Over at The HerStories Project, we have big news this week! My partner and co-editor, Jessica Smock, and I, have been bursting at the seams to introduce the contributors to our next book, My Other Ex: Women’s True Stories of Losing and Leaving Friendships. And the day has finally arrived! We have 35 incredible women writers who have bravely and eloquently shared their stories of friendship breakups for our new book, which will be released in September. If you have ever experienced the pain and confusion of a friendship breakup (and haven’t we all?), whether it was a slow fade, a dramatic betrayal, or a relationship you chose to end, we think you will love this book.

We are thrilled to announce that Nicole Knepper of Moms Who Drink and Swear will be writing the foreword to this book. In addition to being a hilarious blogger, force of social media, and author, she is also a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor. The contributors to our book are diverse in style, background, and profession, and include essayists, poets, bloggers, authors, and writing teachers. We can’t wait for you to meet them! In fact, head over right now  to the portfolio page. I’ll wait.

They’re amazing, right? And we have more great news- for a limited time, you can pre-order a copy of My Other Ex and receive an autographed copy two weeks before publication. By pre-ordering, you are also helping to more directly support The HerStories Project’s mission of helping women find their voices and tell their stories. You can pre-order a copy right here. The book– both paperback and e-book– will officially be available on Amazon and Nook on September 15th.

And one final exciting announcement- The HerStories Project will be offering an online writing class designed to help writers and bloggers improve their personal essay writing. The course will be taught by Jessica Smock- you can read all about it here.

As for me, I am going to enjoy some Radio Silence for the next several weeks by taking a blogging vacation. At the end of the month, The Brilliant Book Club will be back with our summer book review! We are reading and discussing How Toddlers Thrive: What Parents Can Do Today for Children Ages 2-5 to Plant the Seeds of Lifelong Success by Tovah P. Klein. My youngest daughter is two-and-a-half, rapidly approaching three, and I am so looking forward to reading this book.

If you are a new reader around here, The Brilliant Book Club consists of five bloggers: Lauren of Omnimom, Debra of Urban Moo Cow, Sarah of Left Brain Buddha, Jessica of School of Smock, and myself. Together, we read the latest parenting books and then discuss our perspectives in our own blog posts; we’d love to have you read along and share your own thoughts by commenting! We will post our reviews on July 21st. If you’re wondering what other books we’ve discussed, let me bring you up to speed:

Maxed Out by Katrina Alcorn- Can You Be Maxed Out if Your Boss is YOU?
All Joy and No Fun by Jennifer Senior: The Parenthood Paradox: A Snapshot of Two Mothers
Playing to Win by Hilary Levy Friedman- From Little League to Ivy League?
The Good Mother Myth by Avital Nathman Norman- Dispelling Myths and Reinventing Motherhood

And in our Around the World in Six Weeks series, we discussed the fascinating book Parenting Without Borders (which I highly recommend) by Christine Gross-Loh: Here are my posts for that series, in case you have inexplicably found yourself with a lot of time on your hands.

Shaping Our Children’s Character: How Much Molding is Too Much?
Advocating For Your Kids Vs Being a Helicopter Parent
Is Your Child in the Gifted Program?
Finding Academic Balance: Finland Got it Right

See you in a few weeks!