When I say this was a 12 year long dream, I’m not joking. On the right is the 12 year old version of my cover. It was created on word 😂
When my parents read it, my dad was convinced the world needed this book. I was less convinced. He believed a book about surgery from a 12 year old’s perspective was needed. I believed I was bad at writing so in a bid to try to convince me, he got it printed into a hardback (see top right). My dream to be an author predates all my body positivity.
It predates all my social media.
It predates my adulthood.
So what changed? And what convinced me to start writing again? When I was 19, and I was hospitalised for my 15th operation, I really thought I was going to die (you’ll learn why in the book!). I became obsessed with the idea of a legacy. I wanted to leave my mark on the world, just in case I did die so I promised myself if I lived, I would dig out my 12 year old autobiography and start working on it.
I lived. And I kept my promise but I still believed I was a bad writer because of my grammar and spelling so it would be 2000 words written, 2000 deleted. Until I was 21 and I realised that my message was more important than my spelling or grammar ever was.
I cried nearly every day writing this book. Even finishing it, I almost quit when trying to find an agent, and then again when I found the wrong agent, but it all worked out with the best dream team behind me from my agent to my publishers. It’s been a long slog but damn was it worth it. I need to go cry, bye 💖🔥 #AmIUgly #ScarredNotScared