But nearly choking to death on her own vomit after yet another secretive binge forced her to seek professional help and confront the origins of her consuming and shame filled behavior of compulsive eating and extreme dieting. This raw, illuminating and tragically comic book is the story of child Azure struggling to survive her upbringing by a brilliant, sociopathic father who starved and belittled her as well as adult Azure attempting to save her marriage and her psyche while contending with her preoccupation with food, her body, a fat-phobic society, and her insatiable hunger for love and acceptance.

    The stories are not presented chronologically; instead, the reader follows Hymn from room to room, learning about the realities of daily life in a psychiatric hospital as well as the turmoil in Hymn's own head. At turns wildly funny and heartbreakingly honest, "House Full of Insects" gives a human perspective on the taboo subject of living with mental illness. "House Full of Insects" is approximately 14,500 words. Published by PrinGen Publishing (www.pringen.com).

    Girl gets a reality check. This is the story of a year in my Glamorously Unglamorous life.""When I was 23 I hopped a plane for New York City, off to pursue my destiny, sure that I'd never look back. This is my story of looking back. Of a journey that took on a whole new meaning and purpose. A year in New York City. A year of discovering the best and worst parts of myself. A year of learning the lessons that you can only learn the hard way."

    She's barely out of the car when she's called to assist the midwife with a bride who's gone into labour in the middle of her own wedding reception. And so her adventures begin...As a health visitor Nurse Sarah is as green as grass but she puts her best foot into wellies and braves the mad dogs, killer ganders and muddy tracks of the farming community. Despite set-backs young Sarah is determined to help the mums she meets, from struggling young mothers in unmodernised farmhouses, to doyennes of the county dinner party set who slave over stuffed olive hors-d'oeuvres.Village life in 1970s isn't always quite the Good Life Sarah's been expecting; her attempts at self-sufficiency and cider making lead to drunk badgers and spirited house parties - but will it be the clergyman, the vet or the young doctor that win Sarah's heart. During her first year in Kent, Nurse Sarah Hill get stuck in - reuniting families and helping mums in the midst of community full of ancient feuds, funny little ways and just a bit of magic.

    It is a yarn still told in a hundred bars in tucked away ports where seafarers drink and wait out stormy weather. The story takes the reader on a smuggling voyage from the Atlantic down the Red Sea to Kenya, to Thailand and back across the Indian Ocean to Spain then the Netherlands. No notoriety, no articles in magazines, no calling for help when things get bad. Medical emergencies at sea, sharks, pirates, monsoon storms, and the Guardia Civil, notwithstanding… backing off was not an option. After 12 years of sailing and smuggling in the N. Atlantic and the Caribbean, Ranen, an old school pre electronic navigation sailor who smuggles to pay the bills for a lifestyle of dangerous freedom, heads for the Indian Ocean aboard his sleek deep ocean sailing boat, Sara. He left with a solid plan to sail new oceans, and do business in a new arena with different cultures. What happens when he gets there sends him on a path that was nothing he imagined, but such is the world of sailing and smuggling. Although Ranen has written this story in first person, It is also told from the perspective of the courageous young “Kenya Cowgirl” who became his crew and lover, all told through her journal entries from that voyage. In the days when “5/11” Beverly Johnson and Lynn Hill were winning the respect of the “rock star” climbers in Yosemite, Ranen was throwing a young Arianna Bell into the maelstrom of long distance non-stop sailing/smuggling. This is her story as well. Surprising twists of fate, cat and mouse with the law and other bad guys, as well as up close accounts of at life at sea in challenging conditions. Like living in a Dylan song.

    Miraculously, his daughter was unharmed, but his wife faced a series of life-threatening injuries, including the same one that famously left Christopher Reeve paralyzed. Following the accident, Segal began sending regular email updates to their circle of friends and family—a list that continued to grow as others heard of the event and were moved by the many emotional and spiritual issues it raised. Segal's compelling memoir is an intimate and honest chronicle built around these email updates, and is a profound example of how people show up for one another in times of crisis.Alternatingly harrowing, humorous, heartbreaking, and hopeful, this is an uplifting tribute to love, determination, and how the compassion of community holds the power to heal, serving as an inspiring testament to the resilience of the human spirit when faced with pain and adversity.

    They were already used to a simple life, having spent the last three years living on their boat in France for the summer seasons, and returning to the UK and their caravan for the winters. This tiny cabin would now be their new home for the winter months, taking them a step further along the road to self-sufficiency. They had no electricity, no kitchen, no bathroom or bedroom and the loo was a bucket in a shed, but the property came with five acres of field and woodland.From now on their lives would be simple, pared back to the basics, but they found that an off-grid lifestyle was by no means an uncomfortable experience. Responsibilities didn’t disappear but they changed, becoming less onerous. There was more time to think, and to appreciate the natural world around them. Living in such rural isolation, each day brought something new to marvel at: deer browsing in the field at dusk, salamanders on the doorstep, owls calling by night.If their own world felt increasingly magical, the outside world was far from it. They had moved to a foreign country at an historic time, living through a pandemic and adapting to the day-to-day implications of Brexit.A Simple Life doesn’t just follow Mary-Jane and Michael as they settle into their new lives, it also raises questions about what really matters to people. What makes us happy? How does it feel to have few possessions? Will life become unbearable without a flushing toilet?Thought-provoking and amusing, this book opens a window onto a different way of living. Mary-Jane shares a wealth of information and, if you have ever found yourself longing for a simpler life, this might tempt you to take those first tentative steps on the journey.

