Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Stacey Webb
03:30 Exploring Nervous System Regulation
06:31 Stacey's Unique Background as a Detective
09:33 Motherhood and Neurodiversity
11:24 The Journey of Motherhood
13:10 The Birth of 'Embodied Grace'
16:57 Celebrating Book Launch Success
19:19 The Writing Process of 'Embodied Grace'
26:35 The Healing Power of Writing
29:15 The Birth of the Card Concept
32:41 Navigating Design Challenges
35:09 The Importance of Support in Authorship
44:20 Reflections on the Book Doula Program
Podcast Intro (00:00)
Vanessa Barrington (00:43)
Welcome back to the show. This week I have got a very, very special guest with me. One of my previous students in the Book Doula program, an incredible author, very, very gifted woman on many different levels, wearing many different hats. A warm welcome to you, Stacey Webb. Welcome to the show.
Stacey Webb (01:03)
Thank you, Vanessa. Thank you so much for having me, especially because I've been a listener of your podcast for a very long time. to be a guest on it is a huge honor.
Vanessa Barrington (01:12)
Oh, that's so nice. I love it. I love it. If anyone's listening and they want to come on down as well, you are most welcome I love doing this and you would know Stacey having listened to the podcast and being an ex journalist. This really tickles my journalism bow, I suppose, cause I get to have a yarn and chat to people and interview people. And oftentimes, as you
Like a lot of the episodes are quite channeled and just really downloaded based on whatever Adrian wants to talk about, my God. But it's so nice to have And I've had a few people from the Book Doula program come in this year, which is so nice because I have recently learned, and you find this interesting as well. I'm assuming you're a bit familiar with human design.
Stacey Webb (02:02)
A little bit, yes.
Vanessa Barrington (02:03)
Yes, so
me too. And I'm no expert with human design, but I recently found out, so I'm a manifesting generator, no surprises, because I always have a million things on the go and that really suits my personality and my energy type. But I recently found out that my natural,
way to move through the world is to respond. And so what that means is if I have a context or a person or a thing in front of me and I have the opportunity to respond to it, that works much better for me than like just talking on a particular topic without someone to respond to. So that made a lot of sense to me when I found that out. Cause I was like,
that's why I always love interviewing people on the show and why as well, if I pick a particular topic or I've seen something or resonated with something and I'm responding to it, that feels a lot more natural to me than just creating completely, purely from scratch. And even the way I write as a writer is very much like that. I'm always responding to the world around me or experiences that I've had or yeah, so.
Stacey Webb (03:16)
Yeah, I love that. I will take on that fun fact because I love that and I love the fact of responding because it's responding and co-creating with the universe. It's always in conversation with the universe, which is amazing.
Vanessa Barrington (03:16)
Anyway, something just a fun fact you didn't ask for.
Yes. yes.
Absolutely. Absolutely. So Stacey, before we start off, you have had so much going on and I'm so excited to share with everyone all of your goodness and all of your gifts. But for people that are brand new to you, I would love for you to just briefly introduce yourself and tell people what it is you do and how you fit into the world of writers.
Stacey Webb (03:53)
Yes. All right. Well, welcome for those who do not know me. My name is Stacey Webb and I am an intuitive somatic mentor, a warrior of grace and an author. And they are all titles that I've just given myself to kind of overall share everything that I do in the world. what that really is, is supporting and mentoring people on their healing journey through the lens of the nervous system where
going from experiencing that overwhelm and trauma, anxiety and stress and knowing how we can support our body and support our nervous system to live an embodied life where we're feeling like we do have the chance because we do to respond to things in life, not react. And so that's the beautiful end of that. And so I kind of gave myself that intuitive, somatic mental, cause I love blending in the nervous system.
and how we can attune to our intuition when we narration support our nervous system with it. So when we do that, we can attune, trust, listen, follow our intuitive intelligence, that beautiful intuitive guidance. And that really opens up the channel in allowing that embodied living to happen as well. So that's why I gave myself that beautiful title. And I like to think I'm always been a warrior of grace and I've always had that warrior archetype.
a very strong and a dominant archetype in my life and really wanting to bring her in that light form and walking alongside with Grace. So that's why I've chosen those two beautiful things and an author because I love writing and I have now written and published books and I'm very much an author and I'll very much hold that title as well.
Vanessa Barrington (05:39)
I love it. I love it. And I love as well, how you introduce yourself and say, this is the identity that I have claimed for myself lovely listeners pay attention because this is something that I talk about in a roundabout way often that, you know, so much of our environment and our context, and what we believe to be true about ourselves creates our reality and creates our identity. And we get to design and.
choose what that identity is every day. And so thank you for sharing that Stacey. can we take a moment for nervous system regulation? Because I know for me, and I'm sure for many women listening and men as well, β that, you know, nervous system is just such an important thing for us in today's world. Now, outside of all of that, though, there is this other part to your life, isn't there? You are also
Stacey Webb (06:25)
Yeah.
Vanessa Barrington (06:31)
a mother and you have had a very unique background and profession.
