In 2015, I wrote and published a self-care book called The Kind Self Healing Book.
You can order the book from Amazon or—the good karma option—ask your local bookseller to order a copy for you. Really, just ring the store and they’ll have the book for you in days. And you’ll get to visit a bookstore.
It is a book of deep inquiry and healing for people who grew up with childhood trauma, like me. It holds your hand while inviting you to summon the courage to do hard work—reflecting, writing, and feeling.
But why did I write it?
Reason no. 1 — Service. The readers of the blog I wrote for over a decade ordered me to write a book. Like, they literally said, again and again, “Write a book.” So I wrote them a book. Aww.
The bog was Guess What Normal Is.
Reason no. 2 — Love. I love books. I love making them, reading them, and being in their presence. (Books are easier for me to be around than people.) Most of my work experience has been in book publishing, so it felt natural to make a book (and, I’ll admit, control the entire process, from illustrations, to book design, to paperweight, etc.—and, of course, writing it.)
I raised nearly $10K through an indiegogo campaign to produce the book. I worked with Stacey Aaronson at The Book Doctor Is In to produce it.
Reason no. 3 — Documentation. How could I not collect everything that I learned about healing trauma—and specifically coping with adult children of alcoholics issues—into one place? Blogs are rad, but I was drowning in posts forced into a linear timeline and that felt restrictive. With a book, I could organize things and go deep, then present everything in a form that people could hold in their hands.
Read reviews of the book or purchase it here.
~Amy
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