About the book:
In Sticks and Stones, DeVries paints a poetic picture of rising above toxicity, love found and love lost, and delves into what it means to find strength in the human spirit. Through poetry, the reader finds a voice of strength and the rebuilding of one’s heart a home with all the sticks and stones thrown upon it. Newly expanded with more full color photos, 41 new poems, and a rewrite of Drowning in An Ocean of No Tomorrows, DeVries shows a full poetic picture of turning pain into poetry in order so you can rise above whatever is pulling you under.
Advance Praise:
“This collection of poetry and innovative thinking by Chelsea DeVries is a remarkable work of words. Sticks and Stones: Full Story Edition is a definite read, and please, read the dedication at the beginning of the book, and then you know the set stage for this book. It is personal. The words almost float across the pages, bringing different situations and emotions to light, in a very toxic world. After reading this, I realized what the title actually alludes to, and how it just fit this unputdownable collection. Such a wonderful read. My favorite was Perks of Being a Wallflower which starts with ‘I’m just a girl, Really strong, like petals on a flower, I wilt.’ I liked this so much, I read many of the poems twice. I look forward to reading more by this poet. Sticks and Stones is a definite recommendation.” –Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews.
“This book highlights that you are not alone in the emotions, thoughts, and situations that challenge you. It’s a reminder too that you can make it through those things and come out on the other side. I love the idea of building something beautiful and strong out of the sticks and stones that others throw at you.” – Amazon reviewer Sara Hovel
About the Author:
Chelsea DeVries wanted to be a writer at the age of 7. Her first publishing credit came at the age of 14 with a poem in a student anthology. She then wrote nonstop while doing IB classes in high school. She published two YA novels while still in high school which after over 10 years she rewrote as a NA romance that she looks to put out as her next publication. She is a seeker of justice and uses her words to free this world’s outcasted, peculiar, and underdogs from the chains that bind them. When not writing she runs and does PR for authors and musicians with her bookish brand The Smart Cookie Philes. Though she’s Florida born and raised, she has New Jersey in her veins. She currently lives in Port Richey, FL with her squad of two dogs.
You can follow her on Instagram and Facebook at @chelsealynnpoetry, and her squad at @dasquad26. In October 2020, DeVries was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome which is a form of Autism.
Add to GoodReads:
Available at Amazon.
Author Guest Post:
In August 2016, I finally got my own writer’s desk. It had a purple desk chair and was one of those cheap desks you get from Walmart. We struggled to put it together so I paid my woodcarving neighbor to do it for me and he did. The desk was so nice and new. Even better, it would have enough space to hold all my business essentials because outside of being a writer, I run The Smart Cookie Philes, which I started because I wanted to be a publicist for authors and musicians. One of the first clients of the Smart Cookie Philes was pop singer Rachel Platten. With the desk all ready to go, I began reworking the novels I published as a teenager. When they were first published, they were YA romance but now that I was older by ten years and wiser, I wanted them to read as NA romantic suspense. I finished the new 40,000 word novel on December 10,2017, at that desk and I never felt more proud of myself.
From here, I went through a strong writer’s post-project depression and I didn’t write for 8 months because I was facing a lot of imposter syndrome that was about the idea that was I only ever going to write one novel my whole career? After a cruise that went to Turks and Caicos, I ended up finding my creative spark again with a new novel project that I watched grow and grow until I worked for the toxic workplace mentioned in Sticks and Stones and following being let go there, and having so much to say … again my writer’s desk was my safe space. I wrote, edited, and published Sticks and Stones, and wrote, edited, and republished Sticks and Stones. And some of it wasn’t pretty at all. I sat at that desk some days and bawled my eyes out. Unfortunately for me, my writer’s desk has to be left behind in my upcoming move in order to recover from mold toxicity, and I feel extra sad about that.
That desk was there for me better than even the most trusted therapist. It was there when I needed to vent, express, tell my story, speak through my characters, decompress. If it weren’t for that desk, I would definitely not have made it or been more depressed. She helped me kill my darlings and was even more darling to me on the hard days when the words don’t come. Writer desk, thank you for everything.
Special thanks to Poetic Book Tours. Click here to view the rest of the tour stops.
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