It started with Maggie. (Not her real name.)

A sharp, unsentimental woman who smiled through meetings, nodded through nonsense, and ended up erased.

She’d been agreeable. Useful. Unthreatening.

Until one day, she wasn’t needed anymore.

Her story wasn’t loud. But it burned.

We turned it into a book This Wasn’t the Plan a clear-eyed reckoning for any woman who’s outperformed expectations and been punished for it.

It’s available now. And no, it’s not polite.

It’s not supposed to be.

Then came mine.

I wasn’t going to write Crash Test.

Until I realised I’d been living it.

If Maggie’s collapse was erasure, mine was implosion.

Less quiet, more kinetic.

Success on paper. Pressure in private.

The kind of disintegration that looks functional from the outside — until the wheels come off.

Together, the books aren’t a pair.

They’re a cross-section.

Male. Female. Corporate. Personal.

The different ways we fracture under roles we didn’t know we were auditioning for.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I have to read both books?

No. But if you want to understand both ends of the spectrum. How pressure breaks us in different languages, the pair speaks more truth than either one alone.

Q: Is this just another burnout memoir?

No. These aren’t self-help books in disguise. They’re reckonings. Field notes from the edge. If you’re looking for affirmations, look elsewhere.

Q: Will it help me if I’m not ‘burned out’?

It might. Especially if you’ve ever felt the slow creep of dread on a Sunday night, or the quiet panic that your life belongs to a version of you that doesn’t exist anymore.

Q: What if I’m part of the problem?

Read them anyway. You might find compassion. Or discomfort. Both are useful.

Read the stories before you repeat them.

Order This Wasn’t the Plan or Crash Test on Amazon: in paperback, Kindle, or audiobook.

Learn what collapse looks like up close. Then ask yourself: what would it take not to crawl back into the wreckage?

And if you’re not ready yet?

That’s fine. Neither of us was.

When you are, we’ll be waiting on the page

What That Wasn't The Plan is all about:

How Crash Test Is Different: