I’m so excited to share the cover for my forthcoming essay collection Find Your Way Back, which will be published this spring. 

I first tried to put together this collection in 2017 and failed. I knew I was in trouble when one day my husband asked me what the book was about and I couldn’t give him an answer. The book lacked focus. The essays didn’t have a common thread. 

Then cancer happened.

Cancer happened and then I knew I wanted to publish a collection of essays that show you can write your way through anything – even a life-threatening illness. 

Cancer happened and brought April Stearns into my life. April is the founder of Wildfire, a magazine and community for women diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 45. I’m honored to announce that April wrote the foreword for my book, which makes me sound way cooler than I am.  

Thank you, April, for blessing my book with your beautiful prose. 

Also, I am so thankful for Dawn Michelle Hardy of The Literary Lobbyist and her team for helping me with every step of this publishing project. 

About the Cover

Most people know that pink is my favorite color but thanks to my book cover I’m currently obsessed with yellow. It’s a bold color, representing the boldness it takes to share your story with others. It’s a bright color because in the face of cancer, oppression and anything else – joy is my resistance. And as you look at the color against the chocolate brown skin of the female figure on the cover, you are reminded that Black women invented yellow. 

The female figure’s beautiful bald head and strategically placed pink scarf are, of course, an homage to all breast cancer survivors and thrivers everywhere.

About the Book

Find Your Way Back is a collection of essays that demonstrate how I’ve used writing to achieve some of my wildest dreams, such as being my own boss, and how I used writing to overcome my worst nightmare – cancer. The book explores how I’ve used writing to work through issues of gender, race, faith, and much more.

Even though my cancer diagnosis is woven throughout the book, Find Your Way Back isn’t really a book about cancer. It’s a book for any woman who has wanted to write since she was a girl but struggles to find the time or courage to put her words on paper. My hope is that the book will remind you that instead of putting writing on the back burner when life gets turned upside down, you should use writing to help life make sense again. 

One of the best things about writing this book was that it reminded me to practice what I preach. When challenges would come up – whether related to the book itself or some other area of life – I would just whisper to myself, “Write it out.” I would turn to my journal to pray or to process my feelings and even to find solutions. I hope that after you read the book you’ll see all the ways that writing can help you too. 

Stay tuned for the release date and be sure to sign up for my newsletter and follow me on Instagram @seejavaciawrite for book updates as well as a behind-the-scenes look into my self-publishing journey. And while you’re over there on the ‘gram, feel free to share my cover reveal post with friends or to your IG Stories. Don’t forget to tag me!