Find Hope After Loss With Coloring Life by Dr. Alise Cortez

Something Or Other Publishing is delighted to announce the upcoming publication of Dr. Alise Cortez’s newest work on grief, meaning, and resilience, Coloring Life: How Loss Invites Us to Live More Vibrant Lives.

Dr. Alise Cortez is the chief purpose officer at Alise Cortez and Associates, a management consulting firm specializing in activating meaning and purpose. An inspirational speaker, social scientist, author, and host of the “Working on Purpose” radio show, she developed her expertise within the human capital / organizational excellence industry over the last 25 years focusing on helping companies, leaders, and individuals across the globe to live with “gusto” and make the most of their one precious life. Dr. Cortez enables organizations to lead from purpose and create cultures of meaning that inspire impassioned performance, meaningful engagement, and fulfillment while encouraging a devoted stay within the organization. For individuals, she facilitates a global online community and various retreats to enable people hungry for a more meaningful and purposeful life to create it for themselves.

Coloring Life is an intimate sharing of her experience of losing her parents and how she struggled to make sense of their death. Reading it is like coming home to an old friend and being wrapped in their bosom for solace and comfort. Nestled in that embrace to help you connect and better understand your loss, the book’s second part offers “whispers of wisdom” gained from losing the ones you love the most to live more deeply and love stronger.

SOOP catch up with Alise to discuss more about this heart-warming project:

When did you start your author journey?

Alise: I had “become an author” on my annual resolution list in 2010, and it took me 10 years to accomplish (so take heart!). I’ve been a student studying in college for much of my adult life, so the intellectual challenge is an integral part of my identity. I have written two leadership/business books based on research, one personal memoir, and one curated collection of stories about purpose. There is clearly something “in me” that needs to write, express, and share.

What exactly inspired you to write Coloring Life?

Alise: My parents’ passing in January 2019 was the initial trigger as I made it a practice to pen my thoughts and sentiments about the experience most every day over six weeks. It was cathartic to write. A few years later, I realized I hadn’t released the work in the form of a book, and I’d gained some valuable wisdom in reflecting on the losses, so I finally set my sights on creating and releasing the book. I felt compelled to do so. And when I began to share the early manuscript with friends, many of them conveyed that they felt the work put into words what they felt but didn’t have the words to do so. They said it was “very emotional” to read, an experience I did want to evoke to help readers move through their grief. So then, I thought I might be on to something useful to readers and just put my head down and knocked it out.

Coloring Life: How Loss Invites Us to Live More Vibrant Lives (2023).

What was the most challenging part of writing the book?

Alise: Writing the lessons. (it was easy to write the story of my parents’ passing). The lessons were challenging because they continued to unfold within me. The voice that whispers them to me keeps speaking, so the lessons are “never done.” Never fully baked. They are foundational and will continue to evolve in and through me.

Who are you targeting with this project?

Alise: Anyone who has experienced a loss. Loss can take the form of divorce, job loss, pet death, as well as the death of significant people. I wrote it for people struggling with the loss and how to make sense of it.

What do you hope readers take away from your story?

Alise: I hope readers find the book to be “a friend who listens and understands” what they are going through. I hope reading the book gives them a sense of cleanliness of their emotions and that they emerge from the read feeling whole, hopeful, and ready for their “next,” whatever that is in life.

Do you have any other projects in the works?

Alise: Yes. I set a goal in 2019 to release one book yearly for 10 years, starting in 2020. So far, I’m on track with the following published works:

Purpose Ignited (2020)

Passionately Striving in “Why” (2021)

Coloring Life (2022)

The Great Revitalization (2023)

I have plans to write a children’s book to help them look early in their life for how they can uniquely serve others. I want the book to anchor them to see how they are unique and special to help them develop a healthy identity and self-esteem. I am also exploring co-authoring a book on potential with an attorney friend. More to come.

Can you share something about the book that isn’t in the blurb?

Alise: The book is an expose and celebration of the human condition, and it invites the reader to not only come along with me for my own journey but to explore their own more deeply. Readers may be surprised to recognize how much they grow and are “unleashed” to go for their own life dreams after they finish the read.

Any advice for emerging writers?

Alise: Just start! Put your thoughts down on paper. Start capturing your ideas. Many would-be writers stop themselves from starting because they have the mistaken idea they must put words down that sound good from the start. They limit themselves by believing the work should come out well from the start. That’s not how writing works! It’s messy. It evolves over its crafting. And nothing replaces a good editor! I encourage aspiring writers to check out Tiago Forte’s Building Your Second Brain book. He teaches a system to capture and organize your ideas for faster traction to share. I summarized the book on my Working on Purpose radio show, and you can catch the episode here: (216) Build Your 2nd Brain and Transform Information Overload into Organized Creativity – YouTube.

Coloring Life by Dr. Alise Cortez is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and here.