Stacey Webb (06:35)
Yes,
I mean the the way that I've gotten introduced into our nervous system and how our nervous system really is the backbone to us being alive and living here has come from my background of of a detective in the police force for it had been nearly 20 years and so I specialized in sexual assault and coronial matters so deaths that were reportable to the coroner and I'm
surrounded by people who were experiencing various amounts of trauma and I wanted to know how could I best support them so it would also support me and my work because if I need to get a statement from someone I need to try and make sure that I get as much information as I can that so it's not reducing their memory recall but
again when we're experiencing trauma that already affects the memory core. And as I learnt through learning about a nervous system is that I would needed them to feel comfortable with me and allowing their nervous system to feel a sense of safety from connecting to my nervous system. And even though they might be feeling that overwhelming, they're scared or they're in fear from what has just happened or what may potentially happen in the future.
there is still these elements of safety to be able to tell me information. Because if they withhold information, it could potentially affect any type of evidence that I may need for the investigation. It may then require them having to come back and give another statement, which could also re-traumatize them. So there's many different elements. So I went on this beautiful rabbit hole over 15 years ago on learning about the nervous system and
You know, it was a beautiful way of learning that our nervous system controls and makes the decisions on what happens. And so often people will go, well, I don't understand why I did that because I know I could have done this instead. Well, that's your brain thinking that, but your nervous system did something in, in hopes to protect you for your safety. And it was there to protect you.
for your survival and it chose this way thinking it was the best way for it. But now that that's happened, how can we support the nervous system and nourish the nervous system and ensure that it's not stuck in a dysregulated state where you're then making choices from that state rather than coming back to that sense of safety.
So it's not about then removing the trauma that's happened, which definitely β what has happened has happened, but that you could still live an embodied life where that fear and that trauma isn't in the driver's seat making the decisions. But it very much came of starting that from my experience of being a police officer. that sort of came from there and I'm a mother of four as well. So.
There's a beautiful blend of that in our neurodiverse household. So there's been lots of learning about the nervous system, as well as all of the studies that I've done and taken over the years to get to where I am today.
Vanessa Barrington (09:34)
β amazing.
And as a channel and a medium, what I have witnessed and observed in terms of how energy moves through the world is being neurodivergent really comes down to an ultra sensitivity and an ability and channel that is open that allows individuals to access information on a different.
dimension, if you will, or field or a deeper layer than what the average person can. So I very much see it as a gift. But I can only imagine what that would look like as a mother with four children. I barely managed two teenage tween, girls who I adore with my whole heart.
Stacey Webb (10:13)
Yeah.
Well, I think it's just that beautiful aspect of like how everyone is beautifully unique in their own way and that we may learn things differently and how our bodies may respond to things differently. And it's more about how can we learn more about our body body communicates with us, as well as also how our intuition communicates with us. And when we're able to have that
beautiful connection with it that we can be able to grow and learn with it so much more better. We will not feel like we're fighting with it. So when it comes to me, my children and they all learn very differently, it's been able to like, okay, how, does that feel for you? How is, okay, angry? Like, how's that angry? Like, how can we get that anger out in a healthy, supportive way? That's not going to hurt you or other people. And then what's beneath that anger when
they're able to sit with that a little bit more. And it's definitely been a journey and a challenging one at times at that. β I'm still learning, but definitely don't claim to know it all. But, you know, it's nice to also know someone else's experience and that you're not alone in that.
Vanessa Barrington (11:24)
Definitely, definitely. And I you know, I think looking at a lot of the different posts and things that I saw over the weekend to celebrate Mother's Day, it was so refreshing to me to witness and notice lots more honest conversations happening about the fact that
motherhood is, you know, the portal of motherhood is huge and it's not always easy. It is not always sunshine and roses. We all just do the best that we can and we are, and really even like women are women, whether they are a mother or not. And I think women inherently are mothers, even if they choose not to be mothers, because it's
that feminine energy of nurturing and wanting to care for others, it's inherent in every single one of us.
Stacey Webb (12:15)
Definitely, connection that we can just have with Mother Earth alone and the mother archetype that can come from that going out. Definitely, you do not need to have birthed a child to be a mother. There are being a mother in so many other ways and I've seen that over the years, you know.
Even just, you know, having someone mentoring me and being a beautiful mother archetype for me in that way and supporting me as a young police officer is even just one beautiful element. There's so many different ways that it can be.
Vanessa Barrington (12:47)
Absolutely. And that reminds me of the post I shared, which was around the fact that on Mother's Day, shared that becoming a mother is very much like the journey of birthing a book. It's like you are birthing a child. You have just been through the birth canal with your most recent book, Stacey, Embodied Grace. I want to talk a little bit about the book.
Stacey Webb (13:00)
Yes.
Vanessa Barrington (13:10)
But first of all, I would love your initial reactions, total honesty, how are you feeling after releasing this beautiful, beautiful book out into the world? Because it's big, right? It's a big process.
Stacey Webb (13:24)
It is big.
It is big and you know it's my third book out and it's it's that beautiful reminder. I mean again I've had three pregnancies. my last pregnancy was twins with my beautiful four children and each of my pregnancy was the excitement I wanted to share of my upcoming arrival and ensuring that I did that for this book as well.
and not going, it's just the third book and no one's gonna care about it. No, I want to celebrate that this book is going to be birthed into the world and that this is a beautiful, amazing book. And just like each of my children are different, each of my books are different and it has its own personality and its own character and its own energy and that deserves to be celebrated. And so.
