“Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?”
Photo Credit: Mark Abbott
The Journey…
Debbie Abbott is a writer and freelance editor with more than 100 articles printed in local and regional publications. In her current position as Associate Editor for Madden Media—a destination marketing company and publisher of travel and tourism magazines all across the U.S.—Debbie’s eyes have the last look before the proof goes to print. Attention to detail has always been her thing.
She began her professional writing career in 1998 in Public Relations & Marketing at a Five-Star resort in Scottsdale, Arizona before stepping over to her dream job as a magazine editor in 2002. Letting go of one dream to pursue another, in 2005 Debbie chose to return to freelancing and get back to more writing.
From January 2022 to December 2023, Debbie curated and published a collective blog now on Substack called Dharma Direction, where she penned a monthly article about connecting with Zodiac angels and their energy. In 2024, Dharma Direction is moving to a quarterly format with a slight shift in focus from the zodiac to Mother Nature, the Sun, and the Moon.
Debbie received the distinction of Honorable Mention from the 2023 Writer’s Digest Annual Competition for her poem, “Crumbs,” in the rhyming category.
Read “Crumbs” on DharmaDirection.substack.com
As a NetGalley professional reader, Debbie has been, and continues to be, a contest judge for the Women’s Fiction Writers Association annual STAR Awards contest for published authors of women’s fiction.
In her volunteer role for the WFWA, Debbie serves as the Online Community Director overseeing and implementing their new platform for workshops, critique and mentorship groups, self-paced learning, live events, and more.
In her debut novel, THE ANGELS’ GAUNTLET, Debbie brings the fantasy element of celestial guidance to a coming-of-age-story about an old Volunteer soul on a mission to achieve Dharma … her life’s purpose.
Set in central Texas during the 1970s, she uses an auto-fictional format to explore the possibility of angelic intervention in her life since birth.
In 2005, Debbie was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The unexpected news was life-changing, but what happened two years earlier is far more significant. In 2003, she witnessed an angel standing alone on a street corner. Glowing like a bio-luminescent being, the angel stood regal and unblinking fixated on the rising sun. The experience changed reality as Debbie had always known it, suddenly paling in comparison to the magnificence that truly surrounds us.
After successful surgery to remove the Stage II Meningioma (tumor) in 2010, Debbie felt compelled to share her beliefs about the angels. With a new reverence for life, she embarked on a deep dive into how the angels’ influence may have shaped who she was, who she wanted to be, and who she became. Fear was always a dominant force in her life, but she believes the angels were teaching her how to use fear as an advisor rather than an adversary. THE ANGELS’ GAUNTLET reveals how it all began.
Hobbies a.k.a. Sanity Savers
From Karate and Tai Chi to photography, mixed-media arts, and videography . . . these are the ways I keep myself grounded, grateful, focused, energized, lifted, healthy, limber, inspired, sane, relaxed, rejuvenated, renewed, and connected to the divine energy illuminating my dharma — the path I chose to follow long before this life. ~ DA
“Welcome to the new age …”
During a karate promotion ceremony, going from blue belt to purple, I was channeling my inner warrior, inner dancer, inner choreographer, and eternal perfectionist during these four katas.
We don’t get to use music during the review, but I’ve set these videos to a split performance of Radioactive. First, a soft version featuring violinist Lindsey Sterling, then the amped-up angst of Imagine Dragons fires things up (at the 1:24 mark) when I break out the katana — my sword of choice. ~ DA
“In the silence of her mind …”
The solitude of skiing down a powdery mountain has always been one of my favorite sounds in the whole world. I feel like I’m flying. I’m so grateful to have a hubby who also loves the thrill of sliding down the slopes. We’re in Breckenridge, Colorado here with hub’s brother and wife who are much better skiers than we are!
A video highlighting Colorado’s splendor wouldn’t be complete without some John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High. The Guess Who drops in (at the 4:50 mark) with their smooth mix of No Sugar Tonight / New Mother Nature … perfect music for a virtual swish through wide open tree-lined runs. ~ DA