At the age of 24, living in Ibiza, Matt Haig stepped to the ledge of a cliff with the intention of launching himself to his end. But something pulled him back. That experience led him and his girlfriend, who’d eventually become his wife, back to his childhood home where Matt would begin the process of picking up the pieces of his life. A writer, he kept that season of profound darkness, revelation, and recovery within his family, while he deepened into a career as a novelist and children’s book author. 

But years later, a simple blog post that he never thought anyone would see effectively outed that experience, leading to a book a year later called Reasons to Stay Alive that became a massive bestseller and also expanded Matt’s notoriety into the world of personal growth. He’s since blended fiction and nonfiction, penning more novels, something exploring big existential questions, but in honest and accessible ways. His book, The Midnight Library, just hit 2 million copies sold, and Matt’s latest book, The Comfort Book is Haig’s life raft: it’s a collection of notes, lists, and stories written over a span of several years that originally served as gentle reminders to his future self that things are not always as dark as they may seem. 

You can find Matt at: Website | Instagram

If you LOVED this episode:

You’ll also love the conversations we had with Kate DiCamillo about writing, creativity, telling the truth, but always leaving readers with hope.

My new book is available!

Order Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work that Makes You Come Alive today!

-------------

Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.

If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.

Check out our offerings & partners: 

• Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.