Angel in My Hair by Pat Walker, Guest Blogger

One of the many things I like about Pat Walker is her energy -- each time I'm in the same room with her, I feel lighter, as though my battery has been recharged and my priorities rearranged. She's a special lady, and I'm honored to welcome her to my blog to celebrate the release of her inspirational memoir, Dance of the Electric Hummingbird.

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Angel in My Hair by Pat Walker, Guest Blogger


All my life, I wanted to be a writer; I just never knew it. I thought everyone had words that excited them so much that they had to scribble them down on the steering wheel while driving 75 miles per hour down I-25 or onto the corner of a pizza-grease-infused napkin while having lunch with one of their kids in the school cafeteria.

I didn’t take writing seriously, though, until I met Sammy Hagar, multi-millionaire tequila magnate and former lead singer of the legendary rock band Van Halen.

In 2003, I wandered into a bar in Mexico with my husband, expecting to enjoy a rock concert by a famous singer I’d not previously heard of, but something frightening and wonderful happened instead. In the midst of the screaming guitars and the cheering fans, my spirit rose out of my body and became engulfed in a white light and a feeling of ecstasy that should not have been humanly possible. I saw God. And my soul. At the time, I considered that perhaps I shouldn’t have had that second margarita! But before long, more strange things started happening, things I wasn’t even sure I believed in—psychic revelations, glimpses of past lives, and contact from spirits and angels.

Months passed and the paranormal episodes escalated along with my concern for my sanity. I couldn’t stop writing about any of it, so with equal parts privilege and trepidation, I wrote to Sammy. I explained what was happening to me and how it all started during his concert in Mexico. To my utter shock, he wrote back. He also took it upon himself to help me decipher the meaning of all the supernatural events. And he encouraged me to tell my story. Now I’m just your average, drive-the-kids-to-football-practice-in-my-minivan mom, these things don’t happen to people like me—the explosive world of sex, drugs and rock stars—combined with mystical experiences, no less. But they did.

I kept writing until a full-length book spilled out of me.

After eight years and 8,976,544 edits, sending out countless queries, pitching my book at writer’s conferences, and like most authors, getting those dreaded rejections, I grew discouraged. I knew I had a great story—a spiritual journey similar to Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love—but with an unusual bent: the personal involvement of a rock star. So what if agents didn’t believe in me? Sammy did. He promoted my book at many of his concerts and on the radio; his fans couldn’t wait to read it.

I decided to self-publish, but first, something told me to contact an author I’d been in touch with years earlier. He wrote a book about a similar experience and we exchanged a few e-mails at the time. When I contacted him again, he recommended I e-mail his friend at Rainbow Ridge Books—the publisher who made Neale Donald Walsch’s Conversations with God series an international sensation.

It was impossible that a publisher with such an illustrious reputation would even consider an unknown author like me, right? But like all the other “impossibilities” of late, it just fell into my lap so I went with it.

Within two weeks, we signed the contract.

Thus began a series of legalities, negotiations, and relaying of messages between publisher, rock star, and Aaron Hagar, the rock star’s son—a professional artist whom Sammy recruited to do the cover artwork for my book. I had no time to breathe let alone find someone to advise me on how to deal with these unusual circumstances, but true to the serendipitous nature of my journey once again, it all came together and better than I ever could have imagined.

People often tell me that my story may have positive spiritual undertones that are sometimes passed on to others, even if just in small ways. One woman said she loved the angel in my hair in the cover painting, and how clever it was that we put it there! Well, we didn’t put it there, not intentionally anyway. I didn’t even notice it until she pointed it out. Coincidence? Perhaps, but after everything I’ve experienced, I no longer believe in coincidences.

My journey showed me spiritual dimensions beyond my wildest dreams. It forced me to reevaluate my perception of what is real and what is important in life; it taught me the incredible power of my mind and spirit, and I learned firsthand, that nothing is impossible. Nothing.

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Thanks again for being my guest today, Pat.

To learn more about Pat, her writing life, and Dance of the Electric Hummingbird, visit her website. The memoir is now available at amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com as well as the Van Halen store. It will soon be available in the gift shop at Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Pat is scheduled for a guest appearance on Sat., Nov. 26 at 5:00 MST on INTERVIEWS AND INTERACTIONS, live on KTTK radio 630 AM or at www.K-TALK.com;

A book signing at Reader's Cove, 1001 East Harmony Rd., Unit C in Fort Collins, on Thursday, Dec. 1 from 5:30-7:00 PM (970) 266-1618;

And on Sat., March 10, 2012, from 9:30-10:50 am MST, she will be a guest on "Exploring Unexplained Phenomena" live on KZUM 89.3 FM, Lincoln, NE or via http://www.e-u-p.org. Listeners may call in at 402-474-5086.

You can find Pat on Twitter as @Bajarockpat