The culmination of four years, two blogs, a few songs, a blonde wig, a virtual farming habit, some spreadsheets, many things I said I would do and didn’t, some things I started and didn’t finish or lost, zero recipes, and many, many, many questions, I am delighted and terrified to announce the publication of my first book (an actual book, you can hold it in your hands, or eventually download it to your device): The Rise and Fall of Jenny Goodguts.
The short explanation is that I was writing a novel (my first) and 50,000 of the 80,000 words were deleted. In desperation, and needing to finish something, I decided to take four years worth of writing (with myself and my own thoughts as the central focus) and compile it into a book. It was mostly something I was doing to prove to myself that I could. But I shared it with a few people and they loved it. They said it helped them to feel better, or think differently, or to feel understood, to know that someone else feels the same way they do sometimes. Granted, the sample size was small, and the people I shared it with are friends, so it isn’t a huge surprise that we think about some things in a similar way.
The reason I decided to share this book more widely, other than to prove to myself that I can actually finish a creative project, is because I think we are all overwhelmed with images and words every day that are crafted to make us feel less than adequate. And we are told that we need to fix ourselves. This is not a book where I show you a secret formula based on my wild success and you follow the formula and find happiness beyond measure. It’s an honest book about one person looking at the world, frequently with humor, and struggling and being unsure, and about that being okay, beautiful even. My wish is that reading the book might make you feel better about reality, better about being a real person.
The book also shows (ugh, I’m going to use the word journey here, I’m sorry) my journey from spreadsheet-loving employee at a large international organization where my deliverables were determined by someone else’s agenda to that magical day when something finally shifted and I allowed myself to say out loud: I want to be a writer. I am an artiste.
A FEW RAQS (RARELY ASKED QUESTIONS)
What is this book about?
I’m glad you asked. Thank you. Here’s my letter to the reader.
Where can I get a copy?
Currently, paperback copies are available via Amazon. It will be available as an ebook shortly and through other merchants as soon as I can figure it all out.
WANT TO HELP?
Wow. I would surely appreciate that. There are a few ways you can help get this book to people who might enjoy it and support my ongoing work.*
1. Buy the book.(Also available on Amazon’s UK site).
2. Share the book. If you enjoy it, tell someone, share your copy, buy someone a copy. Tag the book as #jennygoodguts on any social platform so I can follow along once I learn how.
3. Review the book. I would very much appreciate positive reviews of the book. A review on Amazon would be amazing, but I’m also looking for those quotes that people use to convince other people to do something, along the lines of “This book is in a genre of its own” or “She was always on the quiet side, now I see why” — except for versions that would make people interested in reading the book.
4. I’m also happy to entertain any and all suggestions for ways to share the book. Have an idea? Please drop me a line. I’m about 2% ears (likely overestimate).
While I’ve got you here, and before you dash off to buy multiple copies of the book to share with friends and family and your whole book club, I thought now would be a good time to remind you that I write a blog and you can sign up to get posts in your inbox. Why in heaven’s name would you want more email? This is a different kind of message, that’s why. Eighty percent of my blog subscribers read new posts within an hour of receiving them, which is a strong comment on the ascendancy of technology in our daily lives, but also (the point I’m trying to make is) that they read it right away because it fills their souls. A little bit at least.
My second book (and the mostly deleted novel) are both currently underway. If you want to know what I’m writing about now you can check out The Stuffed Project or This Little Light of Mine.
I’m also writing poetry (and other stuff, including, occasionally, songs) and submitting writing for publication and I write about my attempts to become a published author under the 100 Rejections Project.
Subscribers to the blog sometimes get heartfelt public recognition like this.
** My ongoing work is my right-brain revolution — the transition to becoming a full-time, working artiste.