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Welp, here it is. My second ever women's fiction story, all ready to go. I am NERVOUS about this one. It's what some in the biz call a 'heart project.' I wrote this one because I think most women who have a family give up a bit (or a lot) of themselves in the process. (To be fair, I'm guessing men feel this way too). Having a family is amazing, heartbreaking, incredible, and incredibly hard (sometimes all at the same time). It can also feel like we lose sight of who we really are, deep down at our core. How do we find ourselves again, after years of looking after everyone else? I love this book dearly, but I have no idea how other people will feel. It's not a romance but there are some romantic moments in it. It's pretty darn funny, but it's also serious and anger-inducing, and a wee bit sad at times too. It's exceedingly honest and, I hope, uplifting.
I have no idea if it's going to sell more than a few copies, but my sincerest wish is that the women who need this, find it, and it makes them feel better about their lives. There is so much pressure on women to 'be happy.' We talk about first-world problems and gratitude, and in some ways, I think we make it not okay to talk about it when something is genuinely wrong in our lives. I'm not saying we shouldn't be grateful for what we have, because it's absolutely helpful when we focus on the positive, but it's also okay to not be okay sometimes. Sometimes things just plain suck. We might have loose boundaries with our loved ones, or we might be underappreciated, or maybe we haven't taken the time to look after ourselves in forever. Whatever it is, I hope more women find the courage to fix what's wrong in their lives, and maybe, just maybe this little book can be the start of that conversation in someone's heart.
The print version is already on sale, and the e-book comes out on April 14th.
All the best to you and yours,
mel