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memoir

Why Amy Ferris Wants You to ‘Open Carry Your Life’

November 10, 2023 by Adam Kaufman

If you aren’t following author and screenwriter Amy Ferris on Facebook, you should be. In a world – especially online – that seems to spill over with anger and grievance, Amy is an oasis of love, grace and more than a little bit of magic.

Amy Ferris first came to internet prominence–after her long career as a successful screenwriter–for her “Post Coffee, Pre-Wine” Facebook posts; expressions of love, longing, frustration, melancholia, and reminiscence that tugged at something essential and human in tens of thousands. She’s not exactly sure how they started, she told me when we spoke. “One day I was writing something after I had coffee and it really was very organic,” she said, adding, “I don’t know where the fuck it came from, but people seemed to like it.” Those posts became a platform, a meeting place and, finally, a community.

Amy shared the messiness of her life fearlessly, hilariously, and publicly, giving others permission to do the same. In an online world of infinity pools, sumptuous meals, perfect bodies and perfect lives, Amy was–and is–utterly authentic about her imperfections. “Wear your scars like stardust,” she has implored her readers on more than a few occasions.  It’s very “Amy” advice, deceptively simple but if you can find a way to embrace it, you can unlock something powerful.

That power is what lies at the heart of all the magic and unvarnished truths, and it’s what draws people into Amy’s orbit and keeps them there. Amy Ferris is no victim, and she encourages and inspires her followers to take control of their own lives.  One of her signature Facebook stemwinders begins, “That moment. That moment when you decide, f**k this shit, I’m gonna put on a cape & a tiara & pair of Frye boots and save my own life…”  Of hundreds of comments below the post, one reads, “Now is that moment for me. Thank you, Amy ♥Amy’s Facebook page is littered with such moments of connection and empowerment.

Amy Ferris’s newest book Mighty Gorgeous: A Little Book About Messy Love–available on Amazon and whereever fine books are sold.

The glories and challenges of owning your unapologetically messy life have been centerpieces of Amy’s writing for a long time. Her first book, Marrying George Clooney, was a rollicking and hilarious collection of ruminations on life as she navigated the emotional gauntlets of her own menopause and her mother’s dementia and declining health. Now, she’s out with a new book, Mighty Gorgeous: A Little Book About Messy Love. It’s a collection of stories and essays about her love for her husband of 30 years, Ken, for her dad and her long journey to finally loving herself. It’s full of hard-won wisdom about learning to embrace your flaws, master your pain and make magic from suffering.

“The theme was love. Messy love. And complicated love. I’ve never thought of love as easy, I always knew it was complicated,” Amy says of the book, adding with her typical candor, “I love Ken but we drive each other crazy.”

I asked Amy what it is about her posts that she thinks connects with people, “I think that I share my life, the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful,” she said, that she thinks of herself as an ordinary woman who happens to write about extraordinary things.    

I’m not entirely convinced that’s true. I’ve personally known Amy for years and she’s many things–screenwriter, memoirist, pugilist, insomniac, prolific deployer of f-bombs, chick, champion of women, spokeswoman for the voiceless. The notion that she might be ordinary has never crossed my mind.

But of course, that’s part of it. As Amy would be the first to tell you, she hasn’t always been the extraordinary woman she is today. While we talked, she told me a story from when she was younger, long before she grew into the woman would ultimately become.

“Years ago, I was dating this guy…and he thought I was gorgeous,” she recalled, “and I remember sitting there at dinner one night and thinking, “This guy’s nuts. Back then I did not have any self-esteem, I felt valueless. And I think there are many women who see themselves the way I did. Now when I think back, I think, “Wow, I was.”

It’s stories like that, I believe, that draw people to Amy. She possesses credibility because of her own lived experience. If someone could fall as low as she did – more than once – and then rise to the heights she’s achieved, anyone can. Her message is one a lot of people need to hear: if you embrace your failures and flaws and take ownership of your life, anything is possible.

Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: Amy Ferris, Book Author, memoir, Mighty Gorgeous, Open Carry Your Life

4/11 Book Reading: Westchester Resident’s Poignant Memoir, The Bridesmaid’s Daughter

April 4, 2018 by The Inside Press

The Mental Health Association of Westchester (MHA) is thrilled to host Pound Ridge’s Nyna Giles and co-author Eve Claxton for the exclusive Westchester reading of their poignant and unflinching portrait of Nyna’s mother Carolyn, whose glamorous life was sidelined by mental health issues. THE BRIDESMAID’S DAUGHTER: FROM GRACE KELLY’S WEDDING TO A WOMEN’S SHELTER—SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH ABOUT MY MOTHER (St. Martin’s Press; on sale March 27, 2018) is a riveting investigation to unearth the lost pieces of Carolyn’s remarkable life story, as well as tell the tale of the daughter who reclaimed her mother’s memory.

To be held on Wednesday, April 11 at 7 p.m. at the Walker Center for the Arts at the Harvey School in Katonah, the book launch reading includes a Q&A, book signing and refreshments; tickets can be purchased at www.mhawestchester.org for $25. This special event – a rare occurrence to hear from both authors in person – raises awareness for mental health issues and benefits MHA, a community-based nonprofit that provides innovative, person-centered treatment.

“We are thrilled that Nyna has chosen to shine a light on the importance of mental health and getting the right help at the right time. MHA is honored to partner with both authors for this exciting reading of their new release,” said MHA CEO Charlotte Östman, LCSW-R.

