Story of My Book
Overgrown is a collection of poetry that explores life, death, and rebirth in the context of the natural world and a year of life experiences.
My name is Carolyn Maynard and I am the author of Overgrown. I wrote this book because poetry has always been a favorite writing style of mine, but it is one that is often overlooked. Before the thought of writing a book ever crossed my mind, I would write short phrases or poems in a journal, and the ideas kept flowing. I wanted to create a poignant and reflective collection of poems to revere life’s beauty and challenges and to inspire readers to examine their lives in new ways.
My hope is that, in reading this book, you will see the recurring cycle of life, death, and rebirth through the book’s core themes, and interpret each piece to your benefit. In this book, I explore ways of navigating life with purpose and finding a way back to joy from hardship. Ultimately, I want you to see this book as a celebration of both the mundane and the extraordinary facets of life and other people.
In this book, you'll be able to observe the following topics:
August chapter: Building personal strength internally and externally
October chapter: Acknowledgment of pain but a refusal to suffer
November chapter: Somber reflection on challenges, and a surrender to nostalgia
April chapter: The various nuances of love and relationships as they live and die
You will love this book if you are interested in how we navigate life, and you are open to reflection on the various perspectives and occurrences that shape who we are and how we live. There is something for everyone among each piece in this book.
The Book - Overgrown
The book is written in 4 sections, each named for a month of the year that I feel best represents the theme of each respective section.....
The August section was inspired by belief that life, no matter what, is always worth living. It explores finding strength as a woman in the world, and then simply as a person. This section also celebrates close relationships and how crucial they are to a healthy life.
The October section deals with the difficulties of enduring toxicity and moving on from troubling encounters. with other people. It’s an autumnal reflection on the challenges we are given, often in the face of futility.
The November section is darker than the other sections, as it explores the multifaceted nature of death – that of relationships, parts of ourselves, and the world around us as winter sets in.
The April section is celebratory and representative of rebirth. In the heart of spring, April sees the world born again, covered in flowers and new life. This section contains several poems about finding love in all its forms.
What I Need & What You'll Get
This book will be published with New Degree Press. I set up the pre-order tiers to help cover the costs for publishing my book. Money raised will go towards the following:
The Editor I will work with to revise and publish my manuscript in December, 2019
The Cover Design of my book - the mockups you see currently are a placeholder!
The Layout Design for the interior of my book (Physical Copy, Ebook Formats)
The Copyediting for my book - to make help polish the grammar and spelling prior to publication
The Launch & Promotion Efforts for my book - when I ultimately publish this Winter
When I pre-sell 100 copies of my book, I will publish. When I pre-sell 150 copies of my book, I will also publish an audiobook. When I pre-sell 200 copies of my book, I will publish a hardcover edition.
I am also offering some exclusive rewards for people who pre-order my book now:
You will receive a personally signed copy of my book when I publish
A Personal, handwritten thank you note for pre-ordering my book
Your Name will appear in a Special, Acknowledgements Section of my book (“with Special Thanks to”)
Early access to the Introduction of my Book and my entire manuscript, with the opportunity to review it and give me early feedback
The opportunity to help give me feedback and be involved in selecting my cover
I will do a poetry reading where I will share selected pieces from Overgrownand share the experience of writing my book
And more...
About the Author
Carolyn Maynard is from Marietta, Georgia. She attended Emory University as a Psychology major with a concentration in Neuroscience. During her time there, she worked as a writing consultant, gave a TEDx talk on modern relationships, and became a member of Alpha Epsilon Upsilon honor society. In addition, she launched a small business and interned at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Carolyn was drawn to Psychology in college, because she wanted to research what shaped our minds, our relationships, and our behaviors. She wrote this book for the same reasons - to explore the harsh realities and beautiful moments through a poetic lens in order to appreciate life as a whole through its complexity.
Beyond writing and research, Carolyn loves playing video games with her younger brother, rewatching the same shows over and over again, stand up comedy, and (against her better judgement) going out for coffee in the middle of the night.
For more information, you can connect with Carolyn at cfmaynard820@gmail.com and @carolynfrancesmay on Instagram.
Risks & Challenges
The biggest challenge with publishing a book is delivering the finished book to the backer, specifically my mailing of the book to you. I have eliminated this risk by building into the campaign the mailing and shipping costs of your signed copies to you within each pre-order tier.
The risk of delivering the pre-sale copies of my book is contingent on the publisher we use. I will be working closely with New Degree Press to make sure we get the earliest possible ship date of the signed book copy to you. We will keep all pre-sale backers up-to-date as my book hits each key milestone and publishes. You will know when the copies of my book you pre-ordered are expected to ship.
Other Ways You Can Help
Please Share my Pre-sale Campaign on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn with your friends, family and network. Please use #overgrownbook and tag me as well as my publisher, New Degree Press so we can help amplify your efforts.
You can easily share my Pre-Sale Campaign Page via Indiegogo at the top of the page
Please share my book to 5 friends, family members, or co-workers who you think would enjoy it. Please do this as a text message or Direct Message on social media.
Thank you so much of all of your love and support!
Thanks again,
Carolyn Maynard