Joanna Gaines Revealed Writing ‘The Stories We Tell’ Felt Like Her ‘Soul Coming Back’ to Her Body
While writing her latest book, The Stories We Tell, Joanna Gaines went through a process of rediscovery that she said was like her “soul coming back” to her body.
Read on to learn more about the book and what the writing experience was like for the Magnolia Network star. Plus, find out when readers can find her memoir on bookstore shelves.
‘The Stories We Tell’ is the first solo memoir from Joanna Gaines
On top of being a home design expert and icon, Joanna is a New York Times bestselling author. Through the years, she and her husband Chip Gaines have written several books. But her most recent accomplishment is The Stories We Tell, her first solo memoir.
Joanna wrote in a note on the Magnolia blog, “We all have a story to tell. This happens to be mine — every chapter a window into who I am, the journey I’m on, and the season I’m in right now.”
“Because this is my story, maybe you won’t always relate, or maybe it will feel like you’re looking in a mirror,” she added. “Whatever we have in common and whatever differences lie between us, I only hope my story can help shine a light on the beauty of yours.”
The Stories We Tell is available for pre-order and will hit shelves on Nov. 8, 2022.
Joanna Gaines felt her ‘soul coming back’ while writing ‘The Stories We Tell’
In Joanna’s note on the blog, she opened up about the process of writing The Stories We Tell. She offered, “The only way to break free was to rewrite my story.”
She added that “something would happen every time” her pen stopped moving.
“It was like my soul was coming back to my body. Like the deepest parts of me that got knocked around and drowned out by all the crap I let the world convince me about who I was came back to the surface. And what was left was only what was real and true,” she described.
The mom of five kids said that she felt “hopeful” and “full” when she completed the book. Eventually, she was left “finally, standing in the fullness of [her] story.”
But writing her memoir wasn’t all about her. She wants the reader to take something away from it and use it to improve their own lives somehow. And she shared in that note a hope “that by the time you get to the end of [her] story, you’re also holding the beautiful beginnings of your own.”
Joanna Gaines wrote a co-memoir with Chip Gaines, ‘The Magnolia Story’
While The Stories We Tell is Joanna’s first solo memoir, she and Chip previously released a co-memoir called The Magnolia Story.
The couple told AOL that they focused on writing the story of their journey from flipping smaller homes to overseeing a multi-million dollar business empire. Joanna explained it was about the “ups and downs” of a couple working together and the “struggle of being small business owners.”
On the other hand, The Stories We Tell is an “authentic and deeply vulnerable journey into [Joanna’s] story” and, for readers, “an invitation to take stock of the chapters” they’ve lived.
