this book is a work of fiction.
will some of these chapters be based on my own raw emotions as i look back on my teenage years and come up on my young-adulthood? absolutely. is everything in this book based on my own personal life? absolutely not. this is not my life. this is a journal-entry-formatted story. thank you.
two things inspired me to write this book. firstly, the beautiful work of art that is Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. the formatting and point of view are both incredibly fun and, honestly, refreshing.
secondly, i spent a lot of time reading over old journal entries of mine. a lot of them were from a time when, mentally, i wasn't doing very well. writing them, i felt so alone. my life felt like it had become such a mess. i know there are people all over the world who have felt the same as i did (and still sometimes do). that is what inspired me to write this — that pure, raw emotion i put into my words when i felt like my feelings were suffocating me. i want to say this to anybody who might need it: you are not alone in your feelings.
so, with that, i'd like to say one more thing:
if i've described your emotional state at any point up to now, this is for you. this book is yours. take it and run. i don't think i am qualified to give advice, considering my questionable mentality, but i do know one thing: you're doing amazing. if you're seeing this, that means you woke up today. you're pushing through today. that's phenomenal work, and you don't even realize it. give yourself some more credit. getting up for another day is incredibly difficult sometimes, and you did that. yup!!!!
this is also for me! i want to continue to grow as a writer, friend, daughter, sister, significant other, and as a human being. (we could always be better human beings.)
...and for you! if you don't fall under the emotionally unstable category or the author of this book category, then here's your shoutout. books are cool! so that makes you, a reader, cool-adjacent. congrats. brag about it.
for you, for me, and for those overflowing with emotions
with love,
isabelle.
