Well, Hello there.

Start with Hello is officially born today!

Hello!

Did you know I send (almost) every email to you at 8:09pm? Usually on Fridays? I don’t remember why I started doing that, but I did, and it stuck. (Maybe I’m a tinge superstitious now??)

8:09pm Friday is definitely our sweet spot…and yet here we are! On a Tuesday! Because…

IT’S LAUNCH DAY FOR START WITH HELLO!

Yep, I’m screaming. The timeline from contract to release is so long. It’s a ton of writing and angsting and eventually talking about it, followed by long periods of waiting (when it hardly seems real) and then Voila! It happens. It always does.

What I’ll say to you and only to you is this: launch days usually feel a little wonky. After so much time and attention, it’s often a quiet day, and this is no exception. And on top of that, you just really hope people will buy the book! So I’m sitting here at lunchtime, at my kitchen island, typing this note to you. As soon as I’m done, I’m eating leftover lamb biryani and then I’ll leave to pick Silas up from school.

Life, at its best, is always a mash-up of extremes.

I know so many of you have already pre-ordered your copy. But I also know that some of us don’t like to wait. We’d rather jump when there’s something to reach for! If that’s you, I invite you to buy your copy today.

Click here to buy Start with Hello on Amazon

Or here to buy it for just $13 + free shipping at Baker Books

Lots of people we follow and admire wrote really kind words about Start with Hello…

One of the most significant endorsements came from author and activist, Faitth Brooks.

And this one from Jose, my actual neighbor:

Start with Hello is a simple, practical guide to finding our way toward wholeness as we find our way back to each other.

It’s about home and feeding people and paying attention, but it’s also about listening and prioritizing one another. It’s about choosing complexity over comfort, about repairing what is broken, and sticking around for the long haul.

“We all just want to know we are loved and that we’re not alone. When hard days come, we need to feel some of our grief seep into someone else’s bones.”

“Tenderness requires friction. We have to be willing to bump against new ideas and feel the shrapnel of toxic histories. We have to come close in order for the best of us to rub off on each other. If we’re willing to lay our hearts bare, life becomes a series of astonishments as we carry each other through it all. Isn’t that the dream?”

-Start with Hello (and Other Simple Ways to Live as Neighbors)

(Lest you think this book is too hard or heavy, please note I quoted the 1991 cinematic masterpiece, What About Bob? in the first chapter AND I use the word “taco” no less than TWENTY FOUR TIMES throughout the book.

It’s fun. It’s simple. It’s funny. It’s sad. It’s packed with tiny steps, my favorite soup recipe, stories about my kids and neighbors, family trivia, and an ending blessing written by moi.

It’s a whole journey.

I hope you’ll join me on it!

(that link is clickable!)

Thanks for celebrating with me, favorite ones. I’m forever thankful for you.

Love,

Shannan

(Taken this morning. I asked them to “look excited!” and one of them (THE OLDEST) revolted. Also, please notice Silas’s summer shorts + winter coat combo. Midwestern Fall is such a vibe!)