In the hands of author Elizabeth H. Cottrell, the handwritten note is set free from old-fashioned irrelevance to become a superpower tool for connecting with others. Heartspoken: How to Write Notes that Connect, Comfort, Encourage, and Inspire will guide you to cultivating your own unique note-writing voice and give you the confidence to use it. Consider the flipping of a light switch. You can’t see the electricity. You may not even understand how it works. But when power starts flowing through the open wire, it is nothing short of miraculous. She will show you how to find and flip that switch in your own note writing, both personal and professional. Grasp this beautiful process, and your writing will become alive, meaningful, and impactful in ways you could never have thought possible.
Elizabeth Cottrell Author Bio
Elizabeth’s circuitous career has taken her from published leprosy researcher to stay-at-home mother, to community activist and leader serving on nonprofit and corporate boards, to ham radio operator, to freelance writer and editor. Above all, she is a connector and encourager whose expertise and passion for note writing is coming to a world made keenly aware by pandemic that we humans are hardwired for connection. A veteran note writer herself, Elizabeth is the right person at the right time to help readers find their own heartspoken voice and learn to harness this powerful tool for nurturing their most precious relationships.
Bios Elizabeth Different Lengths for use in articles or introductions
Cottrell is pronounced COT’-tral
Heartspoken is one word when used in my book or bio.
Short bio for guest posts 53 words 350 characters with spaces
Elizabeth is a writer, speaker, blogger, and award-winning author of HEARTSPOKEN: How to Write Notes that Connect, Comfort, Encourage, and Inspire. Above all, she is a connector and encourager whose passion for note writing has launched a #HeartspokenMovement to help readers find their own heartspoken voice and learn to harness their own note-writing superpower. Her message about the vital role of connection resonates with anyone seeking to build and nurture both personal and professional relationships.
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After an idyllic childhood on a Virginia cattle farm, I traveled to New Orleans for graduate school and married a Louisiana boy. We enjoyed Louisiana for six years before he brought me back to Virginia, where we raised our children in the Shenandoah Valley. Besides freelance writing, I’ve been a community activist and leader, the first woman board chair in First National Corporation’s (First Bank) 100+ year history. Now a published author and founder of the Heartspoken Movement, my mission is to inspire and teach note writers to claim their connection superpower: writing heartspoken notes that connect, comfort, encourage, and inspire.
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Elizabeth H. Cottrell—writer, award-winning author, and speaker— has long been a business and nonprofit leader in the Shenandoah Valley and the Commonwealth of Virginia. When she was elected to the board of trustees of First Bank/First National Corporation in 1992, she was the first female board member in its almost 100-year history, and since 2016, she has been its first female Board Chairman. Her book HEARTSPOKEN: How to Write Notes that Connect, Comfort, Encourage, and Inspire, was published by Koehler Books in 2022, has launched the #HeartspokenMovement ,and has had a ripple effect among note writers as well as sales professionals.
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Elizabeth’s circuitous career has taken her from published leprosy researcher to stay-at-home mother, to community activist and leader on nonprofit and corporate boards, to ham radio operator, to freelance writer/editor and blogger at Heartspoken.com.
Above all, she is a connector and encourager whose writing explores the four essential connections of the Heartspoken Life: with God, Self, Others, and Nature. Her expertise and passion for note writing in her 2022 book come at just the right time to touch a pandemic world desperately in search of connection. Elizabeth is the right person at the right time to help readers find their own heartspoken voice and learn to harness this powerful tool for nurturing their most precious relationships.
Elizabeth is an idea curator, sharing inspirational, interesting, and educational ideas from her own eclectic reading and harnessing them through her writing in pursuit of her own Heartspoken Life. She invites her readers along for the ride.
Author Contact Info
The best way to contact the author is through her website’s contact page: https://heartspoken.com/contact or through her email: elizabethc (at) heartspoken (dot) com.