I was very much of really wanting to celebrate it and celebrate it in my own way and really wanting it to be this beautiful process of celebrating the birth and the arrival of Embodied Grace of Coming Into the World. So there is a lot of that and then there is a lot of tightness that comes after birth in a book as well and navigating that.
Vanessa Barrington (14:32)
The book launch come down, the post book birthing book launch come down is a real thing, people. I say it all the time. If you are listening and you have not put a book out or you're about to put a book out, prepare for it. I don't think any author avoids that calm down that happens after the incredible energy of pushing a book out into the world.
Stacey Webb (14:36)
Yeah.
you
Yeah.
And, just like with each of my pregnancies, you know, has been going to a hospital to, to give birth and having that bit of wisdom from the past ones and how I perhaps wanted things to be different or anything else. So really going into this one as well, I really wanted to have different
β aspects or in addition to perhaps what I did last time. So, you know, I had pre-orders and it was to pre-order the book directly from me. And hand wrote a letter to every single person and held it with intention to my heart and wrapped it up. And because I had cards with this particular book and the cards with it and wrapped it up that was sent more than just at the time pre-order from Amazon.
I could have done both and there's no right or wrong with it. But for me and this particular book, this is how I wanted to do it. And I really wanted for me to have this beautiful intention setting that came with every pre-order that was bought directly from me. And that's something that I particularly wanted. And I love the fact that I did that and I wanted to do that. So it's...
Vanessa Barrington (16:02)
That was quite different
from your first two books, wasn't it?
Stacey Webb (16:06)
Yes, I mean the second book I did do pre-orders and did sign them but you know this time it was like an extension from that but I didn't get to do that with my first book that was with a publisher and you know the pre-orders were sort of sent direct from them so you know I learnt from that one was I wanted to sign them and you know that beautiful aspect I love the fact that someone wants to pre-order a book from you and it's like they want to pre-order a book from you and I love the fact to be able to hand sign it.
Vanessa Barrington (16:29)
Mm.
Stacey Webb (16:33)
of coming from my heart to theirs. And so I was able to do that for the second book because I self-published my second, but then from this one, I wanted an extension from that. So that's where I had all these different elements. And I could only have done that personally for me because I was able to do that for my last book and extend from that. So it was just sort of nice to, you know, have that beautiful element to it as well.
Vanessa Barrington (16:52)
Yeah.
Yes, and the pre-sale
strategy worked really well for this book, right? You ended up with quite an amazing accolade as a result of that. Do you want to share a bit about that?
Stacey Webb (17:08)
Yeah, so I had the pre-sales leading up and this book was different to past ones because I had created a set of cards as well, which I'm sure we'll probably talk about as we go on. That's right. So I had the, I had a set of cards as well. So the pre-orders were for both of them together, which
Vanessa Barrington (17:18)
my gosh, we have to talk about, we have to talk about the cards because you weren't going to do the cards, Stacey. We'll come back to that.
Stacey Webb (17:32)
was really beautiful. So I had that out. then when official launch day happened was also then sharing, obviously it's launch day. If you'd like to buy my book on Amazon, you can and please do, you know, it's launch day. Let's celebrate the birth of this beautiful book. And that happened. And as a result, it did become Amazon number one bestseller in two different categories and remained in one particular category for five days, which I'm so excited about. You know, I,
Vanessa Barrington (18:00)
amazing achievement.
Stacey Webb (18:02)
It was beautiful to have that celebration because I know I'm biased, but I know how much this book would support so many people β who will read it. And it was just nice knowing that perhaps more people might have a chance to notice that and see it and have a chance to buy it and read it themselves.
Vanessa Barrington (18:11)
us.
Yeah. it, and having done the structural edit on this book, can a hundred thousand percent vouch for this book. Embodied Grace is a beautiful read and it's such a, you know, what I love most about this book and we'll make sure we put a link in the show notes for people to be able to grab a copy that feel called to. I love how you weave in so much. There's so much research and so much depth into what you have
put into this book, but you also share so much of your own insights and personal story. And I think that that really allows the reader to have their own experience of witnessing, but also deepens their understanding of the topic that you're talking about. just, I mean, you had already, I'm thinking back now to when you joined the Book Doula program, which I think was at August last year.
Stacey Webb (19:16)
Yes, because I think they booked all officially starting in September. So yes.
Vanessa Barrington (19:16)
Yeah.
Yes, yes,
yes. And I remember when you came in, you'd pretty much really completed quite a lot of that book from memory. Yes, yeah. So do you want to share a little bit about what the writing process for this book was like for people?
Stacey Webb (19:28)
Yeah, yeah, the manuscript was pretty much complete.
Yes,
so
Vanessa Barrington (19:37)
how did you do it? Like, how did you actually get to the end of a manuscript with this book?
