Welcome to the world, book baby!

So here we are, at last. The Big Day. The one you’ve been waiting for ever since you spent your Saturday afternoons curled up on your teenage bed reading Stephen King novels. There is a book out in the world with my name on the cover. A book that I wrote all by myself. This I Know: Notes on Unraveling the Heart is officially born today.

I’ve got quite a few posts brewing in my head about the writing process, as I feel compelled to demystify it for anyone out there who’s feeling their own sacred call to write a book. I’ve noticed I’m getting two types of response from readers who’ve reached out to me — the first group find themselves in the pages and know on a heart level what I’m writing about. I love this so much, I can’t even tell you. The other group feel a connection too, but they also write telling me that they now feel able to write their own book. I don’t know if it’s the sort of book we made, or the fact that I’m a regular gal who just happened to write a book, but there’s something happening that let’s people see that if there’s a book burning bright in their heart, it really IS POSSIBLE to get it down on paper. It IS POSSIBLE to send it out into the world.

I really do understand. Before I wrote a book i had no idea how to write a book. Turns out there’s no magic to it — it’s just a lot of grafting, and worrying, and more grafting. And an unseemly amount of staring into space, frowning. I’m going to dig further into the process in future posts, for sure. (Plus writing about writing is fun!)

Anyways, it’s been quite the ride. Here’s the evolution of my first book, as witnessed in this blog space:

The book I would write | May 2006
Searching for answers | May 2009
A very special announcement | May 2010
Feeling the fear | June 2010
Signing my book deal in NYC | September 2010
How (not) to write your first book | April 2011
Revealing the name | May 2011
Notes on editing a book | July 2011
Copy-editing in an Indian summer | September 2011
Every book needs a cover | October 2011
The joys of proofreading | December 2011
Two years later, it’s here! | March 2012
Thoughts on the book | March 2012
Out in the wild | May 2012
My top 10 book secrets | May 2012
Back in 2006 I was writing another book, one that was very raw and, actuallly, really hard to write. I was too close to the blast, and eventually realised that it wasn’t a book I could (or should) finish. I hadn’t lived enough of the story — I was still at the beginning. All in it took me six years to be ready to get it down on paper, and I’m so glad I waited. It was absolutely the right thing to do.

I don’t want to do a big Oscars acceptance speech because they are so annoying but I do just want to say thank you to Nikki Hardin, Mary Norris, Kristen Mellitt and Laura Nolan for being my book midwives, and to my mum, sister and nephew for letting me write about them in the book :)

And thank you to all of YOU who take the time to come to this blog and read my ramblings. Seriously, if it wasn’t for you there’d be no book to birth today. YOU GUYS ROCK MY WORLD! xxx
______

The blog book tour continues!

Monday 4th — Poppytalk

Tuesday 5th — Ali Edwards, Chookooloonks, Rachel Cole, Tara Mohr

Wednesday 6th — Shutter Sisters, Scoutie Girl, Roots of She, Kelly Rae Roberts

Thursday 7th — Intuitive Bridge, Lisa Sonora Beam

Friday 8th — Kind Over Matter

Friday 15th — Boho Girl, Sfgirlbybay, Brene Brown

This I know for sure

About the book, taken from the introduction:

This is a book about unraveling the layers of our lives and exploring what we find in order to better understand ourselves, our relationships, and our path. Sometimes it seems easier to go through life holding everything in, wrapped up, breath held, eyes forward, but life will always rub up against us—that’s how the pearls are formed. So unraveling is not a bad thing in this context. It’s not coming undone or losing control. It’s letting go in the best possible way, untangling the knots that hold you back, unwrapping the gifts you’ve hidden for too long, unearthing the potential that’s always been there, finally ditching the labels and should-haves, and letting yourself be what you were always meant to be. That’s what I did and what I continue to do to this day. Living mindfully, appreciating what I have, learning to let go of what I no longer need, and practicing kindness as often as I can—especially toward myself. Every layer I unraveled during my recovery taught me something new, and this book explores each layer in turn: how grief reshaped my life, how I found new meaning in the world around me, how I reconnected to my creativity, how I began to understand my past, and how I faced down my own reflection to try to accept the body I live in. Unraveling also helped me learn to appreciate my own company and nurture my important relationships. It is how I found my place in the world and the work I feel compelled to share.

So this is a guidebook of sorts, a collection of my thoughts and theories, illustrated with my beloved Polaroids. At the end of each chapter is a Reflection—a small creative exercise to help you think about the ideas and stories presented in the book. I hope these pages let you see that you are not alone, that your struggles are my struggles too. I don’t have the answers—I’m not sure if anyone really has the answers—but I do have a hell of a lot of questions and perhaps you do too. Some days I wake up and realize that I know absolutely nothing and that my birth certificate must be wrong because I am, in fact, still a child. But I know more than I did at twenty-one and I know more than I did last year. By the time these words are published I will know even more still; but for now, I’m going to record what I know today. As life is one long tangle of todays, this plan should work just fine. I don’t worry too much about tomorrow anymore. All we have is today.

This I know for sure.

______

Today sees the start of my small-but-perfectly-formed book blog tour!

Monday 4th — Poppytalk

Tuesday 5th — Ali Edwards, Chookooloonks, Rachel Cole, Tara Mohr

Wednesday 6th — Shutter Sisters, Scoutie Girl, Roots of She, Kelly Rae Roberts

Thursday 7th — Intuitive Bridge, Lisa Sonora Beam

Friday 8th — Kind Over Matter

Friday 15th — Boho Girl, Sfgirlbybay, Brene Brown

Something for the weekend

This made me cry: Isaac’s live lip-dub proposal (via Andrea)

Beautful abstract photographs

i plan to visit this coffee shop next time i’m in town (and here when I’m back in London in September)

Joan Didion on self-respect

27 dos and don’ts for being a badass woman

I want this to be my life

The true magic of Polaroid | the keychain iPhone charger

Fliqlo clock screensaver

The intervention. from Photobird on 8tracks.

20 things I should have known at 20

The real girl belly project

Teenage girls’ bedrooms

Have you been watching The Conversation? (I still remember Amanda when she was presenting The Word on Channel 4! And now she’s all grown up. With an American accent.)

Wish I’d been there: Manhattanhenge

Some inspiring Weekends Collected

And finally, there’s still time to join Exploring the Senses! The course starts on Tuesday and is completely free for everyone who buys a book. Thank you thank you thank you for buying my book! :)

A day in Londontown

What’s the true definition of friendship, you ask? It’s when you go to Londontown with friends to see Martha Beck talk at Earls Court, and when everyone in the room has had their book signed, your mate Sas (unbeknown to you) siddles up to Martha and has a wee little chat, which may have included the words ‘my friend Sus wrote a book‘ while giving her a copy. And the very lovely Martha Beck says: ‘ooh good, I needed something to read on the plane to Africa.’

THAT, friends, is true friendship.