Coming Soon...
...the book you didn't know you needed.
April 10th, 2016 is the day I learned I had a cerebellar stroke.
April 10th, 2026 is going to be another big day for me, like it was 10 years ago. Not because I’m planning to have another cerebellar stroke, but because I’m releasing a new book.
You’ve got this! is not like my other books. The other books were short story collections - this is the book I wish someone had given me 40 or 50 years ago.
Designed as a gift book, I call it “the book you didn’t know you needed,” because that’s truly what it is. We all go through our lives doing our best, because that’s all we can do. Sometimes we have people who encourage us, and sometimes we don’t. This book encourages us.
You’ve got this! could also be described as “the book I wish someone had given me when I graduated high school” — or college, or when I left the military, or the first time I was between jobs — you get the picture, because again, that’s truly what it is.
I do have another tag-line for it: peaceful photos and encouraging essays. And yes, I took the photos myself, for those who are wondering.
With sixteen essays that will encourage anyone who reads them, You’ve got this! ranks as one of the hardest books I’ve written. Not the writing of it - that was mostly quick and easy, like writing a Butterfly Thought. But the formatting of it, and the need to print a copy after each major edit to make sure the tweaks worked -- those have been mind-numbing for me. I’ve spent my entire adult life saying “I don’t do precision.” Now I’ve created a book that requires precision above all else. This just proves my art will always win over my personal preferences.
Below is a preview from my publishing platform. I took the photo in this preview one January morning as I was hiking towards the waterfall at Anna Ruby, outside Helen, Georgia. The water in the stream splashed upwards onto the bottom of the logs that had fallen across the water, and froze into what I call “dragon teeth.”
The essay that accompanies the photo is about finding beauty in unexpected places. That particular essay ends with “unexpected beauty isn’t just in nature. It’s everywhere, if you look for it. And I’m not just talking about things. Every part of life has beauty in unexpected places - even sorrow.
I wish I could tell you how to find beauty in the hard parts of life, but all I know is that I have to look for it, and be grateful when I find it, because it gives me hope that the clouds will pass and the sun will shine again, both literally and metaphorically.”
As you can see by that ending, the book is not about me having all the answers, because I don’t! Nobody has all the answers. But the book encourages the reader to keep looking, and to look beyond the obvious that is in front of them. It’s important to remember that we can always find encouragement if we look for it. We can always find beauty if we look for it. We can always find hope if we look for it.
And if you know someone who could use some encouragement, some beauty, or some hope, then keep an eye out for You’ve got this!
Coming in paperback, hardback and ebook on April 10th, with an audiobook to follow.
As always, thanks for reading Butterfly Thoughts. Feel free to leave a comment, or hit the share button, or even leave a tip in the tip-jar. Have a wonderful day.