From idea to finished book, the evolution of MeaningFULL: 23 Life-Changing Stories of Conquering Dieting, Weight, and Body Image Issues was less than skill-full much of the time. But it got there!
Around 2012.
While a dietitian and I collaborated as a treatment team, we diverged from professional into personal. We shared things we wished someone had told us during our eating and body image battles—how we might have made some different choices with more knowledge.
That conversation was a seed, but I had no idea how to grow something from it.
Cut to 2014.
I attended my first cause-driven flash mob dance event: One Billion Rising. It was educational, empowering, and FUN, a special combination I had not experienced often, if ever.
At One Billion Rising, the education kicked off the event, and I remember it was tough to take in: painful. I couldn’t wait to get to the dance. During the “Breaking the Chains” routine, I remember realizing that no matter what language the participants’ mouths spoke, dance didn’t care. The individual’s vulnerability countered with the power of so many diverse people united by movement? It was magical!
I dragged two colleagues to the next One Billion Rising. After again having received some education and having had a blast dancing, messing up dancing, and cracking ourselves up, the three of us began to walk home. One said, “We should do something like this for Eating Disorders Awareness Week.” I replied, “Are you serious? We could.” I believed I had the special events and dance backgrounds to pull it together with help.
It took a full year to create the movement with a message: #ShakeIt for Self-Acceptance!®. During that time, I faced various obstacles, from funding to legalities to location. Yet, when I feel something could be impactful to others and deep in my gut, “no” answers make me mad, which pushes a button in me to keep going.
The topic of eating and body image issues seemed to make venues uncomfortable. “No, we don’t want that in our mall,” “No, that’s not allowed here,” and “Not here, no.” We wanted to do #ShakeIt to educate and reduce the shame and secrecy surrounding eating and body image issues and eating disorders!
We ended up booking a public space because of free speech. And here, we move into what became the model for MeaningFULL’s format.
Cut to 2015 and 2016.
We held the rallies at the 3rd Street Promenade: 2015 honored National Eating Disorders Awareness Week and 2016 honored National Mental Health Awareness Month. In both, I wanted to see if the speeches could pull IN passersby. So I did experiments. I gave a 2-minute limit, asked the speakers to focus on just enough pain for the triumph to pay off, and emphasized “uplifting.” I also edited the heck out the speeches. Pretending I was an attendee, what was just enough pain to pump me to want to cheer?
I had seen what I felt was a gap in how we teach about mental health—I’m sensitive to feeling preached at or as if I’m being “educated.” I sort of shut down inside or feel rebellious like so many of us probably do in those situations. At #ShakeIt, I was mindful of delivering any difficult information only after people were pumped and having fun—hopefully, as I felt during One Billion Rising’s flash mob.
Cut to 2017.
Something happened in my personal life to make things quiet. In the stillness, that initial seed planted during that treatment team conversation long ago began to grow. My passion project, #ShakeIt for Self-Acceptance! taught me that triumphant, real-life stories could catch people’s interest, could teach without preaching, and could leave people feeling good, even while/after learning tough information. Also, Chicken Soup for the Soul had been one of my favorite-ever series. It certainly proved that short stories could affect others (I’m an extremely slow reader, so I need short pieces). Adding all this together, I assembled a pitch for a publisher I knew.
The response was quick and to the point: it wouldn’t work. They didn’t think that the short stories could offer enough meat for a payoff on these incredibly complex and sensitive topics (dieting, weight, body image, and eating disorders).
My gut wouldn’t let it go. My button got pushed again. Continuing to believe in the basic concept, I had to figure it out. There were no prototypes to copy that I could find. It fused too many genres.
Here’s where MeaningFULL became a “we.” I sometimes had to hire professionals to teach me what I didn’t know. Repeatedly, I workshopped the proof of concept. Beautiful, generous, smart souls guided or added to the evolution. I took in their feedback and notes. The incredibly patient contributors put up with sometimes a full year of revisions and back and forths.
Cut to 2020.
The proof of concept had evolved into the actual book. It contained diverse people, problems, and perspectives, along with powerful short stories. It provided a space to elaborate as a professional if anything could confuse a reader. I had the three sections I’d wanted: what I learned, what I wish I had known, and you are not alone. MeaningFULL wasn’t a program or plan. It put zero pressure on readers. Packed with education that didn’t FEEL like education, it was simply people’s stories that readers could enjoy, connect with, and learn from (or not).
Pursuing getting published resulted in months filled with rejections or no responses at all. Sometimes agents or publishers would complement the book’s concept, but it didn’t “fit” their list.
Suddenly, I got three yeses in a week. Unsolicited Press calls themselves a “kick-ass small press.” And yes, in my experience, they are—let’s also add kind, social justice-minded, and passionate about books.
Cut to today.
If you end up liking MeaningFULL, please be sure to share it with someone who you think would enjoy it, too!
SOCIALS: @MeaningFULLread and @TherapistAlli
This blog article also appears at Book Pleasures
