Help Line

author's note

I would like to thank each and every one of you for reading Help Line. This was a random idea I had, and I decided to write this book impulsively. I'm honestly surprised at the amount of support I've received since starting this book.

Initially, I wrote this book to show what it is like to struggle with an eating disorder. I feel as if too many people mistake eating disorders as an extreme diet or think it relates to how someone looks and therefore makes the sufferer vain. In reality, an eating disorder is a destructive mental illness that truly messes with the mind of a sufferer and makes them believe their self worth is based on what number the scale projects, leading to behaviors such as restricting, purging, or binging. In the case of anorexia, which is the eating disorder I decided to represent in this book, the restriction is more about the sense of control rather than hating how one looks, though that does play a part to some extent for some sufferers.

With Help Line, I wanted to focus on the mental aspect of anorexia to remind people that eating disorders do not have a size.

Anybody, whether they're underweight, normal, or overweight, can suffer from an eating disorder. What irks me the most is when people decide a sufferer cannot have an eating disorder simply because they do not look like they have one. Because of this, I decided to never explicitly describe Emily's physical features, such as her weight. Emily's disordered thoughts and behavior are evidence enough of an eating disorder.

I know a lot of you guys have been wondering the same thing: will there be a sequel?

I'm happy to say there will be a sequel. I'm thinking the format will be similar to the one in this book, where there are both dialogue and full chapters. Recovery is never an easy path, and there will always be challenges and relapses along the way. I want to show this in the next book.

I don't have an exact date on when I will release the sequel, but it won't be posted immediately. I'd like to take the time to edit this book, and I also have lots of other story ideas I'd like to experiment with in the meantime. I think it's safe to say the sequel won't come for a couple months.

This is all I have to say for now! If you guys have any questions, don't hesitate to ask them and I'll do my best to answer every question.

Thank you all again for reading Help Line and being a part of this journey with me. Hopefully, I'll see you in the sequel :)

Xoxo,
Kayla