A year and a half ago, I shared the below letter of gratitude after finishing the serialized version of my memoir. It feels right to bring it back now, so you can glimpse the roots of what’s blossomed since.
What began as pages written only for myself, an attempt to get the story out of my head and into my body, slowly found its own current. Week by week, chapter by chapter, I sent those words out every Sunday. First to family. Then, somehow, to a widening circle of readers whose tenderness and curiosity carried the work further than I ever could have imagined.
And now, what was once private medicine is a book. Unfixed: A Memoir of Family, Mystery, and the Currents That Carry You Home will be released into the world on October 14th through Empress Editions / Simon & Schuster.
To borrow from Shakespeare: beware—when you share on Substack, “something magic this way comes.”
So this is another bow—deeper now, more rooted—than the one I offered two years ago. To all who have arrived since, and to those who have been here from the beginning: my heart overflows. Thank you for meeting me in these waters.
Already have a copy? How about a meaningful holiday gift?
And now, the letter. Dated April 2024. My oh my how things have grown, expanded, rooted, delighted.
“The impact of shouting from the rooftops when you discover a writer who makes your heart sing or inspires you, who shows you what’s possible, is massive. When you celebrate them you spread the love and that’s not a figure of speech, that’s a literal translation of what happens. The world becomes a better place. Your world and theirs. -
Until I discovered Substack, reading and writing were solo endeavors.
Written words were tucked away into forgotten folders. Treasured books, read under a blanketed dark womb, and then abandoned lifeless on a shelf—only their characters lived on in memory like long-lost friends.
Never did I ever think writing and reading could be so immediate and intimate; a sharing or a reading within hours or days becomes a conversation, a hug delivered on soft consonants, quips that loop laughter all day long, a teary joining of minds. And though I can’t even put a face to most in this community of soul friends, each transcends time and space—five-dimensional beings that swirl into omnipresence; they reside within, beyond, and are yet more real, nourishing and delightful than a toasted cheese sandwich.
Substack community, you’ve turned this introvert into someone who loves to party; and while it has no balloons or bounds, our party’s last call is the apocalypse and we’ll be deejayed out by birdsong.
So today, a toast. An honoring of the readers and writers who have not been accessories to my memoir-writing-sharing journey but as integral as nutrient-bestowing soil. Without you, this timid sprout, would’ve withered into meaninglessness—a story surrendered to the millions of other stories of a lifetime, lived and then forgotten. Now, this tiny sprout looks up at a tall, exalted wilderness of song. Good god you’re beautiful.
I bow to you, and in no particular order because this forest is from the Symbiocene—as the brilliant
writes, “Anthropocentric thinking is built on hierarchy, supremacy, competition, and survival of the fittest with a focus on perfection and control. The structure of the symbiocentric mind is rooted in heterarchy, symbiogenesis, synergy, cooperation with a focus on regeneration and sustainability.”An imperishable thank you,
…and to the many others who joined after I finished serializing or are not here on Substack. You are all alive and thriving in my heart.
I remember this when it came out! It sparked some insights in me that led to a renewal and renaming of my own Substack. I love seeing how this has all continued to expand and connect in deeper ways. So thankful for you. 💚
When I first found you here, I knew I'd hit gold. When you interviewed me with such tenderness and with the help of Alisa Kennedy Jones and Veronika Bond, I was enfolded by the three of you. When I interviewed you, I knew you better and more intimately. Your book that now will be seen and greeted by so many sings, as my review tries to express. My admiration and love for you is boundless, Kimberly.