[Book Launch] The Making of a Beauty

It’s the official launch day of The Making of a Beauty. Something feels significant about this launch. I’m not sure I can even fully pinpoint why. It just feels important, like it’s the start of something new and unexpected. Like a black swan.

Are you aware of the Black Swan Effect or Theory?

I’ve been fascinated by black swans since I first saw actual black swans in a university in China almost ten years ago. It’s not just the animal itself I’m fascinated by, though. It’s the phenomenon that is the Black Swan. So, there are moments in history that we consider a Black Swan. On the negative side, there’s the pandemic of 2019/2020. On the positive side, there’s the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Three key parts make something a Black Swan:

1. Surprise: Nobody saw it coming. It blindsides everyone.
2. Major Impact: It seriously messes up (or revolutionizes) everything — economy, culture, lives, whatever.
3. Hindsight Illusion: After it happens, people are like, “Oh yeah, that made total sense,” even though before, they had no idea.

I put a black swan on the cover, and now that it’s out there for the world to devour, I find myself wondering what it all means. The black swan and why I feel like something is shifting. Could be nothing. Could be everything.

Can’t help but feel that this launch is significant…

So much so, that I even went as far as to celebrate it with friends and family. A book launch dinner with a select group of people. Just eleven of us, all in all. I shared about the book and my plans, why I wrote it, its significance to me and why I focused on the topic of self-harm. We worshiped and prayed over the book, ate dinner, had cake.

It wasn’t anything grand or garrish. Very simple. But as I said, it felt… significant. Special. Important. Necessary.

I honestly don’t know what the future holds, but even as I release this book into the world, I can’t help but feel as if God has something beautiful, something surprising and unexpected, in store for me.

But for now:

The Making of a Beauty is now officially launched.

The ebook is free. The paperback is still in review as of the writing of this post, but it should be up soon.