Stacey Webb (19:43)
completely understand. book embodied grace, is embodied grace, trust in yourself, healing deeply, expanding fully. And this came to me when I was in India in 2024. I was away on a retreat. And, you know, for me, I remember the first night and I'm looking up at the moon and it was such a beautiful, clear night. And it was this beautiful like
waxing crescent moon on the right side and it had this beautiful outline of the full moon around it and I remember looking up at this moon and and honestly felt like the moon was just talking directly to me like that's how beautiful it was and I wasn't really sure what it was saying yet but I was like I'm open to receive and as the the beautiful retreat unfolded the message that was coming to me was that I needed to give myself permission to receive my own love.
and the moon kept coming every time that happened that moon that I saw in India kept coming back and it like there are parts of me that I'm willing to accept and there are parts I'm hiding and I need to accept and trust myself and knowing that it's going to allow me to heap deeply and allowing myself to expand fully when I embody grace and not just think of it as this amazing notion and that I may possibly be able to have that.
Vanessa Barrington (20:41)
Mmm.
Stacey Webb (20:57)
but that it's actually something always with me. And until I give myself permission to receive my own love, will I really then be able to embody grace in all aspects and in all times and in all parts of myself? And so that's really sort of how the book first came to me. But as always on reflection, when it came to writing, it was always coming to me in many different parts of my life. And so I sort of sat down to sort of write the book.
Vanessa Barrington (21:11)
and
Stacey Webb (21:23)
And I don't always write at times in order. You know, I'll have stories. I love writing in stories. I love writing what happens in my own life and weaving that into teachings of how we embody grace, right? And so as that was sort of happening, I could then start to see an outline of how the book would be. And so then there'd be parts, there'd be chapter headings and I could...
write a story and know where it was going into. And then I be in a beautiful hyper fixation on a specific part and write to that and do everything else.
Vanessa Barrington (21:57)
Hang on, Stacey,
are you saying that you didn't write the book in order?
Stacey Webb (22:01)
That's exactly right.
Vanessa Barrington (22:02)
I'm giggling because, you know, this
is, I don't know if I've ever shared this before, but that is actually exactly how I write as well. So I write in mini stories. That's how my brain works. So I will pick a memory or a topic and then I will write that to completion and then I will go and pick another. And I think this is something I have a sneaking position, suspicion that there may be some people listening that perhaps have found.
Stacey Webb (22:13)
Mm-hmm.
Vanessa Barrington (22:30)
the writing process quite challenging because there is an element of them that's felt like I've got to start at the very beginning. And then I have to kind of practically work my way through it. I mean, we get to choose that creative process, don't we? Yeah.
Stacey Webb (22:43)
That's right. We get to choose
it. It's our way of creating it. There's, for me and how I think in writing a book, there is no right or wrong way in how we write, in the order that we write or anything else. you know, a lot of my writing was done at night when my children were asleep because that's the time where I knew I could, I have that uninterruptedness in my life. And, you know, some people write really early in the morning.
Vanessa Barrington (22:48)
Yes.
Stacey Webb (23:10)
but I have one son who wakes up at the crack of dawn and that doesn't always get to happen in our household because, different things like that. So it was me sort of how can I navigate that in my own life and what may work with one way that people might want to write their book.
Vanessa Barrington (23:17)
Yeah.
Stacey Webb (23:28)
may not necessarily be supportive to you and that you can create it in your own way, which I love. And you know, there are times on the weekends, usually on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, when we may have done something for the day. And I know then I get a couple of hours to also do some writing. And so that's what I love about it is that I sort of been able to adapt it to my own lifestyle because my lifestyle is going to be completely different.
Vanessa Barrington (23:30)
What?
Yes.
Stacey Webb (23:54)
to someone else's lifestyle, regardless of whether they have four children themselves, right? So I think it's really important to have it in your own way. And so I'd write the stories again, if a memory or something came through, like, yep, that'd be, I can see this being a part of the book and I'd write into it. And I do that. And specifically for Embodied Grace, what I wanted is, and what is and what has already happened now is at the end of every mini chapter, there is either,
Vanessa Barrington (23:54)
someone else's, yes.
100%.
Stacey Webb (24:21)
a practice, there's an embodied insight or there's a graceful reminder. And so it was this beautiful way of just seeing what the energy of what that particular mini chapter was as to what needed to be at the end of that chapter. And that's pretty much how I wrote the book.
Vanessa Barrington (24:37)
I love
it. I have to ask a question. β Just a quick yes or no. Did you set a deadline for when you wanted this book to be finished?
Stacey Webb (24:40)
Yes.
Yes, originally, and it did not come to that way. And I'm really proud of that, too. So I, I did set intention of I wrote the manuscript. It would be in about three months, which is amazing. And my intention was I wanted it out by the end of the year. I wanted it out before Christmas. But as I went through my own editing process before.
reaching out to you and actually joining the Book Doula program, I actually realized I was wanting to create this urgency because I wanted the validation to say that I wrote the book at the beginning and it was out by a certain time. But what the book was actually calling for me was to go in slower and to allow the depth of this actual book. And so for me, as this evolution of a writer really was a lot in my own editing.
and curating a lot of that, which I'm so grateful for because I want to evolve and grow as a writer and each book should also be an aspect of that. And so I learnt so much of that from this particular book on, yes, it was great for me to have a timeline because I do love timelines, but also what the book really needed and the book for me really needed at times, it needed some depth, needed some attention to it. And it really wanted me
to go through this book with the great energetic and somatic lens that I do with my work and I created that for the book as well and I love that because it was weaving these two worlds together and was making me a better writer so I'm so grateful for that at the same time.