Connect with Elizabeth:
- Join our Facebook Group: The Art of the Heartspoken Note
This is a free, private group. Use the link below to request to join and we’ll welcome you into a lively group of note writers. You’ll find posts about etiquette and wording, stamps, calligraphy, artwork, papermaking, and much more. We learn from and encourage each other!
https://facebook.com/groups/HeartspokenNotes - Get “Today’s HEARTSPOKEN Note” newsletter
for further note and letter-writing support. Using the link below, you can subscribe for free to access the archives of past articles and to be notified by email when there is new content. I try to post weekly.
https://heartspoken.substack.com - Note and Letter Writing Articles on my Heartspoken Blog
The larger themes of my blog are the four essential connections of the Heartspoken Life, but I’ve written many posts here about the powerful connection tool of the heartspoken note. The link below takes you to posts in this category, but while you’re there, I hope you’ll find other posts of interest.
https://heartspoken.wpenginepowered.com/category/notewriting/
Follow me elsewhere for additional inspiration and tips:
- I am @HeartspokenLife on
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/heartspokenlife
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/heartspokenlife
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/heartspokenlife
- Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/heartspokenlife
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/@Heartspokenlife
- Monthly newsletter on LinkedIn: The Heartspoken Connection: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethcottrell/
- My articles on Medium: https://heartspoken.medium.com
Book Tip Sheet
Click to view or download: Heartspoken Book Tip Sheet
Press Releases
Book Launch press release August 1, 2022: Heartspoken Book Press Release 08-2022
Firebird Book Award press release August 8, 2022: Firebird Book Award Press Release 07-2022
<a name="awards"></a>Awards
Readers’ Favorite Award – September 2023
Reader’s Choice Book Award – May 2023
Outstanding Creator Award – March 22, 2023
Nonfiction Authors Association Gold Award – May 2023
Firebird Book Award Winner in the “Gift Book” category
Firebird Book Award from Speak Up Talk Radio/Pat Rullo – August 2022
Titan Literary Award Gold Award
Interviews
Here’s a playlist of video interviews in which I was a guest.
The Book Drop Mic with Jason Wright, Season 1, Episode 6, hosted New York Times bestselling author by Jason F. Wright, October, 2023.
Jack Rants with Modern Banker podcast, Episode 21: Unlocking the Power of Personal Notes, interview with host Jack Hubbard, September, 2023.
The Admired Advisor podcast, “How Handwritten Notes Build Modern Relationships with Elizabeth Cottrell,” interview with host Steve Atkinson, Buckingham Strategic Partners, September, 2023.
Awesome Etiquette podcast, Episode 464, interview with co-host Lizzie Post for The Emily Post Institute, July, 2023. My interview was the bonus section starting at about the 43:30 minute mark and ending at about 1:06.
Jones.Show: Jonesing for Good podcast, hosted by Randall Kenneth Jones, January 12, 2023
Queens of Moxie podcast, hosted by Mary Kay Campbell, January 6, 2023
Selling from the Heart podcast, hosted by Larry Levine and Darrell Amy, December 31, 2022.
“Elizabeth Cottrell Firebird Winner Author Interview” by Pat Rullo, Speak Up Talk Radio, September 2022
- Summary and Audio file of interview – 32 minutes
- Transcription of Pat Rullo Interview
- Elizabeth’s Short Tip for Authors on Pat Rullo’s Boom Bang Oh My Gosh Wow! Podcast – 2 minutes
“Writing Notes From The Heart: An Interview with Elizabeth Cottrell” – interview October, 2022 by Lynn Haraldson on her blog Zen Bag Lady. Lynn is author of Common Ground: Writings on Family, Change, Loss & Resilience as well as her upcoming memoir An Obesity of Grief to be published by Koehler Books.
Recorded Interview with Elizabeth Cottrell for Soul Care Summit in May 2021. The Soul Care Summit 2021 was hosted by Taryn Nergaard.
Appearances, in person and in print
Numerous civic and local speaking programs/presentations: Partial listing.
Public workshop at Wakeman’s Grove Church of the Brethren, January 2022
The Mountain Courier, front page article by Joan Anderson, December 2022
Keynote speaker for Women’s Leadership Symposium, Shenandoah County Chamber of Commerce, November, 2022
“Confessions of a Serial Note Writer” presentation at the Greeting Card Association’s (GCA) Fall Retreat and Workshop in September, 2022.
- Video of GCA presentation – 19 minutes
- Text of GCA presentation
Woman’s World Book Club, July 25, 2022 (page 8)
Karen R. Sanderson’s Blog: “The Making of a Serial Note Writer” Summer 2022
Northern Virginia Daily and Winchester Star, article by Josette Keelor, June, 2022
Author and Book Cover Images
Author images and book cover files are in this Google Docs folder
Book Preview and Testimonials
CLICK HERE and scroll down to peruse the first 28 pages of the book. Below the testimonials are many testimonials for the book.