Everyone loves the idea of writing a book. The reality is considerably less romantic. Here’s what writing Rose Colored Glasses actually looked like.
It Started With a Voice
I didn’t decide to write a book one day and then write it. The book started as a voice — a recurring impulse to say something out loud that I kept swallowing. The first notes were on my phone at 11pm. Then they were in a notebook. Then they were on pages.
The Hardest Chapters
There are chapters in Rose Colored Glasses that I wrote and deleted and rewrote over a dozen times. The chapters about betrayal. The chapters about grief. The chapters about the version of myself I was most ashamed of. Those are, predictably, the chapters readers connect with most deeply.
Writing While Running a Business
I wrote this book while running Janelle Alexis Salon, maintaining my national educator schedule, and being a present person to the humans in my life. The writing happened in the margins — early mornings, late nights, car notes, voice memos during the drive home. There was no “writing retreat.” There was just determination.
Working with Beyond Publishing
Finding the right publishing partner mattered enormously. Beyond Publishing understood what I was trying to do — not just produce a book, but create a work that would matter to women who needed to find themselves on its pages.
The Moment It Became Real
Holding the finished book. Seeing my name on the cover. 28 chapters of real, raw truth about my life — bound and real and out in the world. I cried. I’ve earned those tears.
Order your copy at janellealexisofficial.com/the-book or on Amazon.
— Janelle Alexis
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