Author: Renee Linnell

Publisher: Pink Skeleton Publishing

In Still on Fire, Renee Linnell has crafted a self-help memoir mingled with life coaching.Renee is a serial entrepreneur who has founded or co-founded fivecompanies. She holds an MBA from NYU. In addition, she was a modeland a professional dancer.

The many challenges Reneehas encountered are successfully integrated into an engrossing readwith sage advice, yielding valuable insights into our own lives. Herpersonal life story told in the first person is more reflective thanreportorial and reads like an adventure film. Renee believes hermission is to remind people “Who They Truly Are and to reignitetheir passion for being alive.”

Throughout the memoir,Renee raises questions about her identity, relationships with men,and personal history. As she continuously pursues answers, shedemonstrates the candor of her quest and the depth of herself-interrogation. Yes, the tales are entertaining, but they arealso relatable. Nothing is held back, as we are given a candidglimpse of her way of life who she was and how she has developed intothe woman she is today.

She had come to terms withherself once she confronted her painful past, including her father’sdeath when a teenager and a mother who was an emotionally abusivealcoholic who did not feed her when she was a child. Renee recountsthat her mother had once smashed a glass sculpture into her face whenshe was less than two years old. This almost killed her, and she hadto undergo weeks of reconstructive surgery. She points out that,although her mother may have had some positive qualities, she blamesher for being incredibly insecure and continually grappling withadult romantic relationships. The latter are more fully probed in thenarrative.

We further learn thatRenee was ordained as a Buddhist monk, brainwashed in a Buddhistcult, and burned everything she owned.

At a very young age, Reneebegan touring the world over. Some descriptions of her fearlessantics will have you shaking your head with your mouth wide open,asking, was she off her mind to undertake such risks in far-offplaces as the Maldives, Nepal, Hawaii, New Zealand and elsewhere?

For illustration, shedescribes how she turned up in Malé, the capital of Maldives, atthree o’clock in the morning. She was alone, without her friendswho were expected to meet her in Singapore and travel to the Maldiveswith her. But sadly, one of her friends found out from a pre-travelphysical that she had breast cancer and had to cancel along with herother friends.

Upon landing at theairport, she meets a stranger who will accompany her to an islandcalled Pasta Point, which, incidentally, I looked up and ischaracterized as “every surfers dream!” They will proceed on atiny, decrepit, splintered wooden craft with Renee’snine-foot-six-inch longboard and her bags. Her guide does not speakEnglish and cannot tell her how long the trip will take to reach theisland. She has apprehensions and recites to herself, “please letme be safe, and prays, God please let me be safe.” Finally, theysafely show up at the island, and she is met by a guy with anAustralian accent. Her accommodations are two soggy twin mattresseson flimsy wooden slats. Not exactly what she was expecting. She did end up spending two weeks in Pasta Point, making wonderful friends, riding amazing waves. She even found a mentor, an older man who coached her to surf on small boards.

Renee has handled thenarrative pacing of this memoir admirably, organizing the materialinto a chronological framework that is divided into five parts,decisions, wild ride, spirit, love, and whole, ending with anEpilogue.

The page preceding theTable of Contents appropriately sums up the pivotal message of thememoir: “To everyone who is tired-tired of fitting in, tired ofplaying small, tired of being afraid, overworked, over stressed....and tired of living a life without true joy. May you stop makingexcuses for why mediocrity is okay for you and take the leap into alife you love.”

Follow Here To Read Norm's Interview With Renee Linnell