Two and a half years ago, I published my memoir Adventures With Postpartum Depression on Amazon. As part of the publication process, I had to include a blurb about the book to entice potential readers.

This was probably more difficult than writing the actual memoir!

I was so intimidated by the prospect of writing something that promoted my book that I hired someone to do it for me. I filled out a questionnaire, paid about a hundred bucks and received a blurb that was … meh. It did not feel like me. But it had been written by a “professional,” and what did I know about publishing? So I revised the blurb and hoped for the best.

A few months ago, I gathered enough courage to rewrite the blurb. This time, I wrote it myself. Sort of. I looked up the book description for Brooke Shield’s memoir about postpartum depression and wrote a similar blurb. If the publishers for Brooke Shields thought that was the sort of blurb that should accompany a memoir about postpartum depression, who was I to say otherwise?

This is what I wrote:

In this debut memoir, Courtney Novak shares her journey through the darkness of postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety and postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder. She describes her symptoms, including insomnia, guilt, and intrusive thoughts about throwing her baby. Courtney shares candidly how difficult it was for her to realize she had a maternal mood disorder.

There’s two more paragraphs of that crap. It describes my memoir, but it feels like it was written by a stranger.

This morning, as I was journaling, I felt inspired to write a new book blurb. This time, I was not going to hire a “professional” or imitate what someone else had written. I was going to write something that felt natural and authentic.

Here is my new book blurb, which should be live on Amazon later this week:

The title of this book is “Adventures With Postpartum Depression” but it should actually be “Adventures With Postpartum Depression, Anxiety, OCD, Insomnia, Despair, Extreme Guilt, Intrusive Thoughts About Hurting The Baby And Feeling Completely Inept at the Whole Business Of Motherhood.” That title, however, was never going to fit on the book cover unless the author used a really, really, really small font.

There are a lot of excellent books about maternal mood disorders, but this one is different. This one is funny. It is raw, honest, poignant, vulnerable AND laugh out loud, please don’t pee your pants, funny.

Courtney cannot help herself. She tried to write a serious memoir about her experiences with postpartum depression. And to some extent, she succeeded. She is brutally honest about the thoughts she had about throwing her baby and taking her own life. She opens up about her insecurities, shame and guilt. She lets readers eavesdrop on her conversations with her psychologist. But even when she is reflecting on the darkness of her mental illness, Courtney still finds humor and joy.

For anyone suffering from a maternal mood disorder, or any mental illness for that matter, Courtney offers hope and inspiration. Readers will learn how an ordinary mom triumphed over postpartum depression and let the experience transform her into a better, stronger version of herself.  

Oh my goodness, I did not realize just how much the shitty old book blurb was dragging at my soul. I feel so much better!