lose, to put away, before they killed us, and
through writing and hurt through writing
then we had to develop the strength and
and heal through writing. We healed each
stamina to pick up the things that are best
other and had a lovely time doing it. There
for us. Every woman, no matter what age,
is nothing to compare to an experience
creed, color, or ethnic background, knows
like that. In the world of experiences with
what that feels like.
women, this book ranks pretty high.
HimPower: Have
HimPower: Hope
you been surprised
has the book accom-
by the feedback
plished what you
We healed each other and had
you’ve received from
intended it to do? If
readers? How does it
yes, how so? If no,
a lovely time doing it. There
compare with what
what else would you
is
nothing
to
compare
to
an
you expected?
like to have seen
experience like that. In the world come out of it?
DiAnne Malone:
Honestly, I think
Hope LeNoir:
of experiences with women, this
both Hope and I
This is a hard ques-
book
ranks
pretty
high.
wanted to see if we
tion. I think the
could pull some-
project is like seeds.
thing like this off. We are like that, you
You plant them, and you may not ever see
know. We are both all about some, “Let’s
what the fruit looks like. Some seeds grow
see if we can do this?” And then, we go
fast, others, quite slowly. Some grow down
about the business of doing it. But after we
before they grow up. Who knows how this
workshopped and understood that what
book has impacted the world. Another
we were doing was not just some sandbox
reason this question is hard is because we
adventure, we realized that the book freed
didn’t go through a traditional publisher.
a lot of women. Most immediately though,
Everything this book is happened within
the book allowed women who never thought the confines of the seven. We wrote it. We
they were writers, who never thought they
decided on the name. We edited amongst
could be published, who never wore make
ourselves. We all had input on the cover.
up or had a photo shoot or worked closely
We did our own marketing. We financed
with 6 other women at once—the book made our own lau nch. There are limitations with
a dream come true. We also became friends self-publication. I hate that because of the
and learned how to reach joint agreements
limitations of independent publishing the
with one another. We learned how to
book didn’t have a wider audience. It is
respect differences and be vulnerable. We
really a good book; it really is. So, I would
learned how to be honest about the process. have loved to see a major publishing house
We learned how to push through wounds
pick up the project and say, “You all have
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