My Mess Is a Bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety

Product Information

Readers will find lots to like about this memoir, especially those who may have experience with the emotions Pritchett details." - Booklist Always, she was the only woman in the room. “I used to say to the male writers I worked with, ‘where are the women?’ And they’d say, ‘well, you’re a trailblazer’. But no one was following me.”

Georgia Pritchett is a very funny person. She's written for HBO's "Veep" and now "Succession." But just behind that sense of humor has always been a lot of anxiety. It got so bad that it started to rob her of her speech.

My Mess Is a Bit of a Life

Georgia Pritchett said: ‘I am thrilled to be published by Faber. My English teacher is in despair. This has everything you could ever want in a book – hamsters, one-legged action men, the queen, budgies, questionable fashion choices, Robertson’s Giant Limb, the word ‘vagina’ and Jimmy Osmond. Like Middlemarch, it has secrets, it has lies and it has an ongoing custody battle between my dog and me for ownership of my Starsky doll.’ PRITCHETT: But I just think we've all been through, as an entire world, a very difficult time where we were all struggling with the same thing. This could be a turning point where we're just more open about our struggles and when things aren't OK. And I think it's been really good for me to admit to that. PRITCHETT: Yeah, it's strange 'cause obviously my whole career writing scripts - has been putting words in other people's mouths. I've suddenly written this very personal, direct thing, and now it's out in the world. And in many ways that's horrifying. And people like you keep asking me to talk about my feelings. J.A. Mensah is a prose and theatre writer and a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at the University of York. She was a Leverhulme Artist in Residence and her plays have been produced by Pilot Theatre in York and Live Theatre in Newcastle, among others. Her short stories are published various edited collections. Her debut novel, Castles from Cobwebs , won the inaugural NorthBound Book Award and was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize. PRITCHETT: That wasn't the deal. As I said earlier, you know, I'm kind of all about the words. And my older son couldn't speak until he was 7. So that was a real challenge to me because I just thought, I don't know how to communicate with him or help him without words. But then he kind of taught me. And that was a real revelation. And, you know, it's interesting how often words aren't enough, whether it's trying to talk to your therapist or trying to communicate with your child. There's so many other ways I now discover.

Georgia has always had some anxiousness, even from a young age, some worries naturally more daunting than others. She has suffered some serious loss and faced several challenges but brings humor to sharing many of her experiences. In particular, the stories she shares about her young sons are very funny and also touching.

Advance Praise

MARTIN: It's easy to be self-aware when you're the only woman in a writer's room, I imagine. And that was the case for you... When Georgia Pritchett found herself lost for words—a bit of a predicament for a comedy writer—she turned to a therapist, who suggested she try writing down some of the things that worried her. But instead of a grocery list of concerns, Georgia wrote this book. They went on to describe it as ‘thin and entertaining’. Something I would rather like to have on my gravestone.”