May 11, 2015

Hi Everybody!

I'm excited to report that there is no more writing to be done! So if there was ever any doubt, fear not; you will get yourself a book, and thanks to your support, it will be beautiful and well edited. Now it's time for promotion and distribution—the stuff I have to mostly just trust to the experts. Instead of bearing my soul in what has been somewhat of a spiritual catharsis, my attention is now turning to the more practical: how to get this dang book in people's hands. And though marketing feels much stranger to me than sitting down and writing, I know it is crucial in order to achieve my original goals.

My writing process felt a bit peculiar the whole time. This is hardly a how-to book, and yet somehow it feels like I’m giving advice. There’s been just a few nameless faces in my mind—some young person out there hurting, a family with no idea how to relate, maybe a professional that wants to know more. With each passage I seem to be promising: “You’re going to be okay”—a mantra I still sometimes recite to myself. I realized early on that I was simply writing a book I wished I could have read. In moments of insecurity, I would wonder if this was enough of a reason to write at all. But there was a time—multiple times—when all I needed to hear was that I wasn't alone, that someone out there at some point was experiencing the same kind of heartache, and that he endured, and that maybe he even thrived. What's driven me to keep going is that old remembering of isolation and confusion, the idea that despite the alarmingly high mental illness numbers reported, maybe I was the only one.

Anyway, it has been a couple months, so I wanted to just let you know where the project is. Things are moving along. Words cannot express how grateful I am for this opportunity. My next little prayer is that someone influential picks up my book and finds it worth mentioning. If you know any authors with sway in the mental health and/or spiritual counsel arenas, please forward this message or pass along my email (chris@colecoaching.com), so I can send them an early manuscript and tell them why this work means so much to me. I’m looking forward to sharing more with you all soon.

Love.

Chris