I'm writing a book, The Kindness Chronicles
Andrea Reynolds knows what it's like to be flat broke and alone. In 1998 she closed down and walked away from her thriving Author's Bed and Breakfast in Toronto when police informed her that the landlord who had been terrorizing her after a home invasion was indeed dangerous and she needed to "disappear" in order to stay safe.
She fled to the United States. Alone in what felt like a "foreign" country after living so many years in Canada, and suffering from "shell-shock" (PTSD) she regained her physical health over several years and began to recreate her life. No longer able to travel or appear in public, she lost the two ways she had attracted clients: appearing as a frequent guest expert on national TV and by speaking professionally. She started rebuilding her marketing consulting firm from the bottom, and re-established a speaker agency that she had dismantled 7 years before.
Andrea had previously spent 18 months immersed in full-time research on a book on the "invisible homeless". She gained the confidence of countless men and women and teens who, despite being homeless, were somehow able to avoid sleeping on park benches. Their personal accounts suggested the gift ideas in her booklet, Crisis Gifts. Ironically, after starting work on this booklet, Andrea, herself, became homeless on May 30, 2008.
The homeowner's association of her condo told her she had to take down her book publishing web site from which she derived 100% of her income. She endured months of being bullied and terrorized by residents of the building because she was one of very few residents who worked to earn income. She incurred massive credit card debt in order to pay her $1100 mortgage and $400 condo fees without income for 17 months. She finally sold the condo at a loss and lived in her van with her cat, off and on, while she acted as her elderly father's Patient Advocate and Financial Manager. He passed away in April 2011 after battling cancer and dementia. Her mother passed away 50 days later in Dallas Texas. She then became Executrix for both estates at the same time.
Unsinkable, she currently writes, publishes booklets containing her unconventional – and some say brilliant – tips. She is rebuilding her life and rebuilding her publishing company one short book at a time. She hopes to raise funds for legal counsel to fight the HOA who denied her the fundamental rights granted under Canada's constitution.