How Your Story Sets You Free

“Human beings understand the world best through stories. . . . And in this book Heather and Julian are ace story-enablers. A must-read!” —Bill McKibben, New York Times–bestselling author of Falter and Radio Free Vermont Everyone has a story to tell. Sharing that story can change you, your community, or even the world. But how do you start? Discover the tools to unlock your truth and share it with the world: Storytelling coaches Heather Box and Julian Mocine-McQueen reveal how to embrace the power of personal storytelling in a series of easy steps. You'll learn how to share your experiences and invaluable knowledge with the people who need it most, whether it be in a blog post, a motivational speech, or just a conversation with a loved one. How Your Story Sets You Free is the path to finding the spark that ignites the fire and reminds you just how much your story matters. • Features over 100 pages of practical and motivating advice, with quotes from renowned storytellers including Maya Angelou and Marshall Ganz. • Includes specific step-by-step instructions to help you find the words to tell your story in the most powerful and impactful way. “Working with Heather and Julian changed everything by getting me over the hurdle that stood between what was true about my life and what I was willing to share with the world. I’m so grateful they’ve distilled their wisdom and vision into this book.” —Caledonia Curry, artist who goes by Swoon “Heather and Julian are masterful in navigating you through the funny, rocky, delicate, and sometimes scary terrain of sharing yourself boldly, humbly, and unapologetically.” —Rha Goddess, founder CEO of Move The Crowd, author of The Calling

Yes, there really is enough time to do it all: the passion projects, the to-do list, or simply making time to do nothing—the trick is knowing how to look for it. Packed with helpful tips, How Time Is on Your Side is a simple handbook to help reframe your relationship with time. Through practical productivity tools and inspiring stories of people who make time for the things that matter to them, you will find that achieving your goals isn't as farfetched as it seems. Let the encouraging words of artist and author Bridget Watson Payne be your guide to reinvent your relationship with time: it's not the enemy; it's a friend. • Learn how to nurture your inner creative, spiritual, emotional, and mental lives. • Written in author Bridget Watson Payne's smart, friendly, tell-it-like-it-is prose • Tips and tricks include utilizing your calendar to its full advantage, doing mental work in the morning and physical work in the afternoon, and putting your big goals on your to-do list. With smart, unintimidating content, this guide is sure to inspire anyone to make time to achieve their goals. Take a moment, a minute, or a day to reinvent your relationship with time, and discover how it can work for you. The time you need is there. Let How Time Is on Your Side help you find it. • A great book for men and women of any age, creatives and aspirational creatives, busy professionals, students, young families, graduates, and self-improvement seekers • Great for busy people who want to make the most of their time • Perfect for fans of The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp, Manage Your Day-to-Day by Jocelyn Glei, and Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day by Jake Knapp and John Zerat

Help your child explore their creativity with this ten-step guide to writing a story. Step 1: Choose an idea for your story. A good one. Step 2: Decide on a setting. Don’t be afraid to mix things up. Step 3: Create a heroine—or a hero. Now: Begin. Accomplished storytellers Kate Messner and Mark Siegel playfully chronicle the process of becoming a writer in this fun follow-up to How to Read a Story, guiding young storytellers through the joys and challenges of the writing process. From choosing an idea, to creating a problem for their character to resolve, to coming to The End, this empowering picture book breaks down the writing process in a dynamic and accessible way, encouraging kids to explore their own creativity—and share their stories with others! Praise for How to Write a Story “That muse of fire isn’t going to ascend all by herself, so Messner and Siegel, in their follow-up to How to Read a Story, walk readers through 10 steps of literary creation, starting with ‘search for an idea’ and ending with ‘share your story’. . . . Readers new to writing should find this accessible volume a smart choice to get the creative writing juices flowing.” —Publishers Weekly “A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist.” —Kirkus Reviews

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER More than ONE MILLION copies sold A TODAY Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick A New York Times Notable Book, and Chosen by Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Bill Gates and Barack Obama as a Best Book of the Year “Wise and wildly entertaining . . . permeated with light, wit, youth.” —The New York Times Book Review “A classic that we will read for years to come.” —Jenna Bush Hager, Read with Jenna book club “Fantastic. Set in 1954, Towles uses the story of two brothers to show that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as we might hope.” —Bill Gates “A real joyride . . . elegantly constructed and compulsively readable.” —NPR The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York. Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles's third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters, and themes. “Once again, I was wowed by Towles’s writing—especially because The Lincoln Highway is so different from A Gentleman in Moscow in terms of setting, plot, and themes. Towles is not a one-trick pony. Like all the best storytellers, he has range. He takes inspiration from famous hero’s journeys, including The Iliad, The Odyssey, Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn, and Of Mice and Men. He seems to be saying that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as an interstate highway. But, he suggests, when something (or someone) tries to steer us off course, it is possible to take the wheel.” – Bill Gates

My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 1. I’m in a coma. 2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 3. Sometimes I lie. Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?

HOW DO YOU DEFINE YOURSELF? IN A VERY REAL SENSE, we define ourselves through our stories. If we can truly understand the stories that made us the women we are, including the motivations behind our actions and thoughts, we can take charge of how our future unfolds. WHAT IS AT THE HEART OF YOUR STORY? Follow the prompts, tools, questions, and advice through a labyrinth of self-discovery to reach the center of your voice, your power, your truth. And then learn how to share that story—and all of your Feminine Power—with a world that needs to hear it.

This is not so much a study about why God allows suffering or even how we should approach sufferingit is a study about the tremendously liberating and gloriously counterintuitive truth of a God who suffers with you and for you.

We all want to know exactly what we were made for. Yet a calling feels like something for an exclusive few. You Are Free by Rebekah Lyons reminds us that God has plans for each and every one of us and that abiding in God's presence is how we run free.