new book, new site!
Welcome to the new Chookooloonks!
At the end of 2020, and I was finishing up my manuscript for my book, it dawned on me what a gift it was to write. I began in March, just as the entire world was going on lockdown. This means that during the months that I was writing, the pandemic roared. Breyonna Taylor was murdered. George Floyd was murdered. Peaceful protestors were gassed. Wildfires broke out. Murder hornets suddenly appeared.
It was an insane time.
And yet, the entire time all this was happening, I was busy interviewing people who had made it their missions to fight injustice and foster interconnection — and do so with joy. To be honest, I’m not sure I would’ve made it without these conversations. There is something so hopeful knowing that there are people out there who are focused and intentional about making the world a better place. Our conversations made me want to join them, and I hope I do their stories justice in the book.
So anyway, at the end of the year, I turned my book in, got ready for a new presidential administration, and realized that for 2021, I wanted to shift my focus so that doing good was at the forefront of the work that I do. And to make that as apparent as possible, I decided to do a redesign.
As soon as I found the work of Kayleigh Noele, I knew she was the perfect person to tackle the design. And over the past two weeks, after interviewing me for what I generally was hoping for, what design elements I loved, and what I wanted to communicate, she got to work. And I couldn’t be more thrilled with the results.
So poke around and take a look (and let me know if something’s not working for you, so we can try to get that fixed). And welcome to a new chapter. Let’s make light together, lovelies.
and speaking of the new book …
It’s now available for preorder!
I’ve been dying to share this with you, friends. When I saw the cover of the book, I was so thrilled, I shared it with my friend Addye, and she said, “It has the same feel of your photographs” Actually, it was sort of designed to be that way: I gave my publisher a copy of the photo you see in this post, and they used it as inspiration for the design. I love that it looks like a golden light source, but radiating multicoloured light rays. And to me, the multicolours feel particularly inclusive.
My kinda light rays.
Anyway, the best part? The book is available for preorder!
You can pre-order directly from the publisher here.
And you can pre-order from Amazon (in the United States) here.
And you can preorder from Barnes & Noble here.
And you can pre-order from your favourite independent bookstore using this link.
(And if you’d like a signed copy, my own sweet favourite local bookstore, Blue Willow Books, has arranged to ship signed copies — and it looks like they ship internationally! You can pre-order copies here, and when they’re available, I’ll drop by and sign them.)
So that’s my exciting news, friends. Thanks, as always, for joining me on this journey. I’m so grateful to you.
A little about the new book.