Sheri Fink: Sharing Entertainment, Empowerment Through Storytelling

by Cyrus Webb

There is something about living your life on purpose that just completely changes the way you see yourself and your place in the world. When you are in alignment with where you are supposed to be and doing the work you were put here to do, it just seems as though everything happens the way it was intended to.

Don't believe that? Well, just ask children's book author Sheri Fink! In less than two years she has penned two bestselling books (The Little Rose and The Little Gnome) and has helped both children and adults see the world just a little bit differently. When i decided that I wanted to do something special in Conversations Magazine to inspire the younger generations, I knew that it had to include Sheri. Her stories of being comfortable with yourself and adapting to the world around you are just what we all need in order to make the most out of each and every day.

When I asked Sheri what it was like to have the success she has experienced over the past couple of years and to get the feedback that was coming in, her response was immediate: "It is amazing! I am so excited. I have the most amazing fans." She then added: "I am so grateful."

With both books it is obvious that the author wants to entertain the reader, but there are great lessons and messages tied into them as well. Sheri explained to me that the ideas "usually come from life experiences." And the pay-off for addressing those experiences has been great. Her readers can't seem to get enough. "It's one of my favorite parts," she says. "Just knowing that people are enjoying something that I am creating, and not just enjoying it but wanting more. It's such a joy." 


In fact, her readers can't seem to get enough! She relayed to me that she has had people emailing her about the latest book (The Little Gnome just released in late March 2012), wondering when the next one would be out!

So how did this all begin for Sheri? Her story is probably not too different from your own. "When I was little---around seven---I started writing my own books," she explained. "I was writing my stories, doing my own art. I really loved that. I was very creative. In my own world." However, like many of us, life happens and that which we love sometimes gets pushed to the back of my minds and our lives. "I lost touch with it for many years," she told me. "Then in my adult career I was going through a rough time and the story of the little rose came to me." Not yet at a place where she could entertain the notion of writing again, Sheri put it away.

Then in a strange twist of fate and the nudging of others who had heard about her idea for the book she had an epiphany. "Everyone thought that this is something that was possible for me," she said. It made her consider that maybe she really could do this thing that she had loved for so long. The rest, as they say, is children's book history!

For me what Sheri's story proves is that we all know what we are supposed to do. It's the doing that sometimes challenges us. Sometimes we just need the right people challenging us helps to help take the necessary steps along our journey. That, and listening to the voice that seeks to guide us each and every day.

I asked Sheri about that voice and what she has learned about the importance of listening to it. "That inner voice is everything," she says. "What I've learned is that it doesn't have to flow a certain way. As long as you are taking action that is all that matters."

Because she listens, it doesn't even seem like work for her. "I just have fun with it," Sheri told me. "I try and get in a good place---a place of joy---and it becomes so much easier. This touches me on such a deep level. It's almost like the stories are being told to me, and I'm just following along and asking what's going to happen next."

She is also in-tuned with her audience.  "I'm very in touch with my inner child. I can see the world pretty clearly. When I go into a room of kids, I am like a bigger version of them. I can see the beauty in them in a way that they haven't seen because they haven't had it reflected back at them."

At the end of the day Sheri wants everything that she does under her brand The Whimsical World of Sheri Fink to inspire and delight children while planing the seeds of self esteem in them. She wants them to have fun but also discover something unexpected about themselves.

And her advice for those who are looking to share their own stories? "Write completely from the heart," she says. "Don't make it difficult. Don't over-think it. Just enjoy the process."

Find out more about Sheri Fink and her amazing world at www.facebook.com/sherifinkfan.