    Over the next 2 years, I was attacked by a few wild animals, experienced unexplained phenomenon, had a massive learning curve and truly experienced the Australian outback. If you are after a story that was written to appeal to the masses and that mainstream publishers love, then this probably isn't for you. If you are after a lighthearted read that provides the raw truth about life out bush and my experience of it, then click away. I hope you enjoy. Note - mature themes.

    Sulfurously funny and intellectually provocative, 7 Tattoos is a journey without maps through the labyrinth of a human soul. There are only a few landmarks as guideposts: the ones carved on the author's own flesh. Each section of this innovative book is the story of one of Peter Trachtenberg's tattoos, as well as a daring, intelligent exploration of the themes that each tattoo evokes: death, sacrilege, primitivism, rebellion, atonement, sadomasochism, and downfall. 7 Tattoos introduces us to a man responding ingeniously and emotionally to the harrowing events of his life: funerary rites in Borneo, heroin addiction on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the deathwatches of both his parents. Though it features deft portraits of famous tattoo artists like Spider Webb, Trachtenberg's book is not about tattoos; rather it is an arsenal of ideas fired off with great emotional power. At once memoir, wild anthropology, and meditation on love, faithlessness, and faith, this stunningly original book redefines what a literary memoir can be.

    Severely depressed, he tried everything - from mindfulness to massage; Prozac to Pilates. Was something missing?This Is Not How It Ends chronicles Jehan's four-year battle with depression, and how the power of storytelling helped him to survive. He argues that many of us think our brains are broken, but in fact, our stories are broken.Jehan began an experiment on himself. Could he rewrite his past? Could he reinvent his character? Could he create a whole new plot?This gritty, vulnerable book will challenge readers' understanding of mental distress, and give them the tools to reshape their own life stories.

    As she was handed me by the midwife, my mother wept for all the wrong reasons. She could have shagged a platypus and I still would have come out better than this.So begins Jason Byrne's Adventures of a Wonky-Eyed Boy, a laugh-out-loud memoir that captures the childhood adventures of an accident-prone youngster in 1970s and 1980s suburban Dublin.It was a time when your brother persuaded you to eat the grease behind the cooker by telling you it was caramel, your house was blown up by lightning, your dad mixed up the toothpaste and the arse-cream, and you fell asleep on Sunday nights to the sound of one of the neighbours who were all named Paddy drunkenly singing Magic Moments in the good front room. All of this while trying to stop your wonky eye from giving the game away.Jason Byrne's childhood adventures are nostalgic, heart-warming and, above all, hilarious."When you read this you'll realise Jason might actually be the normal one in his family." John Bishop."I loved this book so much I wanted to cover it in wallpaper and write to all my pen pals about it!" Amy Huberman"A comedy god" The Mirror."Outright king of live comedy" The Times.

    Written by a prominent social work leader and trainer for social work licensing exams in the U.S., this guide is based on years of time-tested exam prep workshops conducted by the author. It mirrors the ASWB Clinical "Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities” upon which the exam is based, as well as incorporates information from the DSM-5, which will be included in the exam starting in mid-2015. The guide is comprehensive yet focuses on the material most likely to be included on the exam, so that students can prioritize information as they study. A self-assessment section helps readers identify their strengths and weaknesses before they tackle the material. The author shares her extensive knowledge of the exam by providing useful test-taking strategies and tips for overcoming test anxiety. The 170-question practice test at the end of the guide (with explanations of the correct answers) mirrors the actual exam in both length and structure. Content covers human development, human behavior in the environment, diversity, addictions, assessment and diagnosis, treatment planning, clinical interventions, case management, and professional values and ethics. This book will be a valuable asset for students and aspiring social workers throughout the U.S. and Canada. Key Features: Developed by a highly respected educator of social work licensure candidates Covers all the content areas on the examination, as well as new content added in 2015 Begins with a self-assessment section to help identify areas of strength and weakness Offers a wealth of test-taking tips and strategies to foster exam confidence Includes a practice test (with explanations of the correct answers) that mirrors the exam ASWB is a registered service mark of the Association of Social Work Boards, which neither sponsors nor endorses this product.

    What's most important in each story is the unassuming, ordinary, everyday guru who popped into his life and offered the perfect life-lesson for the moment. Rob shares these very interesting life lessons, which helped him gain insights that proved to be superb starting points for a new life.

    It left little bits of brain and heart matter all over the walls, and the certain, irrevocable knowledge that my life had just radically changed shape forever. I’d been unceremoniously dumped out onto the road of a new journey. I expected it to be dusty and hard and short on food and water, a gut-wrenching endurance test that would take a long time to wind its way to ease and peace and a modicum of happiness. That’s not what happened at all. There have been hard days and dusty ones, and I do my best, in this missive from the road, to speak the truth of those moments. But the words clamoring at my door weren’t the dusty ones - they were the ones full of surprised pride in the journey that has actually happened instead. The ones full of abundance and purpose and happiness and the wild, bubbling need to dance. Yeah. Not what I expected from my post-marriage apocalypse either. Welcome to Sleeping Solo, my anthem song from the road. It's 17,000 words, or about 60 pages, and every one of them comes straight from my heart.

    This is the story of Grace's journey from the snow-capped peaks of Banff, Canada, down the spine of the Rocky Mountains, and finally into the forbidding desert of New Mexico. Grace battled many difficulties, including an infection that put her two days behind the nearest competitor, Multiple Sclerosis, the elements, demons from her past, as well as a secret that even she didn't know. Ride with Grace and laugh at her hilarious interactions with the oddballs she encountered along the way. Divide By One is an adventure story with heart and humor that shows how indomitable will and perseverance can change the way we see our limitations and our world.