Books are Not Just for Introverts

I grew up the oldest of seven siblings. 

Truthfully, I was already 21 when my youngest brother was born, so we didn't really grow up together. In my senior year of college, my mom phoned me in my dorm, ordering me to sit down. "Don't tell me you're pregnant again," I said to my 44-year-old baby-making machine mama.

I became a super adaptable introvert because I was always around hoards of people. (Mom ran a home daycare in the house for a stretch, so there were kids everywhere all the time.) Actually, I'm exactly 50-50 introvert/extrovert, so thank goddess for that 50%. I basically hid in books to take care of the introvert part. 

I used to sit in the front seat of the big station wagon with the wood on the sides. I was the oldest, so I got to squish up front with Dad and Mom. This was back when cars had bench seats. The station wagon also had a "way-way back" that folded out so my younger siblings could make annoying faces at the cars behind us in traffic. I tuned out the chaos and the thumping Bee Gees by reading book after book. (I still enjoy the Bee Gees and all things disco.) At home, I closed the door to my room and pretended I was doing my homework. I was instead hanging out with Judy Blume or Jane Austin and trying to find my "alone time." Ha. 

Decades later, let me introduce John Schauster, my talented youngest brother and content creator, who is helping me produce the audiobook for Nurture here in my living room. We laughed that it was a bit like "story time with big sis." I'm so grateful to have his expert sound engineering again. He and I produced my last audiobook (Nourish) together. We make a great team! Look how intense we are.

Many parents and caregivers love listening to books, so we're creating an excellent version. And we learned some things from our first foray into this process. If you were upset that you couldn't get any charts or resource lists when you listened to the audiobook version of Nourish, please know that I recently provided a PDF with these to Audible. (Respond to this email if you listened to the audiobook on another platform. I'll personally send you the charts, resources, and references I didn't include because I couldn't narrate them easily.) I wanted to make this right when I saw two negative reviews on Audible expressing disappointment about missing content. Unfortunately, the reviewers are anonymous, so I hope maybe they are reading this.

My second book, Nurture: How to Raise Kids Who Love Food, Their Bodies, and Themselves, will be available for pre-order shortly — and John and I will keep working on the audiobook version this week. When we texted this photo to my mom on the family group chat, she responded, "I'm so proud of my oldest and youngest." Shortly after, she texted, "And I'm also proud of my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th." My deeply-middle sister Emily (number 4 of 7) said, "Thanks, Mom, for the afterthought."

I am also grateful to so many of you who came forward to become part of my Book Launch Ambassador Team, joining me in my Discomfort Zone and helping me promote this book to your communities. If you haven't yet reached out and you'd like to support the launch of my book in some way, by promoting the book to your personal and professional networks, writing a review, hosting a book club in your mom community, hosting a book event, purchasing books for your school or team at a discount, or sharing about the book on social media -- please let me know by responding to this email. And please also tell me how I can support YOU in return with a meaningful collaboration. As I've said before, let's cheer each other on as we offer resources to make this world a more inclusive, well-nourished, badass, loving place. 

Thanks to those who voted in my poll from the last newsletter. Although some of you said you'd like to have a photo of the author on the back of a parenting book, my book production team and I decided that there was not enough room. The description and endorsements were more valuable. Instead, a photo with my bio will be inside the book at the end. 

The introvert in me is just fine with that.