A Beacon of Light: A Guest Post by Chelsea Handler
There’s no one quite like Chelsea Handler. In her newest collection of essays, the comedy mogul goes from hilarious to heartwarming and back again with stories from her over-the-top life. Read on for an exclusive essay from Chelsea on writing I’ll Have What She’s Having.
Hardcover
$29.00
$32.00
I'll Have What She's Having
I'll Have What She's Having
In Stock Online
Hardcover
$29.00
$32.00
In hilarious and tender essays, #1 New York Times bestselling author Chelsea Handler shares her unforgettable story of becoming the woman she always wanted to be.
In hilarious and tender essays, #1 New York Times bestselling author Chelsea Handler shares her unforgettable story of becoming the woman she always wanted to be.
Writing books is a lot like skiing. You have to keep doing it to get better. And by ‘doing it,’ I mean not just the act of writing, but ingesting everything around the act of writing. Reading, absorbing, looking up words, paying attention to story arcs, misdirects, sentence structure, punch lines. Skiing is the same. You must absorb everything about skiing to get better at it. The weather, the layers of clothing, finding a rhythm in different terrains, pole planting, turning, après watching ski videos non-stop.
That’s what passion is. A desire to know everything there is to know about something. Writing my seventh book was a big reminder of my passion for telling the stories that make up my life. I love telling a story with an unlikely ending, and my life has been full of just that. I also like showing the ugly, the unattractive and the unlikeable parts of myself to have my honesty on display. To set an example of the rewards honesty can bring. It’s a daring act of sisterhood to share the parts of ourselves that we would rather keep in the dark.
Almost every time you share a personal story, you are helping someone, somewhere. Especially, when the world is dark and things are starting to feel like Gotham, my hope is for this book to be a beacon of light to all the people who read it, and a reminder that your mindset is a choice; no matter what the backdrop looks like. It feels utterly mad to be publishing my seventh book. I didn’t even go to college. I tried. I gave it a college try. It wasn’t for me.
So many of us have such different trajectories and sharing my own will force more women to reflect on their personal stories, their childhood dreams, have they fulfilled them. Writing, stand-up, telling stories, (that are true, save some names and faces) feels like a badge of honor. I have succeeded at making a living at being myself. For all my readers, a handguide to know what it is you are here to do, and to make sure you’re on your way to doing it. And for all the people out there that want to write a book but have never done it, now is your time.