with a brown cover) and remains a reader favorite (thank you, my reading friends!). However, this novel, too, is now available wherever audiobooks are sold (with the original blue cover).

The fourth book now in an audible format? My novel Finding Home, which tells the story of an ambitious woman named Jessica, whose life careens out of control until she realizes she must find a home within herself or risk chasing illusions forever. 

Please check them out – in print or audio! Listening samples are available on most audiobook platforms (and thank you to audiobook voice artists Susan Spain and Janina Edwards for doing a great job with each title).

As a dear friend recently declared: A book with compelling characters that explores still-relevant issues doesn’t have an expiration date. As you consider reading or re-reading my novels, or listening in the coming days and weeks, I hope you’ll find that to be true in these storylines.

(Side Note: Coming Home, one of my HarperCollins’ novels that preceded Finding Home, has been in print and audiobook form for years.)

While you’re reading or listening to these “Stacy classics,” I’ll be plugging away on my new manuscripts. My creative and inspirational endeavors flow in several lanes, yet completing my next few novels remains chief among my priorities.

Happy reading and “book listening” this summer! 📚✨

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A Lesson in Joy and Possibility

I attended a cookout over the weekend with great people, good food and lots of line dancing.

We enjoyed ourselves, with fans in hands, boots on the ground, and joyful laughter as we moved to the music. 

And then, before the evening ended, a beautiful little girl I did not know, perhaps 6 or 7 years old, joined the adults who had carved out space for themselves in front of the DJ.

She danced like no one was watching (although dozens of us were). 

She twisted and swayed, put a hand on her hip and even fit in a few squats and dips, all under the watchful eyes of her parents, while surrounded by a group fellow dancers – “aunties” who cheered her on with smiles and claps, over several songs. 

Even the DJ felt inspired by her freedom of spirit and movement.

“Dance doll baby!” he finally declared, then deadpanned to all of us watching: “She’s gonna fall asleep the minute she gets in the car for the ride home!”

We chuckled at the likelihood of that truth, but what struck me even more was the truth of possibilities her impromptu performance inspired. 

To witness this little brown princess own her right to be herself, enjoy herself and embrace the support that surrounded her was a beautiful gift on the day known as Independence Day.

Who knows what she’ll grow up to do or who she’ll become, but if she holds onto the confidence and love that is clearly already instilled within her, and if a community of support continues to surround her (loved ones and strangers alike), her heart’s dreams can transition into her lived purpose.

She was a dancing, smiling, twinkle-eyed representation of who we all can be – regardless of age or stage – with just the right elements feeding our souls and with our willingness to give the best of ourselves to others.

Perhaps we can be more intentional these days about filling our inner wells in this way – and becoming that gift to others?? 

You Be the GOAT

This week, pay attention to how you enter, serve while there, and exit a space or place.

Regardless of the energy you encounter from others, keep your joy and your essence of grace in tact. 

Instead of letting someone’s not-so-great attitude shift yours, you stir the atmosphere. 

May your presence…. 

offer light, 

heal hearts,

model integrity,

embody love,

foster peace,

inspire hope,

ignite laughter,

exemplify courage,

gift some grace. 

You be the GOAT (greatest of all time) in the lives of those you touch in ways that simply require you to be authentically you.

Surrender to Your Leap

Sometimes our dreams are so big that we tiptoe to the edge of them, then shrink away. 

But what if we had the courage to actually follow where they lead? 

To consider how leaning into them and falling forward allows the wind to buoy us and keep us afloat?

To trust the lessons we’ll learn, the people we’ll form bonds with and the experiences that will shape us as our divine birthright?

What if we loved ourselves- and those in our care – enough to surrender to this way of being and to taking the leap?

Wow…just wow. Wouldn’t our lives be a wonder?

Photo credit: Emily Abrams

Be Good to You

In the week ahead, make room for some of life’s simplest treasures – 

the kind that offer you lasting value (like time spent with friends & loved ones or devoted to your passion or to serving others)

– the kind that bake hope into your soul (like a long hug or beautiful art or stirring music)

–  and the kind of things that, in your seasoned years, become the memories that make your heart smile with gratitude and gladness.

You’re worth what it takes to make room for all of this. Be good to you.

You are a Worthy Ripple

This week, be intentional about not only treating others with value, but also with valuing who you are. 

Respect what you bring to the table, while respecting others and their gifts, too. 

Hold onto the truth that no matter what, you are a ripple who helps create waves. 

Make sure your impact is the best kind – waves of difference-making, positivity, resilience, integrity and hope.