Wow, you guys. Just, wow.

I am blown away by all the love that Cured by Nature has gotten lately!

We are 2 weeks (exactly!!!!) away from book launch, and yesterday, I had to do a double take.

Yesterday, Cured by Nature was #1 in Hot New Releases in it’s category!!!  Also, another amazing accomplishment for our book: the Kindle version (which just came out last week) was in the Top 15 books in it’s category as well!  This is updated hourly and based on sales, and it was extremely remarkable to me, considering we are still 2 weeks from book launch! WHAT?!?!? Go book, go!

It felt really, really amazing to see that #1 spot, and we’re trying hard to keep it there. Please buy a copy to snuggle up with, get one as a gift for a loved one who needs it and share alike! Barnes and Noble, Booksamillion, Kindle, Indie Bound, Powell’s Books, Booktopia, Nook and more stores have been wonderful enough to put Cured by Nature on their shelves and support the self-love, natural movement whole-heartedly.

As I bathe in the last 2 weeks before my book officially hits shelves, I’ve been rewinding this whole journey.

As you’ll come to read in my book, like most things that happened in my life… my story isn’t typical.

First of all, I had no intention of writing a book. At least not yet.

My publishing company came to me.

It was August, 2014. Exactly 6 months after my Dad died I had decided to take a trip back to my hometown in NYC.

During my first trip back home, I woke up in my hotel room, opened my inbox and read… then astonished, I re-read… a new email.

It said, “Dear Tara,

(short introduction from Skyhorse Publishing)

Have you ever thought about writing a book?”

As an avid reader and book nerd who was raised on Oprah’s talk show, I’ve always found a lot of comfort in other people’s inspirational, overcoming-every-odd stories like my own.  Uplifting stories have literally gotten me through my entire life. They’ve always been my favorite genre. As someone who first read Awaken the Giant Within when I was 7, it has been my dream forever to be an author. But not just any author. The kind of author who changed people’s lives.

So of course I said, Yes! Yes! I’d love to write a book!! … Are you for real, though?

They were for real.

The other atypical part of the story?

They asked, Could you write the book in 3 months?

3 months.

SURE! I said, Oh yeah! I can totally write a book about my entire life and health journey in 3 months!! That’s… 13 weeks, right?

And then I gulped. Hard.

Had anyone ever written a non-fiction book in 3 months?

I didn’t dare google it.

I had never written a book before. I had a movie (Ted 2) lined up to work on, and I had absolutely no idea what I was going to be writing about or how long it would take me. I had absolutely no idea if I could really do it.

But I had to try.

I journeyed to the beach every single morning with my laptop, notebook and 3-4 books for inspiration, and I wrote. Every.single.day.

Keep in mind, my Dad had JUST died. I had seen it.

I was still grieving.

I was still going through detox.

I was still going through life.

I wrote through tears.

I wrote through big smiles. I wrote in front of grumpy mom’s and happy strangers.

I wrote on the very beach that had inspired me to move to California to begin with.

I wrote on nice days, hard days, grey days, beautiful days, and every day in between.

I sent countless phone calls to voice mail, declined dozens of social adventures and changed my bedtime based on my inspiration tank. Daily.

I wrote with all my heart, all my soul, and every inch of my being. Sunset to sundown. Late into the night. In the middle of the night when I’d wake up with a brain swimming with inspiration. I wrote on set for Ted 2 and I wrote at dinner. I audio-recorded on my phone when I was grocery shopping. I was constantly e-mailing myself, texting myself and leaving myself little notes. I read (and re-read) all the books I could get my hands on. All the books that had inspired my journey.

It didn’t really occur to me until after I finished and turned in Cured by Nature (exactly 3 months after I signed my contract – January 1, 2015) that it was not only possible that I was writing my first book at 27 years old: something else was happening.

As my editor read it, I realized based on her feedback about the herbs she was taking, the mindful practices she was doing and the beauty products she was switching to that already…

this book was changing someone’s life.

I finally met up with that amazing and adorable editor in NYC just a few months ago, when I went back home to meet with some major magazines about Cured by Nature.

It was the first time I had been back to New York since getting that fateful e-mail and as I unpacked in the same hotel (practically the same room) as where I had gotten the e-mail about writing my book, I constantly pinched myself about why, exactly, I was there.

This time last year, Cured by Nature was just an idea. A title we threw around. After I told my editors a bit about my backstory, they encouraged me to incorporate my own journey into all the knowledge I had gained along the way. Now, most people who read the book come back to me asking about just that – the stories about my life that are shared within it. It’s amazing how far the original idea has come and what an amazing reality it’s turned into.

A year ago, Cured by Nature was a 380something page manuscript that I handed into my publishing company (who took the biggest chance on me – someone who has never been published before) and crossed my fingers that it wouldn’t come back with a bunch of disheartening notes that said, “Girl, you did what now?!”

Instead, my editor and I e-mailed every single day. She openly told me she laughed, cried and felt completely inspired reading my book. She treated me like her own personal project, even with tons of other books to work on. She started changing her beauty habits, starting incorporating herbs and meditation into her life, and our author-editor relationship started to turn into something really special. I could see, hear and feel how this book was changing not just her life – but I could also feel that it had the capacity to change the life of everyone who read it!

I started to get really excited. Not just about having written a book.

I got excited about how that book was already affecting other people’s lives.

It has changed many lives already. As the reviews rolled in, I constantly was left in awe at the super nice, really astonishing things people had to say about how my words had affected them. As I shared some advanced copies, I began to get emails, texts, social media shout outs, DM’s and even many public posts lately about how much this book, this journey and this message has meant to you.

It’s brought me to tears.

It’s brought the light into my life in a way I never, ever thought was possible.

It’s made me feel more inspired to bring a healthy message. Made me more inspired to be self loving, more inspired to be compassionate and teach than ever before.

Now I know this doesn’t just happen. I know that there’s practically no such thing as luck. You either work hard, you hustle or you’ll always be a little bit behind. I get that.

But it does seem like luck. Which, for the history of my life, is crazy.

And this remarkable journey I’ve shared with you today is just the beginning.

I’m thrilled to finally share the Cured by Nature teaser with you!

STAY TUNED:

We’ll soon be launching a full trailer + an awesome video series to show you how to heal from the inside, out and live a better, happier life!

Don’t forget to grab your pre-order. It’s on sale during this time probably for the last time EVER, and it comes with awesome free gifts, like the first chapter!!

That’s right – pre-order and start reading today!

With love,