Catherine Ponder about Her Memoir

Catherine Ponder about Her Memoir

A Visit With Dr. Catherine Ponder about Her Memoir

Over the years, people have written to me that they think it's fine that I write about the Universal Laws of Life and how they have worked for other people, but they would like to know more about how they have worked for me.

When Tom Brokaw wrote his popular book on World War II veterans, The Greatest Generation, I thought, "Hey! I was a part of the greatest generation, too. Neither have I written or talked about it." And so I started making notes on my life as a government girl in Washington, D.C., where I worked for the FBI Identification Department, classifying fingerprints—a job that only recently has been computerized because of its complexity.

As I pulled up those memories from the war years more than 50 years ago, thoughts began to flow. When I finished that period of my life, the ideas continued to flow concerning later periods of my life. In due time, the basic facts of my life had written themselves, and I had what I considered a full memoir manuscript.

However, when I presented it to my Los Angeles editor, a former Science of Mind editor, he said, "This is fine—as far as it goes. But it is written in such a matter-of-fact way. You relate the facts of your life, but not the feelings and emotions connected with the highs and lows of your life. We need more feeling and warmth to go with the facts."

I explained to him that I was not part of the "touchy-huggy" generation; that in culture in which I grew up, showing public emotion was considered in bad taste. Nevertheless, we worked for another year to warm up the manuscript.

It is a short book. This was done on purpose. I have read too many long memoirs filled with boring stuff about ancestors and worn-out aristocracy. So I decided to start with the action and stop with the action—or to make it an action-filled book. I packed the last 50 plus years of my life into 15 short, fast-moving chapters. That makes for a quick read, and I trust, an entertaining, yet informative one.

One man said, "Your book is just plain fun." A number of people said, "It reads like a novel and should be made into a movie or television miniseries." Still others said, "Once I picked it up and began to read, I couldn't put it down."

What I suggest is that everyone should write a memoir—whether for family history or for other reasons. I learned so much by writing mine.

For instance, I learned that my life had come in cycles, and that no two cycles were alike. It has been said that for evolving souls, one mind power will come forward to be developed. That mind power will call forth certain people, experiences and places to help develop that particular mind power. When we have done so sufficiently then that mind power will recede in consciousness, and often the people, places and events connected with it will also recede.

Then another mind power will come forth to be developed, and it will bring with it some new people, places and events to help with its development. I have written about these various mind powers in my book, The Healing Secrets of the Ages.

I gradually moved from the east coast to the west coast as the various cycles of my life changed. This long-view perspective helped me understand many things about my life that had not been entirely clear before.

A Prosperity Love Story, From Rags to Enrichment, does just that: It describes the personal love stories, how they started, developed, were concluded, and what I learned from them. The overall love story describes the various prosperity laws I learned about and used to gradually prosper. One reader wrote, "I read your memoir all the way through and immediately got a prosperity demonstration. I'm going back for more!" So read and prosper.

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