The Making of The Real Girls Guide to Midlife

Built from conversations women weren’t having… until now.

When I started writing this book back in April, I gave myself one rule: 45 minutes a day. Not a writing retreat. Not a vision board. Not a clear plan. Just enough time to sit down, tell the truth, and not run from it.

But the idea itself wasn’t new. It first took shape when I was 35, then got literally buried in a red folder under life, pressure, and everything else women carry.

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What I Knew Going In… and What I Didn’t

Before I ever knew what the chapters would look like, I knew what I wanted the heart of the book to be: a mix of my own stories, the lived experiences of other women, and the insight of experts who understand what midlife really asks of us. Those pieces were clear long before the structure was.

What I didn’t know was how it would unfold. I didn’t know how many chapters there would be or how the stories would fit together. I didn’t even know if I’d ever share it publicly. But 45 minutes at a time, it began to form itself… not through clarity, but through consistency.

Eventually, the book landed at 14 chapters—not because I mapped it out, but because that’s simply where the story, the questions, and the truths settled.

The process didn’t look like discipline or inspiration. It looked like reliving, remembering, facing into things I once outran, and letting myself speak plainly about moments I’d never named out loud. Some writing sessions were fast. Some were slow. Some were a full internal negotiation with myself. But I kept showing up.

I had never written a book before. I had never tried to publish one either. So I did what I’ve done during every other major transition in my life: I started walking the path before I knew exactly where it led. I didn’t have a roadmap. I never have. I built motherhood, career, love, and identity the same way I built this book: by doing it before I felt “ready.”

And I didn’t write this book alone. I talked to women who were in the thick of their own transitions. I talked to experts who have spent decades walking alongside women as their identities shift, stretch, break, rebuild, and rise. These weren’t curated stories. They were shared as they were lived: unfinished, raw, insightful, funny, brave. This book exists because women told the truth.

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How Our Community and Book Grew Together

When I launched the Real Girls Guide right here on Substack in June, the book wasn’t finished yet. I launched because I needed a place where the conversation could be as raw and real as the writing. And the second I did, it became obvious: we were already having the same thoughts… we just weren’t saying them out loud.

This book didn’t arrive all at once. It came slowly, in waves - across ordinary days, hard weeks, long flights between California and Australia, and the quiet space between who I used to be and who I am now.

If there’s one thing I learned through writing it, it’s this: Midlife doesn’t wipe the slate clean - it hands you the pen. This is where we stop shrinking and start writing the real story.

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Why This Matters

The book is where I finally said the things I carried quietly for years. And right here is where we get to say them together.

Because that’s the part that matters most: we don’t have to do any of this alone.

If you’re reading this and thinking, Yes. This is my life… then you’re my people.

We’ll share the links when the book is ready to order!!

And for all the behind-the-scenes real talk, subscribe and join us! We’re just getting started.

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#RGG55, #RealGirlsGuide, #BookLaunch #RealGirlsGuidetoMidlife #OfficiallyanAuthor! #RGGtoMidlife #BookComingSoon!

We’ve earned every wrinkle. Might as well make more laugh lines together.
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