You want a third book?

You got it, babe. Sort of.

I found this photo in a book store in Detroit and it has nothing to do with anything. But isn’t it amazing?

Readers have been (kindly, generously) asking me about my next book since my last book came out. Specifically, they want a book about this phase of my life (the whole divorce-divorce, dating, new life thing). Am I writing it? When will it be out? Can they buy it right now?

This is incredible, of course. It puffs me up every time I’m asked. How can it not? But the answers (in my head) are, in order: Sort of? Never. No.

If you’re new here (and a whole lot of you are, amazing!) allow me to catch you up and make a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT. Well, a big announcement for me. I’m not sure it’ll be a big announcement for you. But that’s between you and your God.

Want me to come talk at you? I can do that.

If you think my name is HONEY STAY SUPER I’m sorry to disappoint. It’s Kimberly Harrington. Not Kim. Literally never Kim.

I’m a creative director, a writer, an author. I’m a curious overthinker who’s creating a new life and feeling her feelings and I’m inviting you to come along, lord help me. I’m a mother. A woman over 50. An ex-wife. Also: A dumb bitch. A relentless trying-to-be-better-er. A born-again slut. And a life-long late bloomer.

I didn’t have kids until my late-30s. I didn’t become a full-time copywriter until I was 35. I didn’t start focusing on my own writing until I was 47. I didn’t publish my first book until I was 50. I didn’t have a satisfying, varied, and truly hot (non-monogamous) sex life until I was 53. And Cheryl Strayed posted this comment on my newsletter about turning 54: “I just love your writing so much. And this one is especially spectacular.”

Excerpted by the absolutely kick ass magazine MOTHER TONGUE. Subscribe here.

My work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Cut, and McSweeney’s, amongst others. Some pieces I’ve written have gone viral, been the Most Read in the publications above, landed me on best-of / end-of-year lists. Some have even resulted in appearances on CNN, PBS Newshour and public radio, which I’m sure just coincidentally also marked the first time my friends ever bragged about knowing me. As a copywriter and creative director I’ve worked for ad agencies, design studios, non-profits, and big brands including Nike, Apple, and Netflix.

Whenever you’re thinking “should I take any talking heads on cable news seriously?” please remember that I was on it. So the answer is FUCK NO.

I’ve written two books, AMATEUR HOUR about motherhood and BUT YOU SEEMED SO HAPPY about marriage and my non-traditional separation. I will not be writing a third book about this new life of mine. This newsletter is it. I’ve found that writing about my life in book form — while seemingly thrilling and a privilege and all that jazz —breaks my brain and makes me miserable, and all for not very much money. It’s not great! At least for me personally! I’d love to not do that again!

Writing this newsletter, where I have more control and flexibility (and can delete whatever the hell I want), for an audience who wants to hear from me, has been roughly eleventy thousand percent better than dealing with the publishing industry, Twitter, non-newsletter comment sections, and Goodreads. Fuck Goodreads.

I am inviting you to buy my third book. Which, again, is this newsletter.

This newsletter has been free since I started it four years ago. I’m a die-hard believer in being paid for one’s work, always. But I chose to keep this newsletter free for so long because I didn’t want to feel penned in by it, yet another thing I had to do.

But as I’ve written more regularly — and embarrassingly, honestly, and brutally about my life over the past year — I’ve found incredible meaning in this work and my following has grown substantially. I think it’s fair to ask that this work be supported. Paying for a subscription helps replace part of what might’ve been a book advance. If you value what you’ve read or you’ve been asking me for a third book, here it is, babe.

Don’t believe me? How about BAM here’s a mfing CHART GRAPH

What’s in it for you? What’s in it for you? First of all, wow. Do you even hear yourself?

FREE subscriber
• Don’t worry, you will still get one post per month (possibly more)! The personal essays you have loved and shared will still be something you’ll be able to access.

PAID subscriber ($5/mo or $55/year) will get those same posts PLUS:
• Access to the full HONEY STAY SUPER archive
• Additional subscriber-only posts
• Previously unpublished pieces (essays, humor, and pieces that were cut from my books)
• My advice column (lord help us all) and the ability to submit questions!
• Occasional AMAs (where I reserve the right to not answer anything at all! It’s a total scam!)
• Theme-based (sex, aging, parenting, divorce, writing, etc.) recommendation lists of what to read, watch, and listen to.

FOUNDING member ($100/year)
• In addition to everything above, this subscription is a way to support my work by kicking in some extra dough, allowing me to do more of it. Do more work, I mean. Not do more dough. But I will totally do more dough if that’s what you’re into.

Already a subscriber? You can also buy a gift subscription for someone who you think would get something, anything, from reading this newsletter. It’s the kind of gift that says, I hope you don’t find it insulting that this newsletter made me think of you.

Thank you for reading me. Thank you for sharing posts and sending me nice notes and supporting my work by emailing it to your buds with a comment that I suspect is something along the lines of: THIS. And special thanks to the readers who’ve reached out often in the past year and essentially said, hey ding-dong, I’d pay for a subscription if you ever decide to do that, derp.

You can find my books here. You can find my writing here. You can find my copywriting and creative direction work here. You can find me on Twitter. You can find me on Instagram. Please do not find me in real life, unless you’re a paid subscriber then I’ll basically let you stalk me.