About To Be All Up In My Business

I’m not typically impetuous, I’ll admit to lacking patience, but is that the same thing as being impetuous? I mean there was that one time in college where I wanted to pierce my nose in the middle of the night and there were no 24 hour piercing places so I tried to shove a needle through my own nose (I have a high tolerance for pain which is a whole other issue when it comes to me not recognizing my own injuries) but that was impatience right?

Okay, I’m attempting to redeem myself before I even tell you the story, and since most of my friends accuse me of telling the most outlandish stories that seem to always start with the same four words “what had happened was…” I will attempt to act brand new and go a different route this time. Here we go! So I’m balls deep into marketing this book right? (Wait, let me back up, perhaps starting my story with “Balls deep” is worse than my typical start. It’s pretty late at night and all my allergy pills have kicked in)

Here I go, again. Okay. So I’m deep in the throes of marketing this first book, and my co-workers are extremely excited to read the book, because my dear friend Felicia has purchased and read my chapter “Benecia Street” from my previously published work in the book Survival: Living Life by Design. She is my personal cheerleader, and I am truly grateful and appreciative of her. So she reminds me to include everyone in my marketing, because I failed to do so for my 40^th birthday (that I kept forgetting about). I really do work with a great group of folks, so it’s a no brainer to include them in the party and other celebrations of the release of Streets of Grace – Volume 1: The Formative Years.  This is where I went marching left and the parade behind me kept straight, at some point I forgot they would actually want to read my book’s contents. So yesterday I hopped in my car to go grab lunch, and then it hit me, so I screamed. Anyone within hearing distance must have thought me crazy, but I’m okay, as that’s a typical assessment of me these days. I got back to the office, and then decided I needed to do some pre-emptive damage control.

Without giving the book away, I told them it was very graphic and disturbing and sad and angry and they would probably run through a variety of emotions while reading it. I told them I had experienced my own various forms of therapy and was whole and fine and good, but others need to get there too, and this is just the first book on the path of how I got there. I told them that these books were sexually explicit, and involved crazy details of dysfunction and mayhem. Finally at the end of my speech explaining to my coworkers how I would not accept pity, or side eyed looks like I’m crazy from the content they are about to read, one of them spoke up and said, “we already know you’re crazy, this will just give us the reasons why.” Great, gotta love honesty.

So all screaming aside, I’ve decided that those dreams that are so typical, where you’re standing in the office in front of everyone nekkid (my purposeful misspelling of the word naked, because in my mind the connotations of the way it’s said vs. naked means you’re without clothes and up to no good.) is about to come true. I’m bearing it all, and I’m totally okay with it. Not to worry though; as one of my coworkers did when he asked if his business was going to be included in one of my books because he works with me and we all join in on crazy office conversations; if your story aligns with mine because you were/are closely tied to me, I will not be bearing all of your business, just my own. So everyone can exhale now. No really, breathe, you’re turning blue!

Two weeks folks, and then my personal business, becomes your reading pleasure. OMG! WTF did I do?!!! I’m not impetuous though (as I’m flipping through the pages of my book to see if I’m wrong) just getting out of my own way and finally getting this book in your hands….after sitting on it for 20 years.

Continue to love and f;ght y’all,

Andrea Jones