Our * Book * Comes * Out * TOOOMORRRROWWWW— Plus a ~Secret Excerpt~ to Download and Read! ?

I AM SPILLING COFFEE EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!! TOMORROW'S THE BIG FREAKING DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow is when I'm going to make a complete ass of myself in bookstores all over Manhattan, as our book—THE MIDDLE FINGER PROJECT—will go on sale via all major retailers. (And if you did me the favor of pre-ordering online, thank you with all my crinkly little heart: books will be shipping straight to yo' door and then you can tag me on Instagram and then we can laugh and banter and be like, WHAT! HOW IS THIS HAPPENING?!)

I say “our” book, and I literally means ours. As in yours and mine. OURS. This community. This book is our fucking book, because while I might have done the work of putting finger to keyboard, this book represents YOU, it represents us, it represents the ideology we live by and it also represents this monumental shift in society as a whole: how we work, the way we work, the things we believe, the values that drive us—and how we're reinventing what it means to live a good life. This book would have been unheard of in 1950. But because of all of us showing up every day, demanding better for ourselves, demanding more courage, wit, originality, passion, creativity, spark, exhilaration and MONEY, HONEY, we've shifted things. We are shifting things. When the world looks back at this time—the first quarter of the 2000's—it will be us they talk about. It will be us who they study and look to for answers on how and when the shift began to occur. WE ARE THE ONES. And that's what this book is about: our story, our message, our unconventional approach to life.

People have asked me why I wrote it.

That's one of the reasons. We matter. This matters. But I also wrote it because making an honest contribution the best way we know how is important for all of us. And this is what I know. I know how to be brave. I know how to trust your own voice. I know how to overcome the odds. I know how to laugh in the face of circumstance. I know how to take just ONE skill—and everybody has one skill—and turn it into money. I know how to hack your way into an all-new career; an all new LIFE. I know how to be scrappy. I know how to fight. I know how to leverage the internet to not only communicate, but to create. And most of all, I know how to be a mother to myself when I need to. So many of us are in such desperate need of a mother: literally, figuratively, emotionally, mentally. I didn’t write this book for me: I wrote this book for the imposters, the small town girls, the inner city warriors, the trailer park trash, the dirt road queens, the ones without a voice, the ones being supervised by a man, the ones broken and divorced, the ones without enough self-esteem, the ones who don’t know what to do next, the ones fighting every day to find themselves, the ones who don’t know what their passions are yet, the ones who could use a big sister, the ones who need someone to grab them by the hand and say “get back up, we’re doing this” the ones who are gravely underestimated, the ones dying to find their purpose, the ones who need a dangerous dose of confidence, the ones who are down to ride because THAT IS WHAT WE DO, and the ones who don’t know, yet, that they are so much more capable than they think.

This book is meant to be a bad influence in the best way.

But it's not just for those who have been through The Hard: it's for anyone who’s ever questioned WTF they’re doing with their life / career / dead end job—and felt directionless, or became heartbreakingly disappointed by the way things are turning out. “Is this all?” comes up a lot. Ditto: “I want a change but I don’t know what else to DO?” And then there is the guilt that comes from telling yourself you should just “be grateful for what you’ve got,” which is some of the world’s worst advice. For example, my manager, Elizabeth, used to be a teacher. While she liked it, she didn’t love it—and she felt like her bones were just rotting away into the wind every single day. However, when she wanted to try her hand at something new, she was told by everyone in her life that SHE SHOULD BE GRATEFUL. That she had a good, steady-paying job with great benefits: summers off, done at 3pm. That she’d studied hard to get where she had—and not to throw it all away. That people would kill to be in her position. That she should “stick it out” and “give it a chance.” And so she started to wonder if maybe they were right. Because we believe other people. And every time her thoughts would turn to craving a more creative challenge, she would smack herself on the wrist and tell herself to be grateful. Until one day, she couldn’t be grateful anymore—because there is a difference between being grateful and being gratified.

I hope this book is a bad influence on you.

I hope this book makes you become even more unsatisfied.

And I hope this book makes you follow your most dangerous ideas and start your own middle finger project…today.

And so! Here are two things that I think you'll get a real kick out of:

  1. Here's a real, live excerpt of THE MIDDLE FINGER PROJECT book >>> DOWNLOAD HERE. ? Read it! Share it! This is 100% OK to share via social or with a friend.
  2. Want to hear me READING THE EXCERPT? There's an audiobook excerpt live right here >>> LISTEN NOW! (I am dead.)

IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE IN A BOOKSTORE TOMORROW AND YOU SEE IT—I fully expect you to snap a pic and tag me on Instagram @the.middle.finger.project immediately. It will mean sooooo much to me if you do that!

UNTIL TOMORROW, FAM. Thanks so much for being with me on this crazy journey. We are ride or die, friends. Ride or die. And this book? Is just the beginning.

Looooove, Ash

P.S. Haven't gotten yours yet? GO HERE NOW, HOMIE.

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