Vanessa Barrington (26:18)
Yes. Yes.
And would you agree? Cause you know, you've heard me talk about fact that I really deeply believe that when a writer is writing, they are transformed through the process of writing. Once the book is complete, the book then goes on to transform other people, but the writer is changed.
Stacey Webb (26:35)
this.
Vanessa Barrington (26:42)
through that process of writing. My question to you is, does that ring true for you? And if so, how did it ring true for you for this book?
Stacey Webb (26:52)
Definitely,
definitely. My service is always my medicine and my books are an extension of that. And I said like for embodied grace, it's trusting yourself, healing deeply, expanding fully and came to me to give myself permission to receive my own love was me being on that journey as well. And for me to be on that journey transforms me knowing that what I'm writing is actually supporting me as well as supports the reader.
I mean, I can look back and I could read another little mini chapter and it would still give me wisdom, even though I wrote it. It will still give me wisdom about that. And a beautiful reminder, a graceful reminder that I might need because I'm a human in this beautiful world and every day is different and every day might bring its challenges. And it's always a reminder as well to remind myself to embody grace at times.
Vanessa Barrington (27:24)
now.
Stacey Webb (27:44)
And we all need that. And this is a beautiful aspect of it. It's definitely been of great support to me.
Vanessa Barrington (27:52)
Yeah, it's so interesting, isn't it? And I have this conversation also with friends who are artists where they'll be like, my gosh, like I wrote, I painted or I drew this particular piece of art and what the story was behind it was XYZ. And then they go back like months later, once it's framed and it's released as a piece of art out into the world. And they look back over the meaning and it's like,
That was exactly what I was going through at that time. And that was exactly the medicine that I needed myself at that time and had no awareness of until I'd gone through that process of, it's like a completion. It's like the bow on top is how I think of it. Like now this is the integration. It's like I've learned it, I understand it, and now I'm actually integrating it through that writing process.
Stacey Webb (28:32)
Definitely.
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely, without a doubt. It's definitely been that. And I think, you know, especially writing in terms of non-fiction and I've got memoir sort of woven in it, it will always be transformative if you're writing about yourself because you will always be a changed person from the start to the end. The reader will be changed from the start to the end. And for the impact to have for a reader,
Vanessa Barrington (28:43)
and
and
Stacey Webb (29:07)
it can only be the same if not more for the person who writes it.
Vanessa Barrington (29:10)
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So let's talk about the cards because you came, so you came into the program, we did the structural on the book. And then there was these cards
Stacey Webb (29:15)
you
quite funny when I was speaking to one of the ladies in India that I was on retreat and I said like this book it's it's going to be called Embodied Grace, it came from the moon and this is the message and I we're roommates and then I was sharing about what this book is going to be about and I said I can see with this book a set of cards.
So don't know much more about it yet. I've sort of just got to let it go, but I can see cards. And as I was writing the manuscript, as I shared at the end of the book, at the end of a chapter, there's practices or an embodied insight or a graceful reminder. And I went, that's where the cards are going to come from. They're going to come from these graceful reminders and really not wanting them to be these affirmations, but really these reminders, these graceful reminders of coming back to ourselves and embodying grace.
And so I could see that there was these beautiful pack of cards. I could see that it was going to have a wooden stand. It was going to be in a box and that was going to be it. And then my own fears came in and I went, my God, that's going to be too hard to do. I thought it was just going to be too hard. I didn't know the process of how to do cards. All the stories that I could give myself to not do them.
I gave them to myself and I listened and I believed every single one of them. No one would buy them. No one's going to care about the cards. No one's going to really do anything with the cards. There's so many cards out there. Why would yours matter? All the stories. I believed every single one of them. And so I put the cards to the side and was like, it's not going to happen. It's just going to be the book. And I sent the manuscript to you for a developmental edit and
one of the things you came back with writing and giving me your feedback at the end was, Stacey, I see a pack of cards with this book. And I remember like sharing with you in the WhatsApp because we had one-on-ones together and I was like, you wouldn't believe it, but I actually did envision cards with this, but I it was going to be too hard. So I didn't do that. I haven't done anything about them. And it was really like for me,
like hearing that you could see the cards as well, take away in terms of your beautiful psychic mediumship. That wasn't what it was that came from me. I thought if you, as someone who is editing my book, could see these cards, like I could see these cards, then like Stacey, you got to get out of your own stuff. You got to, you got to start meeting your own fears, which is a lot of the work that I do as well.
Stacey, there's clearly a lot you've got to start to meet and release. And if you want to make this book, the book that it's meant to be is to do the cards. And that's also what also changed my timeline of what I wanted because I needed to give myself time to start exploring with the cards, suppliers and everything else in between. again, because that was new territory for me, I did give myself extra time as to how that may go about.
Vanessa Barrington (32:00)
Hmm.
Stacey Webb (32:12)
because I wasn't too sure. And the reason why is because I knew when I wanted to release the book, the cards wanted to be there at the same time. I didn't want the cards to be months later or, you know, the second edition of it or anything like that. I wanted them both to be available before official launch date. That's how I wanted it to be, you know, and, β and so that's sort of what came to be as well.
