On Mental Health & Book Launches

a note from my journal

Dear readers,

I thought I’d share something a little more personal with you today, about the impact writing a book as on an author’s care and mental health, even on the good days.

In my journal on February 19^th I wrote this phrase:

One clip at a time.

For those who don’t know, it’s a climbing term. When you lead climb, you have a climbing rope and you “clip” it into these metal rings, called bolts, attached to the climbing wall or the rocks outside. As you go, you become more and more secure and attached to the wall with the rope.

But sometimes, you have to take a pause and rest before you keep going. Sometimes you get in your head, you get scared, and you need a second. Sometimes you’re preparing for a big move, and you need that extra breath.

Sometimes you have to take it “one clip at a time.”

On our last climbing trip, I was about to do my first lead climb outside

This is such a metaphor for the last few years of my life.