My Books

Not just a memoir— a mixtape for the ones who learned to smile while breaking.

Book Overview

Told in sharp, soulful vignettes—each one a truth bomb wrapped in rhythm—Growing Up Happy in a Lonely World traces the journey of a high-achieving, small-town tomboy turned coach, wife, and mother of three.

It’s a story of hidden trauma, painful reinvention, and the kind of healing that doesn’t look perfect on paper—but saves your life anyway.

It begins under a staircase, where a young girl disappeared into silence,
and ends with a woman at midlife finally releasing the weight of everything she was never meant to carry.

Along the way are stories of church pews and shame, made-up boyfriends, round two of motherhood at 49, coming out (twice), chronic pain, surviving suicide, and learning what it means to choose your truth—even if it could cost you everything.

This memoir is a companion for those who’ve lived multiple lives inside one body.

It blends emotional honesty, humor, and healing with music and reflections that invite readers to uncover their own stories alongside hers.

The Story: Told in Tracks

This isn’t just a memoir—it’s a mixtape for the ones who stayed silent to stay safe.
Each track is a scar turned song. A heartbeat that remembers. A confession that finally speaks.

Told in broken-line, poetic rhythm, the stories move through silence, shame, awakening, and—finally—return. Not to who she was, but to who she always knew she was beneath the noise.

Structured as a three-disc set, the book unfolds in rhythm:

Disc One: Off the Record – The years of hiding, muting, and molding herself to survive.
Disc Two: Break the Silence – The unraveling. The questions. The ache of becoming aware.
Disc Three: Full Volume – The rising. The remembering. The reclamation of voice, power, and truth.

From the scared girl under the stairs to the woman standing fully in her truth, Growing Up Happy in a Lonely World walks the long road of becoming with raw honesty and fierce grace.

The manuscript includes more than 30 tracks—stories, hidden tracks, and mini-tracks—each paired with reflection prompts and an intentionally curated Spotify playlist designed to stir memory, invite stillness, and help readers see their own story in the mirror.

Who It’s For

If you loved Untamed by Glennon Doyle or Wild by Cheryl Strayed—if you crave raw truth, hard-won liberation, and the cost of becoming—you’ll feel at home here.

But Growing Up Happy in a Lonely World has its own rhythm.
The sharp, poetic vignettes move more like The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch or Heavy by Kiese Laymon—memoirs that speak in fragments, scars, and soul. It also carries the emotional clarity and reclamation of voice found in Know My Name by Chanel Miller.

This memoir doesn’t just tell a story—it invites you to see your own.

It’s especially for:

• High-achieving women tired of performing and ready to feel again

• LGBTQ+ readers navigating identity, faith, and family

• Trauma survivors seeking connection without cliché

• Mothers balancing legacy and liberation across generations

It’s for the ones who held it all together—
and are finally ready to put the pieces down.