I'm so excited (and a bit nervous!) to share with you that I'm writing a book.

UPDATE: You can buy the book here:

https://lovefrommim.com/book

Hey, this is Mim Jenkinson and you're listening to the Busy Mum Balance Life Podcast.

I've gone back and forward on whether to share this for a good few weeks now, and I spoke to someone today who was like, "Nope, share it. It's good news, and it's something to talk about." So I thought, "I will." But, basically, I wanted to bring you in on the secret that I'm writing a book. Which I'm like so excited about. Seriously, you go on to social media and every other post is someone saying, "I'm writing a book," these days. And, I mean, personally, I love to read, so I get super excited when I see those. I know for other people it's like, "Yawn. You as well." So I guess I'll tell you more about what the book is about before you, hopefully, shut this down.

As most of you will know, though, I've shared quite a lot in the past few months about my issue and addiction to alcohol. And one of the most common themes, kind of in the questions that I've had, because I've had hundreds, probably 1,000 or more now, messages and emails, particularly, asking me about my experience, about ... Mainly the common theme is that people didn't understand that I had a problem. And the question is coming out of concern for both me and for themselves a lot of the time. Like they don't understand how ... Do I have a problem? Am I sure I've got a problem? Is it not just that I need to cut back a bit? How have they missed the fact that I've had a problem, if it's been a friend or family member? And then for them if I've got this issue with alcohol, does that mean that they have, too?

And I've shared quite a lot about the reasons I was drinking alcohol too much, how I was abusing it, the results of that, but I haven't gone too in depth. It's obviously highly personal, and it's really embarrassing as well. Like it's not ... Whilst I feel very proud of the fact that I've overcome this issue, I've been incredibly embarrassed about the fact I had it in the first place. However, I did find that the more I shared, the more it helped me, and I really started to feel like I was helping other people as well.

And I don't mean by that helping make the world a better place by everyone quitting booze. Like I really don't think that everyone has to go out and be as drastic, if you like, because I have done. But I have had so many messages to say that me sharing has helped them. It's helped them acknowledge that maybe they've got an issue or it's made them feel better that they don't, or it's given them ideas of what they can do if they do want to cut back a little bit and kind of, I don't know, take a minute to think about their own life and recognize ... You might be one of these people, perhaps, recognize is it something that was spiraling a little bit for you, too?

Anyway, back to the book. So I basically started writing. I wrote about my experience, what led up to this, some really, really personal and very embarrassing stories throughout my whole life about the kind of things that happened when I've abused alcohol, very significant things, some of them, and how it's kind of led me to where I am, or where I was a few months ago. And yet part of the reason for writing this book is because it is cathartic to share and for me to get everything down on paper. I'm a writer by trade, so it helps me to do that. It's just always been great therapy.

When I was going through my experience of breast cancer, writing like an online diary, I mean, nobody may have read that, but just being able to write that down and get the thoughts out of my head and onto paper, on my blog, I just found that as such therapy. And this has been the same. But then to have so many people tell me that my words have resonated with them and it's helped them, that, to me, is something I did not expect. I didn't expect for a moment that by sharing my story I might help someone else in any way. It wasn't something that I intended to do when I started sharing. I was interested to see whether anyone else was going through the same thing, but I didn't have this purpose of, "I'm going to help someone." However, the more I write, the more that I am told that I am helping. Absolutely, It's driven me to continue to share and to continue to try and just lift the lid a little bit on the fact that this connection between motherhood and alcohol exists.

And I've been doing some research. You may have already completed the survey. I'm going to keep that open just for a few more days and I'll link the survey below. If you're a mother anywhere in the world you can complete it. But, wow, that's really put into perspective for me some of the misconceptions between alcohol and motherhood and how it's portrayed on social media. And like I said earlier, I'm not ... Like I don't judge people who drink now. I'm not kind of on a soap box of telling the world and telling mothers that they shouldn't drink. That's absolutely not me whatsoever, and I'm not out to do that at all, but the more I've thought about this, the more now I want to continue to help. And I do believe that the book will help somebody else. And that's now my intention to continue to share what's happened with me, but hopefully to help others and to make other women, other mums, feel that ... You know, is this something that they might want to change when it comes to consumption of alcohol? Do they just want to have a good old read and cringe at my sad story? I don't know. That might help someone feel a lot better about themselves, perhaps. That that's helpful still, isn't it?

Anyway, I was going to keep this a secret because when people say, "I'm writing a book," you kind of think, "Oh, what a nob." Not all the time, but you know, I mean, when so many people share that they're writing a book, it's like, "Got on the book of bandwagon." And so many of my peers in the blogging field have written some amazing books and I'm so inspired by them, but I don't have an inclination to write about blogging. This is something though that's really, wow, it's like pulled out a passion in me that I didn't actually realize that I had. And, yeah, this is kind of where I'm at.

So I only started writing very recently, so it's kind of early on in the game, but the words are kind of flowing so far. I'm about 30,000 words in. It might be complete trash. It might never ever be released from my PC. Like it might ... Nobody might want to publish it. Nobody might want to read it. It might turn into absolutely nothing, but I feel like it won't. Like I'm feeling really positive, and it just feels like the right to do. I'm really sharing my heart now. Please don't laugh and judge me. I'm sure you won't, but I just wanted to share this because I would love you to be on this little journey with me of writing a book. I've never written a proper adult-sized book before. I've written a lot. I'm a copywriter. If you've read much of the things that I do write, the pieces I write in the articles, it's the way that I speak, like I don't try and be somebody else. This book is not for the fanciful highbrow reader. This is going to be ... It's very much an online diary. It's very much my opinion and my thoughts and my experiences, and that's about fancy as it gets. So not very fancy at all.

But I would love you to encourage me and keep on checking with me to see that I'm hitting deadlines because I actually have given myself a deadline to have finished my, I think that Brene Brown calls it the "Shitty First Draft", by the end of the month, which is this week. So it doesn't give me very long. It might take a little bit longer, but that's the deadline that I set myself anyway, because I really want to get cracking with this. I don't want this to stop flowing. Like I want to keep on going with all the enthusiasm that I've currently got. Anyway, this has been going on a lot longer. I did just intend to come online and say, "Hey, I'm writing a book. That's exciting." And then put the phone down. But I've now waffles on for eight minutes and eight seconds, so I'm going to stop. Wow. If you've got this far, I love you so much, and thank you very much. And, yay! I'll let you know what happens next. Hooray!