A special Mother's Day offer for a certain kind of woman
No sacrificial lambs here. Let me tell you why.
Hello and TGIF.
I have no plans this weekend other than showing up to my local indie for Independent Bookstore Day and that’s exactly how I like it. We live in a small town where my favorite friends are those who under schedule. I love leaving room for spontaneity and last minute get togethers—it’s the freaking best.
But there is something around the bend that’s coming, and that is Mother’s Day. Last year, I did something similar to this for my subscribers, and it was a really lovely experience, so I’m offering it again. (Mother’s Day is May 11th.)
For people who email me with proof that they have purchased a copy of my memoir THE YEAR OF THE HORSES, I will send on a handwritten card and a signed book plate to the recipient of their choice. More about the offer guidelines in a sec, but first I want to talk about what makes this book a special one for mothers.
First of all— you don’t need to like horses to enjoy this book; in fact, you might get more out of it if you’re neutral-to-disinterested in equines, because one of the book’s messages is that the things that are unknown to us could bring us the most joy, and that there is transformative potential in fear, as well.
In a nutshell, the book is an exploration of my 37th year when I had a total breakdown, and emerged having decided that I needed to do something entirely for myself. Not for my career, not for my marriage, not for my young daughter: only for myself. It mattered that it wasn’t something I was particularly good at. That part mattered a lot. That’s another theme in THE YEAR OF THE HORSES—the call to amateur hour.
When I was touring for this memoir, I can’t tell you how many people shared that its invitation to perfectionists to choose something to be bad at truly helped them out. I remember in particular a professional golfer who came up to me after an event in Chattanooga. He told me that he used to love dirt biking in his youth, but that once he started golfing professionally, it seemed dumb—even embarrassing—to have an athletic hobby he was bad at, but that after reading my book, he’d gone home and put air into the tires of his neglected bike. That confession made me teary. We don’t always understand what we’re aiming for with a memoir until it walks up to us in a bookshop and tells us what it is. That was a moment that continues to power through the nonfiction that I write.
My amateur hour didn’t see me deciding to ride horses, it found me on the cusp of forty with a two-year old and a lifelong fear of leaving comfort zones deciding to learn how to play polo. Yes, that kind of polo—one of the world’s most dangerous sports. But most of the book is dedicated to the celebration of our imperfect, messy, clumsy selves and the things that make us shine so bright, the imperfection doesn’t matter.
There’s a reason why THE YEAR OF THE HORSES was chosen as the “best read for mental health awareness month” by The Today Show the year that it came out, and the pro golfer in Chattanooga understood that reason. I hope that you will, too.
Offer guidelines:
The gist: purchase a new copy of THE YEAR OF THE HORSES and email me proof of that purchase to thequerydoula (at) gmail (dot) com and I will send a handwritten card and a signed book plate to the recipient of your choice. (The recipient can be you!) A bookplate is a pretty sticker with my signature that the recipient can paste into the book.
You will be responsible for shipping the book to your recipient. I will mail them the card and bookplate at my own cost.
This offer is for book purchases placed from April 25th and after. If you have already purchased my memoir in the past, I love you—you know that. But this offer is for new book purchases only.
Third-party purchases don’t count. What that means is, if you send me a screenshot showing that you bought the book used off Amazon or Thriftbooks, your purchase isn’t eligible.
Speaking of the A-word, I’m not going to get mad if you purchase the book on Amazon because my memoir is published with an independent press for whom a book sale is a book sale. That being said, I do want to remind people that Jeff Bezos is the second richest person in the whole entire world, and he absolutely does not need your money. Bookshop.org is a great way to support local bookstores while also getting the fast shipping that Amazon is appreciated for. In any case, like I said, a book sale is a book sale, so thank you for buying author’s books however it is you do.
We can continue this exchange after Mother’s Day—the book will be uplifting well past May 10th! I don’t have to send the cards in the framework of Mother’s Day, either. If you have a friend who needs some lifting up, let’s get the book to them.
I think that’s it! If you have questions, please ask them in the comments.
You still have a few days left to enter this enormous book giveaway extravaganza that I’m a part of with 30 other authors. (You must live in the continental US to enter this one.)
If you live near Rhinebeck, New York, the iconic Elissa Altman is speaking about her new craft book “Permission” at Oblong Books this evening at 6pm. After writing three critically-acclaimed memoirs and a decade of teaching memoir workshops at every level,
has helped students face the elephant in every writer’s room: how to craft the stories that are most vital to them despite the voices that have told them not to. Permission is a master course, not only on how to craft memoir, but how to begin and keep going when you’ve been told you can’t, and how to how to give yourself permission to transcend the fear that keeps vital stories from being written. Registration is free, but RSVPs are appreciated— you can do so here.If you live near Winsted, CT, I’ll be celebrating Independent Bookstore Day tomorrow (august 26th) at the Curious Cat downtown from 10:30am until I get hungry and want lunch.
There is one week left to apply for my writing workshop, Turning Points, this October in New Mexico! We choose people based on their ability to contribute to a safe, supportive and meaningful experience for everyone--you are not judged on your writing nor the fancy things you have or haven't done. We also have an incredible alumni network of regular meetings and support check-ins, plus lively group chats, of course! Find application details here.
That’s all for now! Next week I have a video post coming out for paid subscribers about how I’m tackling the developmental edits handed down by my US and UK agent for my new novel, ALAN OPTS OUT (coming your way in 2026 from Little Brown). Stay tuned for that one—it’s…quite something, I promise.
Have a good weekend—I’ll see you next week.
Courtney
Love the story about the golfer 🩷