When I started Happiness Is A Skill, I did it for two reasons. First, I wanted to have an outlet to talk about mental/emotional health and antidepressant withdrawal without enmeshing myself in social media. The topography of those niches on Twitter is a nightmare, and I couldn’t bring myself to swim around in that muck.
Second, I had just landed a literary agent and we were prepping to send my memoir on antidepressant withdrawal out to publishers. I hoped that by starting a dedicated newsletter, I could keep my writing mind from getting rusty while also creating an outlet for my book’s key audience.
Well, I’m thrilled to announce that my memoir, MAY CAUSE SIDE EFFECTS, will be published by Central Recovery Press in September 6, 2022! (And I didn’t even have to go on Twitter to make it happen!)
I’d be doing a happy dance over here, but frankly, I’m pooped. The news came through a few weeks ago, and because we chose to aggressively push for a Spring 2022 release, it’s been a whole lot of stress and frenzy in a short period of time.
I thought I was handling it all relatively well until I got struck down by an ocular migraine on Saturday night. Migraines, for me, are always a sign that I am wound too tight with the sort of existential tension that only seems to get worse when you “relax.” The solution isn’t necessarily to do less, but to change the fundamental process.
And so, Happiness Is A Skill is going to go in for a facelift. As much as I’ve enjoyed what I’ve created so far, it’s time for it to evolve so it can better support the book and the withdrawal/depression recovery community without taking added energy out of me.
The newsletter may look a little sparse over the next few weeks, but rest assured that it’s because I’m tinkering away in the background, getting ready to bring Happiness Is A Skill to a bigger audience. HIAS is going to be an integral part of my book’s release, so it’s not going anywhere.
To everyone who actually reads this every week, thank you. Artists need audiences in order to justify continuing their craft. I couldn’t have gotten this far without knowing real eyeballs were looking at what I was creating. And while my newsletter is child’s play compared to my book, both in scope and polish, it has been such a safe place for me to explore over the past year and a half.
Thank you for being a part of it so far, and thanks for sticking with me through this period of readjustment and growth.
I can’t wait for you to see what I have planned.
Need a little giggle? Order one of my Fuckit Buckets™.
After 15 years of depression and antidepressants, my mission is to help people find hope in the name of healing. My memoir on the subject, MAY CAUSE SIDE EFFECTS, publishes on September 6, 2022 Pre-order it on Barnes & Nobles, Amazon, or wherever books are sold. For the most up-to-date announcements, subscribe to my newsletter HAPPINESS IS A SKILL.
Coming September 6, 2022
May Cause Side Effects
Brooke’s memoir is now available for preorder wherever books are sold.
This is a heart-rending and tender memoir that will start conversations we urgently need to have. It’s moving and important.
Johann Hari, author of New York Times bestseller Chasing the Scream and international bestseller Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression—and the Unexpected Solutions
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