Earlier this month I mentioned that all royalties made from Weak Heart during the month of June would be donated to the Trevor Project. My sales absolutely skyrocketed after that post, and I cannot thank you all enough. Today I posted the last chapter of Weak Heart — a story that, in many ways, mirrored my own journey — and made our donation to the Trevor Project.
This past week was one of the worst in recent memory, but today felt like a break in the clouds. I’m proud of myself, and proud of us, and so incredibly proud of this book.
The original draft of Weak Heart is almost unrecognisable to the story that you all have read. It was dark and bleak, and it handled a lot of heavy things: alcoholism, depression, self-doubt, and, most prominently, suicide. It was a story about four people who couldn’t find their places in life. I wrote it because it was my story, and I wanted to share it. I wanted to put it into words and have people know.
But somewhere down the line of writing this book and showing it to the people I love, I realised that just because I had lived through these things didn’t mean they were my story. My journey has had it’s bad days, yes, but it’s also had its good. My story is one of alcoholism and depression and self-doubt and suicide, but it’s also one of found families, of friends, of opening yourself to love, and of learning to trust your instincts.
That’s the story I wanted to tell. That’s the story I wanted to be.
There were points in my life where I looked at my worst parts and I let myself believe that was all I was. There were parts of my life when I was drowning, and I wouldn’t let anyone save me. There were times when who I was and who I loved seemed like it would sink me. But I made it through. And I’m so grateful I did, so I could be posting this today.
Thank you all for supporting me through this storytelling journey, for reading and buying and talking about Weak Heart and cheering me on. Thank you for helping me do something meaningful to wrap up the final chapter. I have big things on the horizon (some of which are, yes, Weak Heart related), and I can’t wait to share those journeys with you as well. Thank you all for being my friends.
Much love and eternal gratitude,
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