Cailin Riley Books

It’s crazy to think that a little over a year ago, I made the leap and published my first book.

“How to Become a Grown-Ass Woman” was a labor of love that had been in the works for nearly two years.

I started writing what would become the book on Google Drive during the onset of the pandemic in 2020 when I was working from home and still ruminating on my switch to a new job, new city and the blossoming of a new relationship.

With so many life changes going on, I started writing a lot about how my past job impacted my mental health and financial choices going forward. At the time, I was mainly just venting but soon, the document became a series of “life lessons” I’d learned and explanations for each.

Over the next two years, I kept adding to the document, expanding it to include lessons I’d learned on not just career, but finances, relationships and more. At some point, I realized I’d written enough to merit a small self-help book.

I decided to go through with publishing because a) I’d already put the work in of writing the dang thing and b) I realized that it was the twenty-something advice book that I could never find for myself in bookstores. If my experiences could help even just one or two readers who picked it up, I told myself that it would be well worth it.

And it has been! I’m not here to change anybody’s life, but to make them giggle at my own follies and realize that they aren’t alone if their experiences.

Now that I’ve turned to fantasy/young-adult, I’m not sure if I’ll ever go back to writing self-help. Maybe someday.

But right now, I’ve got a lot more living to do!