And I did, I created the cards and they have the wooden stand and they have the box. was everything that I wanted it to be. It was beautiful.
Vanessa Barrington (32:35)
You can't escape.
and it wasn't that hard
to do in the end, was it?
Stacey Webb (32:45)
No,
just needed to take a little bit of time, which is no different than taking some time to sit down and write a book. yes.
Vanessa Barrington (32:53)
Yeah, amazing. I mean, you know, what gets me out of bed every day is seeing every single one of you birth your books and share your wisdom and share what is asking to come through you as a channel and a messenger out in the world. But seeing those cards, I was like, yes. Because for me it was, I mean, look, it was Adrian for sure. But also it was so clear to me that
Stacey Webb (33:11)
Yes.
Vanessa Barrington (33:17)
are such a supportive element because people often do want that 3D, very practical component to integrate different concepts. And that's really what those cards do beautifully.
Stacey Webb (33:28)
right,
like to have on the bedside table or at your work desk or something where you might not have a book to read and it's just a beautiful reminder where you go, yeah I really needed that today and that was beautiful and knowing that you could pick a card from it and it will give you the wisdom that you need at that moment and it's something that again services medicine that I also that I needed and I remember
getting the samples and sharing them with you going, is, you know, this is how I see it and this is how it's going to be. And it was just really nice to have that be this idea and then thinking, β my God, it's too hard, but actually meeting that fear and making it come to, to its full form, which is beautiful.
Vanessa Barrington (34:13)
Absolutely, again and again, the hill I'll die on. The answer is always through the fear. And it's just showing you where that next level expansion is. But they are, they're such a beautiful, those cards are such a like a living example and practical element. It's a living tool really that people can use in conjunction with the book. So it's so nice how they've come together.
Stacey Webb (34:33)
Definitely.
Thank you. And I would not have done if I wasn't in the Book Doula program, because again, before I already had dismissed it. So if it wasn't been in the program and it's always nice to have at times a little bit of outside perspective, cause I can, know, I can get a little bit tunnel visioned. And again, as I said, I already dismissed it. So knowing that it sort of came across as a idea.
for something that I already had and having that beautiful reminder to go, actually, maybe you can do it. Stacey, maybe it's not that hard.
Vanessa Barrington (35:04)
Don't drop that idea. Don't drop that. We
won't let you get away with it. That's right. They were needed. They're a necessary part of how you integrate that practice for people. So let's talk about, I would love to share with listeners a bit about the design process because for this, know, I'm always looking at how can I help people make the authorship journey easier? And, you know,
Stacey Webb (35:10)
Yeah. Yeah.
Vanessa Barrington (35:29)
One of the challenges that I see for a lot of first time authors is that you don't know what you don't know sometimes. And unfortunately, the way that the publishing industry is set up is it's just shrouded in secrecy in so many different ways. And it can be really complex for someone who's brand new to that process to understand.
All the intricacy. although there are lots of different great tools out there now, and there's AI and all of those things, you know, even with all of that technology at our fingertips, I think there is still a level of education that a first time author needs in order to be able to navigate that effectively without making costly mistakes and without having issues for you. This was your third book. And even with
the experiences, the past experiences that you had, still ran into some challenges in the design stage. And I just love for you to talk into that a little bit with the intent to really help people understand. There's more involved, I think, than people realize sometimes, but it does get to be easy when you know which way to go.
Stacey Webb (36:28)
I
Yeah, definitely.
So I know going into the Book Doula with you and I'd shared that I wanted to self-publish this book. I had self-published my second book and I quite enjoyed the process of that and wanted to continue with that. So when it came to the cover, the cover comes to me, I can see it in my mind and it's been the same with the other two books. I know what the cover is going to be. For me, was very much centered around that
moon and the outline of the full moon. And the one thing is I can picture in my mind, but I can't create it out of nothing. I'm no good with any type of design at all. And I didn't want any type of AI design either. So I did want to go to a book cover designer, which I did. I reached out to a book cover designer and we're going back and forth. I'd shared my vision and for some of it, I
I can be very specific because I can see it in my mind of how I want it to be. And unfortunately, it just wasn't coming out how I was envisioning it. And each time I was seeing a draft and they were absolutely amazing designs, but it just it wasn't my design. wasn't the design for me to go, this is the book cover. And we'll just have in a bit of we just weren't able to sort of come.
eye to eye in how the book cover should be and I remember reaching out to you going oh my god what do I do because I just can't book cover is not coming to my vision in how I see I know it may not always be exact in you know in terms of that but it just wasn't coming to how it wasn't and as a result I was starting to lose my excitement about this baby and I just like this
Vanessa Barrington (38:20)
becoming like really
hard and difficult and
Stacey Webb (38:23)
Yes. And it just like, I was like, I just don't know. And I was having this internal struggle of I think I need to let this book cover designer go. And that was playing a lot of internal struggle with me. There was very much this good girl was coming back to me saying like that I wasn't able to express or voice that or, or share that I wanted something different. And again, I actually have a chapter about
the good girl and how that can be reimagined in another way. And I did read back that chapter to again give wisdom and medicine. And I then reached back out to you as we were going back and the cover of, think I need to go with someone else. Like, who can I go to? Who can I go to that is going to understand that I'm now much more sensitive about whether someone is able to get my vision.
because I've now gone to one person and it hasn't. And that was a really big thing for me to send the email and have this communication to go, I don't think this relationship is going to work with this book and thank you so much and everything else. And then going to someone else and that trust again, you know, it was very hard and my guard was very much up and said, warrior of grace.
