DC Published Authors Collective: Marggie Moertl

Marggie Moertl is an author, life doula and inner-life coach who’s passionate about helping others to connect to their inner voice while strengthening the Divine conversation that develops.

Moertl writes under the name of Marggie Hatala and has published two books: Sally: A Memoir and Life as a Prayer. Moertl has her own business, Embrace Your Inner Self, through which she offers spiritual, private-meditation and journal groups and a contemplative prayer circle designed for serious spiritual seekers. Her books are available at The Pearl in Sturgeon Bay, on Amazon and at marggiehatala.com.

Learn more about Moertl and her writing below.

In what way does your connection with Door County influence your writing?

Marggie Moertl (MM): My writing is deeply connected to Door County since I relocated to this area as I completed my first book, Sally: A Memoir. I began my work here by returning to hospice nursing while also launching my book(s), offering myself as an end-of-life doula and joining/leading a Write On, Door County writers’ group. It was these faithful writing friends who patiently listened to and critiqued my many rewrites of Life as a Prayer as it was written.

Talk about your writing process.

MM: My life is centered on my spiritual practice of meditative journaling. I find it my source of inspiration and guidance as I begin my day. From that, a deep desire to share this very personal and sacred part of myself with others through my books and other writing groups that I lead finds impulse within me. I use this quiet time to jot notes, write content or follow my own inner prompts in developing my work. After that, I create weekly quiet time to sit down and begin to actually write – as any other author does. It takes dedication and commitment, combined with a deep motivation to share this as my spiritual process.

What, to you, are the most important elements of good writing?

MM: I find honesty of self the most important element of good writing. Whether fiction, nonfiction, memoir or any other genre, the author’s honesty of emotion and experience is apparent. I wrote Life as a Prayer with the intention to bring the reader to my experience and to touch them in this way.

Do you have any advice about the publishing process?

MM: I did submit Life as a Prayer to one publisher of spiritual books, and when it was not picked up, I felt the message was necessary now. I chose to self-publish through Amazon/Kindle Direct Publishing. It was economical and speedy; however, in hindsight, I would have searched for a self-publishing platform that provided more support and marketing.

What are you currently reading?

MM: I am currently deep into reading books that feed my soul in an imaginative way, but also bring greater awareness to the truth of who I am on a spiritual plane. I recently completed Patti Callahan’s Once upon a Wardrobe, a book that truly spelled this process out to me. I’m having a great time joining imagination, fantasy and spiritual realities!

Excerpt from Life as a Prayer, the story of Marggie Hatala’s spiritual transformation during her many years as a hospice nurse.

“… have you found ways to help yourself through this (grief for the recent loss of her husband)?”

“Not yet. My family is wonderful, as you can imagine. But while they miss their dad and grandfather, they have one another. I’m alone here even when they are near me. And then they leave and go back to their homes … together. It is the utter emptiness of my life without Russell that no person, no activity can replace.”

… I reassured her. “You are in deep grief … Just as Russell was going through his own reshaping, learning to transition from his physical self back to his purely spiritual self, you are going through our own reshaping. You are simply deep inside yourself, while your energy body provides therapeutic shielding of your whole self …”