Gumption: The Practical Woman's Guide to Living an Adventuresome Life is an entertaining but totally rubber-hits-the-road manual for self-liberation, with a side-serving of zany illustrations by New Yorker cartoonist Victoria Roberts - because laughter is the best tool ever for accepting our foibles and getting past them. Do any of these sound like you? - For so many of my dreams, big or small, I FEAR I'LL FAIL, or people will laugh, or my family will think I'm nuts. I want a practical tool for breaking down fear so I can get past it. I feel I CAN NEVER CARVE OUT THE TIME OR MONEY to do something exciting just for me. I want to learn how to reframe my priorities and plan to make cool things happen in a way that works with my life. I'VE BEEN PUTTING OFF MY DREAMS because my gut says it's not the right time. I want to know how to tell when that gut feeling is just fear and when it's a real risk, and how to manage them both. If your answer is 'yes ', Gumption will help you: Discover that being adventuresome is a skill anyone can gain. Learn how, in a no-nonsense, 6-step program that helps you reframe your priorities, understand what's possible, plan for it, and make it happen. Bust through barriers of fear, guilt, obligation and other villains of self-sabotage. The Gumption program is built on the hard-won wisdom of scores of women just like you, who've started their own business, joined a rock band, moved to Hong Kong, shaken up their personal style, leapt from a plane, learned to tap dance, and more. "I gained joy and confidence." "I amazed myself." "I regained my sense of wonder." You could be saying those things, too. Whatever you'd love to do, Gumption will show you how to get to "I did it " with laughter, tenderness, and a hefty dose of practicality. Shelagh Meagher, Author Shelagh has spent a lifetime balancing family, work, and pets with her need to do adventuresome things. Learning to fly small planes, riding horseback across the Mongolian steppes, living in the UK, Italy, America, and back to Canada (with kids and pets), and drastically changing her career several times led her to believe she knew something about making adventures happen. Then she started investigating just how she and other women managed it, and realized there were other acts of daring-do - such as singing in a rock band, or wearing pink, or indeed writing this book - that were way scarier. The creation of Gumption has therefore been a very personal journey, as well reflecting the intrepid experiences of all those lovely women whose contribution of wisdom and know-how has made it all possible. Victoria Roberts, Illustrator Being raised in a combination of New York City, Mexico and Australia could account for Victoria's unique sense of humour, which she's applied full force in illustrating Gumption. Besides being a regular cartoonist with The New Yorker since 1988, Victoria's illustrations have appeared in other renowned publications and books, including her own: After the Fall, Cattitudes, My Day, and Biographees. She also exercises her creative talents in the theatre and in video. Whatever her medium, she demonstrates her keen understanding of what makes us tick and her ability to turn our human foibles into something we can have a good laugh about.