Vanessa Barrington (39:36)
Re-trust again. Yeah.
Stacey Webb (39:42)
the warrior was very much up thinking she needed to prepare for battle and was feeling like she needed to defend everything. And I'm very grateful you had suggested Heidi Glasson in that I could reach out to her and see how that could go. And I a Zoom call with her and I was very upfront. This is what's happened. I'm very nervous about now and in the rains.
Vanessa Barrington (40:08)
You
Stacey Webb (40:08)
over
to someone else and what you can produce for me. Like I was conscious that I might, and I said to her, I'm conscious that I might be your annoying pedantic client because I want this to be, I have this specific vision and one person wasn't able to do it. And, and we just weren't able to communicate in that way. And
worry and concerned whether they could be the same again. And she was so lovely and so understanding and very much put my nervous system at ease about everything that was going forth. And so I shared everything that I had for this vision, again, with some sort of ideas, there's some, again, not very good drawings that I made, again, I'm an author, not a designer, and really recognizing
that I can't do it all when it came to my book as well. And knowing that I needed a book cover designer, was just me trying to find the right one. And again, for me as a intuitive semantic mentor, as a semantic practitioner, like some people you might go to one modality or one type of support and it may not work and knowing that it's okay, try somewhere else and you will find someone. And I needed to put that into practice here for my book cover design. And so thankfully when I β got some of the drafts back and
Heidi had created this, this beautiful design and, and it was just more of tweaking, if anything, when it came to the book cover and her first initial draft that she sent back to me and only minor tweaks that sort of came back and forth, which was absolutely amazing. And it was, you know, even better than how I can picture it in my mind. And so when it came to the cards, I said to her, this is what I picture for the cards.
And are you able to help me in that way? And you know, the cards was very much the back of the card is the front cover of the book, but with no writing. Like this is, it needs to be the moon. It needs to have that aspect of it. And this is what I see for the front of the cards. And it has this text and I don't want it to be overpowering because I don't want it to compete with the back of the card. I really wanted it to have this beautiful supporting relationship with each other.
and I'm very much about things having symbolic meaning. So I wanted the cut to have a bit of that as well. And Heidi had created these beautiful gold lines where if you actually join them up, they connect with each other, which I love because everything is interconnecting and woven. So Heidi very much got my vision into play and did not make me feel like I was overbearing
I don't think I was micromanaging, but I was definitely a hypervigilent. I was very nervous and wasn't relaxed at the beginning at all. So for her to understand that and take that on was very lovely. And it was also very supportive to me because again, in my world, I'm usually the one holding other people's nervous systems in that way and allowing myself to be held by someone else in that way.
Vanessa Barrington (42:37)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Stacey Webb (42:59)
was also some beautiful medicine for me because I was incorporating my own medicine of embodied grace throughout that whole journey as well. it was a very beautiful learning experience that I'm so grateful that I took because now I've got these two beautiful creations that are out in the world that
is everything that I thought it would be and more. And to see that come from this vision in my mind to tangible objects that I can hold in my hands that other people can hold in their hands in this world is just absolutely amazing.
Vanessa Barrington (43:33)
Yeah, it is. I think we were talking before we hit record Stacey about the fact that, you know, having someone that can, that is an energetic match for what you're wanting to create is so important in terms of suppliers. you know, putting back on, you know, that I had a marketing consultancy before started books and spent a lot of time being middleman between client and design and creative direction. And
there's this joke in the industry that, one of the hardest clients to serve is someone that has had a negative experience with, because it is, and you're right. And I love how honest you are about that. Like, of course, once you've had a really disappointing experience or it hasn't kind of worked the way that you'd hoped it to with a supplier, being able to then go back in
look at that experience in a different way to have a different experience takes a lot of courage and requires a lot of vulnerability. And, I had no doubt that Heidi would be able to do it. She's awesome, but I'm so pleased that it also was exactly like the vision that you had wanted for it too, cause it's so important. You know, people do judge a book by its cover and having that.
really professional and energetic match for what the book itself is, is so important to. we're going to open doors to the Book Door program next month.
Stacey Webb (44:53)
Yeah.
Vanessa Barrington (44:57)
this year there's only one opportunity for people to join this program. And I would love for you to just share a little bit about for you personally, for you, if anything, as a result of that journey and, and what does that look like for you this year?
And I know there are a lot of people in my world as well that have
sitting on the fence and going, like they've sitting with this idea or a half written book one in my webinar in February said 30 years, she'd been writing a book for 30 years. And to me that book is calling to come out into the world. And
It's probably never going to get done without the support. So yeah, I'd love for you to just speak into that.
Stacey Webb (45:36)
Yeah.
