The Faker’s Guide to Self-Improvement

By Shalon Atwood

Personal growth: It's not for everyone.

Valerie Knight wants many things in life: an end to her court-mandated therapy, a chance to get her column back at Mile High Magazine, artisanal cheeses at a discounted price, and her ex-husband to downward-dog straight into the earth’s burning core. Most of all, though, she wants to be the mother she never had. One who remembers birthdays, can keep herself from drowning in martinis, and who is interested enough in her teenage daughter’s life to show up.

When Val receives an offer to write again, it comes with strings, and Val’s forced to make a choice: do the hard work of introspection and bare her soul for all to read or fictionalize her way through a journey of self-improvement in hopes that “fake it till you make it” rings true.