“Telling my mother’s story in ‘The Bridesmaid’s Daughter’ has been a highly emotional journey – laying bare the heartbreak and devastation mental illness can cause a family,” said Nyna Giles. “This project was extremely painful at times, but ultimately was one of the most fulfilling events in my life. It illustrates the importance of early intervention and treatment, and has enabled me to find a tangible way to give my mother’s life meaning by helping others. I hope that by sharing her story, I can start many important conversations about mental health advocacy. This is why I feel The Mental Health Association of Westchester is vital to our community, ensuring that mental health services are readily available to those who need it the most.”

At 29 years old, Westchester native Nyna was in line at the supermarket when she looked down and saw the headline: “Former Bridesmaid of Princess Grace Lives in Homeless Shelter.” Nyna was stunned: her family’s private ordeal was front page news. The woman on that cover was her mother. The truth was, she barely knew who her mother had been before marriage. She knew Carolyn had been a model – arriving in New York in 1947 and rooming at the legendary Barbizon Hotel for Women, where she’d met the young Grace Kelly. The two had become fast friends, and Nyna had seen the photos of her mother at Grace’s wedding, wearing the bridesmaid gown that had hung in her mother’s closet for years. But how had the seemingly confident, glamorous woman in those pictures become the mother she knew growing up – the mother who told her Nyna she was too ill to go to school and kept her isolated at home?

Nyna Giles and Eve Claxton

THE BRIDESMAID’S DAUGHTER is a deeply personal memoir about friendship and motherhood, and a clarion call for improving mental healthcare. In telling her own and her mother’s story, Nyna aims to raise awareness for mental health advocacy so that no one else has to experience the issues Carolyn and her family did.

###

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

“A fascinating true story.”

—Good Housekeeping

“Celebrates a lifelong female friendship while shedding light on a powerful, if at times painful and complex, mother-daughter bond. A poignantly compelling memoir about family, mental health, and revisiting the past.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“This is a fascinating story of the toll of mental illness and a daughter’s search for understanding and forgiveness.”
—Booklist

“Here is the heart-rending story of two beautiful and glamorous women, and the spirals of disaster into which one of their lives tumbled. As daughter and detective, Nyna Giles writes with moving sensitivity about the dazzling Grace Kelly and her best friend — Nyna’s own mother. The book unfolds like a novel — a tragic and deeply moving saga. Read it   and weep.”

—Robert Lacey, bestselling author of Grace: Her Lives – Her Loves

 

“Straight from the heart, and told with great bravery, The Bridesmaid’s Daughter is a fascinating and powerful story of a daughter’s love for a flawed parent and the struggle to understand a tumultuous childhood.”

—Wendy Lawless, New York Times bestselling author of Chanel Bonfire

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

NYNA GILES is the youngest daughter of Carolyn Scott Reybold, a Ford model best known as one of Grace Kelly’s bridesmaids. Nyna has worked in advertising sales with leading media organizations such as Westchester Magazine, 914INC, Westchester Home, The Daily Voice, Record-Review and Westchester and Fairfield County Business Journals. Today she is COO of Giles Communications. She is also an advocate for the mentally ill, having served as a vice president on the board of The Association for Mentally Ill Children of Westchester for ten years. In the spring of 2015, Nyna and her husband, Peter, co-chaired The Mental Health Association of Westchester’s MHA On The Move 5K Run/Walk. Nyna lives in Westchester with her husband, and has three grown children and three stepchildren.

EVE CLAXTON is a writer, editor, and Peabody award-winning radio producer. Since 2006, she’s worked as an editor or co-writer on popular non-fiction books for major publishers including the memoir “He Wanted the Moon,” co-written with Mimi Baird, described by The New York Times as “utterly impossible to put down” and currently being adapted for Brad Pitt’s Plan B with a screenplay by Tony Kushner. Eve is also the editor of The Book of Life an anthology of the best memoir writing throughout the ages.

ABOUT THE MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION OF WESTCHESTER

For more than 70 years, The Mental Health Association of Westchester has promoted mental health in Westchester through advocacy, community education and direct services. MHA offers a range of services that are recovery-oriented, trauma-informed and individualized to promote recovery and wellness. To learn more, visit www.mhawestchester.org.

Filed Under: Inside Westchester Tagged With: bio, book, Harvey School, Local, memoir, Mental Health Association of Westchester, The Bridesmaid's Daughter, Walker Center for the Arts

Come celebrate Richard Laster’s new memoir: … And It Went So Fast!

May 30, 2015 by The Inside Press

Richard LasterCome celebrate Richard Laster’s new memoir: … And It Went So Fast!

Wednesday, June 24, 7:30 pm

Author talk sponsored by the Chappaqua Library (195 South Greeley Ave.)

This fascinating life story — which starts when Richard Laster, age 14, fled his home in Vienna to escape Hitler’s invasion of Austria — is full of memorable twists and turns on his route to America and eventually becoming “the most memorable man” at General Foods. All this is reflected during a span bounded by the outbreak of World War II in Europe followed by Pearl Harbor, V-Day, the growth of suburbia, Silicon Valley and the numerous sociological changes in America. And It Went So Fast is also loaded with well-tested nuggets of business advice, including the evergreen value of goal-setting.

Introductions by Senior Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe of Temple Beth El and Clinton Smith, President, New Castle Historical Society and former Chappaqua Town Supervisor

Free admission. Coffee and refreshments served. Book signing by the author.

All monies collected will go to benefit the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center.

Filed Under: Happenings Tagged With: history, Inside Press, memoir, Richard Laster, theinsidepress.com

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