Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

A: Truth be told, I didn’t “realize” I wanted to be writer; I realized my purpose and path as well as the reason(s) for each and both. All of which helped to formulate my current mission. The Universe realized that one way for me to fulfill that purpose was to be a writer and an author as well as a singer/songwriter. The words and music in, and including, their respective “packaging” have become the functional medium used to deliver the message(s).

Q: How and when did you make this dream a reality?

A: That’s the really fun part–it’s an evolutionary and revolutionary process. It’s still becoming a reality. Technically, it started in 1996 when we found out my (late) husband of 10 years had lung cancer, when within nanoseconds I realized the true meaning of life ‘n’ love. Purposefully, it started December 2000 when I became the proud matriarch of my store, deliberately and aptly named Synchronicity — A Metaphysical Dynasty. I was still entrenched in Corporate America at the time, so working full time and owning the store posed quite a challenge. But I knew I had to do it–I knew I had to provide a means, and the tools, to a potential happy ending for the many people searching–no, groping and grasping for answers to why their lives weren’t panning out the way they had envisioned back in the day when innocence was not lost.

I quickly realized I was on the right path, perhaps not the right road. With that realization came the offering of a severance package from Corporate America which afforded me the opportunity to become a Marital/Family/Couples therapist, as well as the ability to sell my store and let someone else carry on that mission while I gave birth to “Couples Café: Where Couples Go to be Devoured by Love.” Receiving a publishing contract within 13 days of sending out a query confirmed that I was back on the right road. In a sense, the book wrote itself, filling a void I had found while on my own answer-seeking journey. That’s when I realized the answers aren’t “out there”; they’re within. I came to realize that the void wasn’t in the message(s)–the same message(s) are all around us–it was in the delivery of the “how to” unravel the seemingly imposed answers to find our own. Couples Café does this by combining the psychological building blocks of the psyche with the metaphysical building blocks of the soul. The “whys” and “how tos” are presented as a recognizable restaurant menu (i.e., Appetizers, Entrees, Desserts, etc.) of food metaphors and analogies to afford a more relatable and palatable method of truly digesting some ‘tough’ information to digest. The goal for the patron (reader) then, is to deconstruct why we behave in ways diametrically opposed to attracting and having that which we truly want; to then reframe those behaviors to match our own discerned answers. It’s the ’spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down, in the most delightful way.’

The confirmations have been varied and plenty. I’ve had a newspaper and web-zine columns; have been a relationship/life spiritual advisor; have been a featured writer for Date.com and Atlanta Singles Spot magazine; have conducted speaking engagements; and more. In short, applying my own ‘messages’ to my own dream are what’s truly making my dream a reality; one at which I marvel every time I attract a new stepping-stone–such as this, in fact. Watching and participating in making this dream a reality for so many others and myself has truly been the most rewarding and confirming ingredients of this evolutionary journey.

Q: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned so far in your writing career?

A: That it’s not so much in the actual writing, it’s in the intention, the passion, the sincerity, the evolution, and the belief in yourself and the message(s) inferred and implied in whatever it is you’re writing about. That it takes time–that you have to sow and nurture the seeds to produce the blooms. That you have to navigate your way around to find your niche, as well as the process to establish yourself as a stellar leader and member of and for that niche. You have to focus and commit yourself to making the dream a reality as well as allowing yourself to be who you truly are in order to become that which you see yourself becoming.

Q: What are you working on right now?

A: Oh so many things. I’m finishing up a survey to validate the theories in my book, for which I then hope to get a Research Grant to further those studies. I’m 3.5 years into, and comin’ down the home stretch of, my 5-year plan with the top two goals being to be on the NYT (non-fiction) best-seller list and to have my own national TV show. I’m currently in pre-production of my own Local Access TV show. I recently attended the National Publicity Summit where I had the opportunity to meet with producers of many top national TV shows. As a result, I’ve been on the Bonnie Graham Radio Show, will be featured in an upcoming issue of Woman’s World, and was asked to submit a 4-minute segment for The Today Show, in addition to the continued follow-up from the Summit. I’ve recently developed a method to combine therapy and songwriting; and will soon begin conducting “Couples Café” workshops through Knowledge Shop Atlanta. All that, in addition to working on production of my second CD and the many things I do for publicity and promotion of “Couples Café” and my first CD “love conquers all.”

Q: Name some authors or books that have influenced your writing life in a positive way.

A: Oddly and sadly enough, and yet not so odd, I do not know the name of the author who had the most powerful influence on my (writing) life. In addition to him, though, through their writings, messages, and the fact that they made their dreams realities, the authors who’ve been most influential have been Iyanla Vanzant, James Redfield, John Bradshaw, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Charlotte Davis Kasl, Og Mandino, M. Scott Peck, Dr. Phil McGraw, Louise Hay and oh so many others too numerous to list yet for whom I’m oh so grateful. The authors, though not actual ‘authors,’ per se, who’ve been most influential are all those who’ve contributed and will contribute to the “writing” of my life’s story.

Q: What have you recently read or what are you reading right now that you would consider an outstanding work?

A: I’m currently reading a book called Crucial Conversations. I smile–and relate–anytime I read a book like this as it is yet another representation of others making their dreams realities; with whom I’m on this journey’s road to bringing the true essence of human nature back to humanity.

Q: What excites or ignites your soul?

A: Loving-kindness, honesty, and integrity; the purity, innocence, and “knowing” of the human spirit; being the catalyst for and watching the true meaning of life ‘n’ love spark the ignition of someone’s “awareness” bulb as it illuminates and propels their inner-being to become all they truly are to attract all they truly desire; and ultimately, life ‘n’ love itself.

Chef Shari, formerly known as Shari G. Moss, a Certified Marital/Family/Couples Therapist and previous owner of a Metaphysical Shoppe aptly named Synchronicity, left Corporate America after 23 years to pursue her life’s purpose and dreams; becoming an author and singer/songwriter whose works and verse aim to share what she deeply believes to be the menu for creating, maintaining, and savoring relationships filled with emotional, spiritual, and physical connection. Her formal education, including a B.S. from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Georgia State, and “lessons learned” from life’s trials, tribulations, and jubilations have become the basis for the Couples Café menu items. Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Chef Shari currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. Shari can be reached at couplescafe@comcast.net and is available for one-to-one relationship and life planning and coaching, guest appearances, interviews, articles, workshops, columns, even TV/Radio show host!

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