In 2009, after being diagnosed with Erdheim-Chester Disease, a rare, life-ending illness, author Sandy Trunzer began a blog, with the simple intention of keeping friends updated on her health. Over time, and with feedback from an ever-increasing number of readers. Without a Manual evolved into a wry and unflinching account of what it's like to see your death looming just ahead...and keep on living anyway. Through battles with insurers who refused to finance medications for an illness so rare there was no real medical protocol, and while suffering ever-diminishing health, increasing pain, and a devastating personal betrayal, Sandy continued to maintain her blog. A deeply insightful account of approaching the end of life with grace, love and humour, it lights a beacon - illuminating the way ahead for the sick and able-bodied alike.

In 2009, after being diagnosed with Erdheim-Chester Disease, a rare, life-ending illness, author Sandy Trunzer began a blog, with the simple intention of keeping friends updated on her health. Over time, and with feedback from an ever-increasing number of readers, Without a Manual evolved into a wry and unflinching account of what it’s like to see your death looming just ahead…and keep on living anyway. Through battles with insurers who refused to finance medications for an illness so rare there was no real medical protocol, and while suffering ever-diminishing health, increasing pain, and a devastating personal betrayal, Sandy continued to maintain her blog. A deeply insightful account of approaching the end of life with grace, love and humour, it lights a beacon – illuminating the way ahead for the sick and able-bodied alike.

Real-world writing advice, minus all the lectures. You're an aspiring writer. Maybe you've just discovered your love of words and dream of being a novelist someday. Maybe you've been filling notebooks with science-fiction stories since middle school. Maybe you're contemplating a liberal arts degree, but you don't know what the heck you're going to do with it. The last thing you need is another preachy writing manual telling you how you should write. This book isn't a writing manual. It is a series of candid and irreverent essays on the writing life, from a writer who's lived it. Kerri Majors shares stories from her own life that offer insights on the realities all writers face: developing a writing voice, finding a real job (and yes, you do need to find one), taking criticism, getting published, and dealing with rejection. Don't have enough time to write? Learn how to plan your days to fit it all in. Not sure how your guilty pleasures and bad habits translate into literature? Kerri explains how soap operas and eavesdropping can actually help your writing. Need a reader for your first novel? Find a writing buddy or a writing group that will support you. Nervous about submitting your first piece? Learn from Kerri's own roller coaster journey to find an agent and get published. This Is Not a Writing Manual is the writing memoir for young writers who want to use their talents in the real world. ATTENTION TEACHERS! The Teacher's Edition for This Is Not a Writing Manual is now available! This FREE supplemental PDF includes a series of lesson plans and writing class essentials that will improve the writing of students in middle and high school--and beyond. To access, e-mail us at [email protected] to receive your free download, or visit Kerri Majors's website.

The info-packed, truth-telling guide expectant and new mothers have been screaming into their pillows for. So you're making a person...and no one will stop telling you what to do about it. Your friends, your neighbors, your Uber driver--everyone is giving you unsolicited advice, to which Beth and Jackie say: F*ck advice! There's no "right" way to be pregnant or a new mom, only stretchy pants to be worn and choices to be made. This illustrated guide asks and answers all the essential questions that pop up from the first trimester to the fourth, such as: Should I have an unmedicated or drugged-out birth? (Up to you!) Will I have time to pee as a new mom? (Maybe!) How do I avoid hating my partner? (That's a little more complicated.) Funny, feminist, and, above all, pro-mom, this book is an actually useful baby shower gift.

For thousands of years, the faithful have honed proselytizing strategies and talked people into believing the truth of one holy book or another. Indeed, the faithful often view converting others as an obligation of their faith—and are trained from an early age to spread their unique brand of religion. The result is a world broken in large part by unquestioned faith. As an urgently needed counter to this tried-and-true tradition of religious evangelism, A Manual for Creating Atheists offers the first-ever guide not for talking people into faith—but for talking them out of it. Peter Boghossian draws on the tools he has developed and used for more than 20 years as a philosopher and educator to teach how to engage the faithful in conversations that will help them value reason and rationality, cast doubt on their religious beliefs, mistrust their faith, abandon superstition and irrationality, and ultimately embrace reason.