About Bridgette L. Collins:
Fitness coach Bridgette L. Collins is the owner of Total Innovative Solutions, LLC, a consulting firm that provides individuals and organizations with strategic solutions for implementing and sustaining healthy lifestyle habits. Through Just In Time Publishing and Just In Time Fitness, subsidiaries of Total Innovative Solutions, LLC, she introduces innovative and creative resources for achieving well-being and physical fitness to help her clients gain traction on disease prevention and management.
Coach Collins is the author of three books, Broken In Plain Sight, Destined to Live Healthier: Mind, Body, and Soul, and Imagine Living Healthier: Mind, Body, and Soul, which have educated, encouraged, and empowered many through her intriguing and creative novel-like self-help stories that peel back the masks of challenges with weight, health, work, marriage, relationships, and lack of self-love. She is featured in The Ultimate Runner by Ultimate HCI Books, publisher of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Her story, "Never Give Up: My Journey to Become a Runner", of transitioning from the sofa to the streets to become a marathon runner has inspired many to move their lifestyle habits in a different direction. Her new release (4th book), The Chip Maker: Prophecy of the Beast, is a thriller filled with drama and intrigue that stretches one’s imagination.
Coach Collins is a certified personal trainer through Aerobics and Fitness Association of America and a certified running coach through Road Runners Club of America. She has been an avid runner for more than 20 years participating in a plethora of race events (from 5Ks to marathons). She has coached a large number of beginner walkers and runners both privately and for national organizations like the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. For ten (10) years, she served as the race director and coordinator for the KwanzaaFest Beat Obesity Walk/Run Events held annually in Dallas, TX.
Coach Collins encourages all who crosses her path to “Find purpose, peace, and a passion for living by pushing and positioning themselves to not only pursue their goals but to go beyond them. Never Give Up!”
What inspires you to write?
I am most inspired to write about topics that: (1) requires research and (2) focuses my attention on how to best help others live healthier: mind, body, and soul. I must admit that I am also inspired by the creativity that evolves when crafting a literary work that strikes a perfect balance between fact and fiction to educate and empower others.
Tell us about your writing process.
With regards to my novel-like self-help books focused on living healthier mind, body, and soul, I plot the key elements surrounding a common health issue like heart disease, diabetes, depression to create a frame of the story line and character sketches. On a big sheet of paper, I am detailed and meticulous about building the profiles of the characters (e.g., race, sex, age, appearance, behaviors, etc.), naming the characters, outlining their relationship to one another (to include determining who, what, when, where, and how of the health issue will be created and addressed in the story line).
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
During a writing session, I will typically talk out loud portraying one of my characters to bring him/her to life to better determine the message I want to convey.
What advice would you give other writers?
Never stop searching for the right words and the right phrases to connect with and entertain your readers. Whenever I'm listening to SiriusXM in my car, or looking at a movie on Lifetime, or engaged in an old episode of Criminal Minds, or a viewing a news story on CNN, I am always jotting down words and phrases I may be able to use a later date in a story line to add more impact.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
Although it requires your attention 24/7 from creating, distributing, to never ending marketing and promoting, I like retaining all rights and having total control over the success of my product. A traditional publisher more than likely has a number of authors it's working with and will work at its' own convenience to support their publishing needs. I recommend creating your own publishing company (be sure to research all of the fine details of what that means from writing your story, setting up your business, acquiring your ISBNs, and working with editors, cover designers, interior designers, to copyrighting and distributing, etc.) and publishing your own book(s).
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
For decades self-published authors carried around the stigma they were not good enough for the traditional publisher, but that stigma is disappearing. Self-published authors are in a good position now, especially with the global presence of Ebooks to reach more readers. A self-published author only needs hard copy books if he/she is a public speaker and wants to sell hard copies at his/her event. No more worries about being in the traditional bricks & mortar bookstores to be successful. Above all, today’s self-published authors can produce a quality product that’s affordable.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer
What genres do you write?: Self-Help, Fiction, Christian Fiction
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Bridgette L. Collins Home Page Link
Link To Bridgette L. Collins Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on Barnes and Noble
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
