An Abbotsford author has been named a finalist in a national writing contest.
Shelaine Strom, author of Changing Course: Stories to Navigate Career and Life Transitions, has had her book shortlisted by The Word Guild for the Word Awards in the crossover category of Life Story books.
Strom taught in the career transition industry in Abbotsford for 20 years, assisting more than 2,000 people find their way through employment issues.
The book transports the reader into Strom’s classroom, where they find personal and amusing stories of resilient people in life transition.
Changing Course offers wisdom on navigating change, figuring out how personality shapes career choices, managing conflict with colleagues and family, and interviewing with wisdom and honesty.
It also covers topics such as leveraging values in decision-making, keeping healthy boundaries, and working with teams toward common goals through colorful dialogue with actual clients.
Changing Course grew out of Strom’s own journey when sidelined by a jaw condition and total jaw-joint replacement in 2014.
Ridden with pain, and not able to teach, Strom found contentment and comfort in penning the tales of ordinary people facing difficult times.
In addition to writing a weekly blog at shelainestrom.com, Strom continues to coach clients, and works half time at Food for the Hungry Canada as manager of education and professional development.
The Word Awards will be presented in 31 categories, including for books, articles, poetry, blogs, screenplays, and French language, for work that was published in 2016 for both Christian and mainstream audiences.
Strom’s book is for the general public and is available at House of James in Abbotsford and on Amazon.ca.
This year’s gala Word Awards banquet is being held in Mississauga, Ont., on June 23.