News Photo by Darby Hinkley Lesslee Dort sits in The News office as she discusses her new book, “Regarding the Journey: Weekly Meditative Essays for personal growth and self-awareness,” and the accompanying journal, set to come out on Tuesday.

ALPENA — Alpena native Lesslee Dort has written a collection of 52 essays in her book, “Regarding the Journey: Weekly Meditative Essays for personal growth and self-awareness” and an accompanying journal. The book and journal will be available on Tuesday on Amazon.

Dort has been writing Lifestyles columns for The Alpena News since May of 2018.

“The author invites readers to consider life’s moments from fresh angles, encouraging them to let go of limitations, appreciate the power of acceptance, and find meaning in both everyday interactions and pivotal experiences,” a description on the back cover of the book explains. “‘Regarding the Journey’ is more than a collection of essays; it’s a companion for anyone seeking to live a life of greater awareness, compassion, and intention. Whether read alone or shared, this work offers readers the opportunity to cultivate inner peace and purpose, one reflection at a time.”

Dort explained the process of writing the book, which started in 2018.

Former Lifestyles Editor Diane Speer met with Dort to talk about writing a monthly column for the Lifestyles page.

“She and I decided I’d be a good candidate to write a monthly column,” Dort said, “which was exciting for me. I find writing very cathartic.”

She said writing helps her navigate through challenges, and if her writing helps others, then that’s even better.

“It’s a collection of 52 essays,” she said of ‘Regarding the Journey.’ “All have been printed in some form in The Alpena News before, but they’re changed slightly for the book. My thought behind it is, you could read it throughout the year.”

She said there are 52 essays because there are 52 weeks in a year. She encourages readers to read an essay a week and reflect on it, journal about your insights into that topic, and share what you’ve learned with others, if you are comfortable.

“Use that week to think about the topic,” Dort said. “The accompanying journal has a matching 52 chapters, with three different prompts.”

Those prompts include a listing-type journal, which Dort calls “javelin journaling”; a writing prompt with two pages of space; and a table topic prompt.

“My husband and I, when we were raising our kids, we would have a table topic every night at dinner,” Dort said. “We would talk about it, share points of view, feelings, not to overwhelm someone else with your opinion, but to understand where everybody’s coming from.”

She said the table topics are meant to spark conversation.

“That could be an internal talk with yourself,” Dort said. “I think we can all speak to ourselves more positively. So, we can use it to talk to ourselves, to some trusted people. There’s a lot of relationship stuff in the essays.”

She said instead of trying to muddle through our daily problems alone, “it’s better to just talk it through.”

“I also included a topical content page,” Dort said. “So, if you wanted to just study trust in a section, you could go to trust in the table of contents, and go to the five or six articles that talk about trust.”

Both the book and journal will be available in paperbook and e-book on Amazon.

“You can order the Kindle book now, and it will be delivered to your e-reader on Jan. 7,” Dort said.

Visit Dort’s webpage at regardingthejourney.com, or email her at lesslee@regardingthejourney.com.