Hello, it's me again! Thanks so much for all the comments and messages about the cover.... I'm thrilled that you all seem to love it as much as I do. The eagle-eyed amongst you might have spotted that it's up on the webpage now, along with some new text which, I feel, more accurately reflects where the book has come to over the process of writing it. If you'd like to see, you can just go here and click the heading that says "about the book". 

I shared the cover on Twitter this morning, and so many of you have retweeted and said encouraging things. Again, thank you! Getting the word out beyond my followers is essential for hitting that funding target, and every tweet or Facebook/Instagram post counts. It's also been a really lovely antidote, as I got piled-on by trolls yesterday - and not the cute ones from the '80s and '90s with their vertical rainbow hair. I was a bit taken aback by the inexplicable viciousness of it, from total strangers, but that's been more than obscured by the care and support from the people who matter. 

I also gave a talk earlier today at Alain Gregoire's perinatal mental health course. It runs a few times a year, and some people call it "the Winchester course" as before the pandemic it was held in Winchester, but health professionals attend from all over the country and even beyond. I love doing that course as it's always such a warm and lovely crowd. I know some of you have pledged for the book as a result of seeing me there, and welcome especially to those who are brand new. This marks the beginning of a bit of a run, as next week I've got two slots on the Complex-PTSD course and I'm running some training for staff at Nottingham's mother and baby unit.

It's such a privilege to be able to directly influence clinical practice, and how mums and families actually experience care. I'm really grateful for the platform that I have and conscious of trying to use it for good! I will, of course, mention the book and I hope that more people working in maternity and perinatal mental health services will pledge and join our little corner of the internet in the coming week, as well as a more general audience. My aim is that AMWJ will be both useful to clinicians and also interesting and relatable to anyone who has ever struggled with their mental health, or become a parent, or just felt out of place and out of their depth.

Finally, I hate to ask as I know how busy many of you are, and how overwhelming the world is, and what a wonderful support you've been already - but if you were able to help me spread the word, either with a social media post or a direct recommendation to a friend or someone else you think might benefit from reading the book when it's out, or any groups or communities or mailing lists you might belong to, I would be so thankful. Direct recommendations seem to work better than more general online link-sharing, in my experience, but everything counts. We currently have 488 backers and we need... maybe another hundred or so? So if each of you were able to bring along the head and shoulders of another person, or maybe a pair of feet? - we would smash this straight away and I could get on with submitting the manuscript.

Thank you again, and eternally. I'm excited for this last stage of getting the funding sorted, and then for actually being able to send you the books that you've paid for and waited for so patiently and graciously... It's going to be mad to hold it in my own hands as well. Can't entirely believe it. I'll let you know how we're getting on.

Love,

Laura x