Definitely. I'll
preface that by my experience I'll share in terms of I came into the Book Doula program with having a draft manuscript and then thinking, will the Book Doula program be able to help me because I've written something already. And for me, it was actually creating so much more in my book. It's one thing, it's beautiful to have a manuscript written, but this allowed me to...
I was learning parts of writing a book and I would be going back and reviewing parts that I've written and editing that or rewriting parts of it and actually making it so much better than what it was. And we always said like your first draft or your second draft is always not going to be your finished product. And it was very much the case. Me going into the book doula program for me was so much more than
writing a manuscript, it was allowing me to become a better writer, a better author and allowing the book to have the justice that it need in the depth that it required for this book. And I would not have been able to have that with this book without being in the program and having your support and, you know, watching the replays and doing the practices and
giving myself permission to say, yes, I've written something, but it doesn't mean that I know everything. And I can learn from this experience and having that humility about it, which is beautifully, Quincity, one of the elements that I share about Embodied Grace. And again, I was putting that to practice and knowing that I could learn from it and giving myself permission to learn from it. And I did. And I'd like to think that my book,
is so much better than what it could have ever have been because I was utilizing everything that I learned in the program and the support that I had from you and the one-on-ones that we had and everything else was making this book exactly how it needed to be and I couldn't have done that by just doing it myself and writing it.
Vanessa Barrington (47:42)
Thank you for saying that, Stacey. know that, you know, for you as well, thinking back, there was a lot, and for a lot of people that I work with, the witnessing and the support and the learning to be expanded and visible is such a massive growth journey. And, you know, what I witness in authors,
Stacey Webb (47:58)
Yeah.
Vanessa Barrington (48:06)
and in writers, a lot of the people I work with, the thing that they most want is to be seen and equally the thing that they are most terrified of is to be seen.
Stacey Webb (48:16)
Yeah,
yeah, know, writing can feel like an isolating process because you're sitting by yourself writing it, right? And it's just nice to be able to have a space where you can share that and learn from that because sometimes you might not want to share parts of your book until it might feel ready or you're not too sure. There's all the different...
stories and beliefs and things that may come up in writing a book and just knowing that you're in a space to be able to share those fears that come up so you could meet them and lead into that and release the energetic hold that it has on you and also being able to learn things on how to support and expand your own writing experience is absolutely amazing. To be able to have that
support is really important when it comes to writing a book and we'll continue again for the next book right it's always good and great knowing that you don't have to do everything yourself that you can have support in allowing you know you to be able to birth into the world like you know each time i've birthed my children i've had a beautiful midwife right and it's really lovely or a doula you know it's really lovely to know that you can have that
support in in helping you and guiding you and mentoring for you to allow your creation to be birthed into the world.
Vanessa Barrington (49:41)
Yeah, and well, you know that you're stuck with me, right? Because it's lifetime access. Once you're in the program, and I love that you said before we hit record, there's another book in incubation, shall we say. And, I'm sure I shared this with you last year as well, that, you know, there are many books I feel for you.
Stacey Webb (49:45)
You're stuck with me.
Vanessa Barrington (50:00)
that will be brought out into the world, which is just so beautiful. And I love that you can go back in and you can utilize that support and have the community, you know, the community are just so beautiful. And one of the things I love to see is they're the first ones that jump online and pre-order the books. They're the first ones that get out there and promote the books. And it's such a, it's such a beautiful, unintended.
happy effect of the program. was never the intention of the program that that's what would occur, but it's just beautiful to see that does happen. How can people find you and what's the best way for them to reach out and contact you?
Stacey Webb (50:39)
Yes. So I am mainly on Instagram where you can find me at underscore Stacy Webb, S T A C E Y W E B B. I do also have a website, which is www.stacywebb.com.au where you get to see my services and all of my books, as well as my books being available at Amazon and all of your best retailers, book retailers. And if you have a beautiful family bookshop,
that you would love to order through, just let them know the name and they can order it. Because I'm a very big fan of supporting family local businesses as well. So if there is a beautiful bookshop that is close to you that you would love to order the book through there and support them, please do because I would be so excited.
Vanessa Barrington (51:26)
Amazing, amazing. Stacey, thank you so much for coming on and sharing about your author journey and your book. The biggest congratulations from my heart to yours for Embodied Grace and the cards. It's just been so brilliant to see what you have created in really such an incredibly short amount of time.
And I'm very excited for the next titles to come as well. know there's going to be many more. have a sneaking suspicion that Stacey is going to end up doing very similar work to what I do one day. And I just love that. And I think, you know, there's, there's so much, there's something to be said for being able to also do this work with an understanding of the nervous system and being able to regulate the nervous system too. And
You'll see, in fact, this year, Stacey, with a lot of the work and the practices and with the way that my spiritual gifts have developed, particularly in the last six months as well, there's a lot more focus on how do we ensure that we remain grounded through that creative process, because it is, it's so important. It's, you know, especially when we're going through immense transformation and we do, like you said at the beginning of the conversation, no two books are the same.
every single book is much like a child, you know, it's very different pregnancy, very different birthing process, very different parenthood process. So yeah, thank you so much for being on the show.
Stacey Webb (52:51)
Thank for having me.
Vanessa Barrington (52:53)
so welcome.
