Carlee WrightWhat do you do after experiencing 700 bad days?
When you are a journalist, you write about it. And when you are Kelly Williams Brown, you sprinkle it with crafts.
The New York Times best-selling author of Adulting has just released her third book, Easy Crafts for the Insane: A Mostly Funny Memoir of Mental Illness and Making Things. It’s “a story about how to make something when you’re capable of nothing.”
Unlike her two other books (Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 535 Easy(ish) Steps and Gracious: A Practical Primer on Charm, Tact, and Unsinkable Strength), Easy Crafts for the Insane is a deeply personal narrative. It reflects on a time that as her life was falling apart (marriage ended, she broke three limbs, her father was diagnosed with cancer, and depression) she found solace in crafting. Not ‘make Martha Stewart proud’ (although who knows, you just might) or Pinterest-worthy projects, but things to keep your hands and mind busy. It’s about how Kelly used crafting for her mental health and if you’re already a crafter, whether it be sewing, knitting or making paper stars, then you know just how connected to your mental health crafting can be. Essentially, it’s a story of experience where crafting tutorials connect the commentary and provide additional entertainment.
As Kelly’s first foray into the long-form narrative, she relays her story with grace, broaching some challenging topics with humor and heart.
“I wasn’t sure I had that ability,” she said. “Writing this was much harder than [my] other books. It’s the first time I’ve written about myself and obviously sensitive subject matter.”
A believer of turning her own anguish into something funny that alleviates the pain of others, Kelly has done just that. Coupling humor with crafting, she shares and explores her experience to take power over her own narrative.
“I’m a storyteller. That’s how I process my own life — through the stories I tell myself about what happened,” said Kelly.
Her book, like her crafting, is approachable. It’s sincere and honest, fearless and funny. And while writing it definitely had its moments of difficulty, going back helped, said Kelly. “This isn’t my life anymore.”
But Kelly didn’t write this book for herself. “I don’t write just to write. It’s an extremely difficult process.”
“I’m on schedule for a book every four years,” she jokes, her past books having been released in 2013 and 2017.
She wrote it because there is a stigma around mental health, and this is a topic with which she thought people could relate. It is a topic that needs attention.
Today, Kelly is in good mental health. “I’m very content with my life.”
And while it all worked out in the end, exactly how you will just have to find out for yourself. Plus, I hear you need to craft some stars — it will be good for your mental health.
Get a copy of Easy Crafts for the Insane: A Mostly Funny Memoir of Mental Illness and Making Things locally at The Book Bin. Learn more at kellywilliamsbrown.com.
Join Kelly for an Easy Crafts for the Insane Book Launch Party at 4 p.m. Sunday, July 25 at Willamette Heritage Center, 1313 Mill St SE, with a reading, conversation about the book, audience Q&A and signing. There will be books available for purchase from The Book Bin and food and drink available from Taproot. Bring your own blankets and lawn chairs, as the event takes place on the Parsonage lawn.
The Instigator
