The Journey's the Thing: Reflections on Healing though the Written Word

What if the life you've been waiting to live is just twelve minutes away?

For years, Dera Nevin told herself she didn't have time to write. She was too busy, too committed to other things, too caught up in the demands of everyday life. But when she finally sat down with a simple timer and twelve minutes - the time it takes to steep a cup of tea - everything changed.

The Journey's the Thing is both memoir and manifesto: a collection of luminous, raw, and honest essays born from a year of dedicated daily journaling. Each week, Dera chose a single word - courage stillness, boundaries, joy, risk - and wrote about it for twelve minutes every day. By week's end, she had an essay. By year's end, she had discovered the truth she'd been avoiding: she wasn't too busy to write a book. She just hadn't been willing to claim the time.

With wisdom earned from decades as a trusted advisor, a long-distance runner who knows the power of showing up, and a writer who finally stopped making excuses, Dera invites you into her most honest reflections on fear, faith, decision-making, and what it means to live a good life. These essays explore the moments that hold us back and the choices that set us free -- on staying and leaving, on masks we wear and truths we hide, and on the meaning that marriage, volunteering, foundations, grace, adjustment, and revolution can hold in our lives.

But this isn't just Dera's story. It's an invitation.

Whether you're standing at a crossroads, feeling stuck in old patterns, or simply ready to meet yourself honestly on the page, The Journey's the Thing shows you it's not too late to start. The book includes discussion questions designed for book clubs and friend groups, because transformation happens not just in solitude, but in community.

Perfect for readers who love: memoir, personal growth, reflective essays, journaling, self-discovery, and anyone who's ever said "someday I'll write" but hasn't yet begun.

The journey to your best life doesn't require hours - just twelve minutes and the courage to show up, day by day, one week at a time.

Dera has been journaling her entire life-and it changed everything. After decades as a trusted advisor helping others navigate their most important decisions, she discovered that structured daily writing was the key to living without fear and embracing what matters most. In The Journey's the Thing, she shares her practice and invites you to unlock your own wisdom, one page at a time.