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Katie C. McKenna sent an update for How to Get Run Over by a Truck

Good Morning Sweethearts!

I hope that you all are doing well and that you’re having a lovely Friday! The last two weeks since the book has launched has been such a dream. I have been so touched that so many of you have texted or emailed me pictures of the books as they arrived at your homes, sent me photos of your children with the books, and also have given me your feedback on "How to Get Run Over by a Truck" It has been so wonderful to hear from you, and I am incredibly grateful to you for sharing your experience with me! 

A few really wonderful things have happened that I wanted to share with you! I have done a couple of interviews about the book, and about my experience that I wanted to share with you. 

In this interview I spoke about the day of the accident, and what it is like to be aware of the fact that you might lose your life in this Arrvls Podcast entitled "40 Blinks" 

I spoke with Brooklyn Paper Radio about being a cyclist in Brooklyn, about what happened to the Truck driver, and they also asked me some tough questions about Warren. It was awesome and overwhelming all at the same time!  

I also spoke with my best friend Leah Bonvissuto on this Storycorp interview, where we talked about how important it is to use your voice and to tell your story. It was an incredible interview with one of my favorite people in the world! 

There was also some buzz about the book recently, which was unexpected and amazing! Jaime King, the beautiful and talented actress sent out an Instagram picture of the books that she’s reading right now to her 1 million followers, and "How to Get Run Over by a Truck" was on the top of the pile! It was such a happy surprise!

Also, New York Magazine listed "How to Get Run Over by a Truck" as one of the 13 Books We’re Reading Right Now! Which is mind blowing, because #1 its an amazing magazine and #2 because New York Magazine is my favorite magazine of all time! I can’t even believe that this is all happening! 

I want to share with you all a really touching thing that has happened just yesterday - my insanely talented friend Arian Saleh, composed a score for the book for his musical project entitled The Libretto Project. It is so beautiful that I can’t help but I weep every time I hear it. On his site are all of the books that he has created scores for, and they are stunning! I am so honored to be a part of that list! 

So, that’s what’s been happening in my world sweethearts! Thank you for making all of this possible! I am so incredibly grateful for your love and support! 

Heart,

Katie 

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    Katie C. McKenna sent an update for How to Get Run Over by a Truck

    Dear Sweethearts,

    I got up yesterday morning at 5 am to workout. As I dressed in the gray morning light, it reminded me of the years that I would force myself to get up at 5 am and drag myself to my computer to bang out bits and pieces of my memoir for the 2 hours I had before commuting into work. It was the quietest that my Brooklyn neighborhood was all day. It felt like I was the only person awake in the world. It was lonely, but it felt right.

    I struggled to put my feelings into words. I wanted to be honest with myself about who I was, how I felt and who I was trying to be. I did my best not to flinch about my ugly feelings, to stare deeply into my own mortality, fragility and also to dive in deeper past the negativity, to the beautiful hidden places where joy lived. 

     I spent my lunch hours tucked out of sight in unused cubicles in the back of the open trading desk where I worked - editing, crying, laughing. My evenings would bring me back to the same spot at the little desk in my bedroom, eating pretzels sipping tea and trying to get all of my memories out, writing with the fervor of a dying woman who didn’t want her life to get lost to time. 

    I wrote to make the pain more comprehensible, I wrote for old Katie because her story deserved to be told, and I wrote for the the stranger living somewhere in the world who might need a story like this, when they are feeling particularly hopeless. I wanted to tell them that the impossible happens all the time, we just don’t talk about it. It’s ok to be scared, it’s ok to laugh, it’s ok to cry - I usually do those three things in tandem. Even though I was writing this at my little desk by myself in Williamsburg - I wanted for the stranger to know, that they aren’t alone.  I’ve been there too. 

    I tried to make this book possible by myself, I sent it out to 75 agents across the country, I received their rejections, their emails and letters that told me that I wasn’t a good enough writer that the story wasn’t compelling enough, that no one would ever buy this book, I should hire a ghost writer. I took it to heart and I swallowed the rejection alone. 

    Then, I found Inkshares, and suddenly other writers were telling me that this book was something they thought was worth reading. From there, I found all of you, and I heard you saying "We believe in you. We’ll make this happen - we can do it together." And just like that, I wasn’t alone any more.  How to Get Run Over by a Truck stopped being just my story - it became all of ours. 

    I know that it is an imperfect piece of art, but it is a reflection of me and all of the pieces I tried to fit back together.  I love you for opening up your hearts to this story, to this book, and to me. There is no other way I could imagine bringing this book into the world today. Thank you for standing with me. To me, you are perfection. 

    Thank you for making this book possible. Yesterday was one of the proudest days of my life. I saw the book I have worked so hard on for years in the hands of people that I love, I got to read from the book in front of over 100 people who packed themselves into the KGB Bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I cried and I laughed with people I knew, and with strangers. It was incredible.  Thank you for being a part of this amazing journey. I hope that you are enjoying your books! If you are, if you’d be willing to take a moment to leave a short review here on amazon.com’s website, I would be SO grateful! It will direct new people to the book, and hopefully get it into the hands of more people who need to hear this kind of a story! 

    I will be forever grateful for your kindness and for your support - thank you for changing the course of my life

    Heart,
    Katie 
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