River Maria Urke – What Inspired Me to Write My Book

What Inspired Me to Write My Book - Conceived in Dream

by River Maria Urke

Women’s Obsession with Shoes: Real Stories Straight from the Sole is not a book about how many shoes a woman owns or how much they cost; instead, it is a book about life and the stories women tell inspired by shoes. The nights walked and the games played around the world, through time and age. Lost Moccasins with lessons to Black Boot claims. Every story is told in the woman’s voice as if you were sitting next to her while she told the story. Some of them will spark memories while others will be entertaining in their own way.

People that know me are surprised I published a book about shoes. I was the shoeless, nonchalant tomboy of the group. Until one day, I strolled up wearing Nine West pumps, a pretty dress, and a splash of lipstick. I couldn’t help but joke, ”I finally found my feminine side at the age of thirty.” I began learning how to put on make-up, and get all dolled up for an evening. At the same time, I came to realize I loved shoes. Not just any pair of shoes but heels. Definitely not those 5 inch stilettos and usually only for evening. I loved dancing in low heels. At least I did for a few years, but then my life dramatically changed and I became disabled from the progression of multiple sclerosis. My balance went downhill and my heels found a new home hanging in the closet.

Then one day, I was sitting on a bench waiting for my mom watching women trying on shoes and I began drifting into daydream. My mind moved between images of women sharing stories and women with their shoes and my own love of hearing peoples stories. As the daydream played through the idea of Women’s Obsession with Shoes was born. True stories from real women about an experience or time in their lives sparked by a pair of their shoes. Blending my two loves into story.

The book took years to finish layer by layer. First, I interviewed twenty women between the ages of 17 to 67 years old from different lifestyles. I gathered their recorded stories over three years. Then, I transcribed their stories verbatim to written word with little editing onto paper in a concise manner for all to read and enjoy. After all of that, I spent a winter researching the history of shoes and studying some simple analysis’s of the obsession to prepare me to write the introduction. The book was completed and published in 2012.