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“This is not a story about foiled plans and what’s the use of trying anyway. This is precisely a story about making things–making stories, making plans, making lists, and making love–in the face of the inevitable messiness we will encounter.”
–from the Foreword by Laurie Wagner

Sabrina Ward Harrison, creator of the stunning visual memoirs Spilling Open and Brave on the Rocks, now shares her vibrant new work, which continues her personal journey of growth and discovery. Through striking multimedia collages and prose that is raw and touching and refreshingly authentic, Sabrina explores aspirations, dreams, and commitment–and brings herself to the threshold of true independence.

In the summer of 2001, Sabrina moved from California to New York City, the place where, she felt, any serious artist must eventually wind up. The city struck her as exhilarating and daunting, a brilliant assault on the senses, a concrete landscape of hope and failure. Three months later the horror of September 11 unfolded a few blocks away. Like the rest of the world, Sabrina began to look outside herself with a new clarity and urgency. And on the horizon appeared a man who looked like The One–friend, lover, life partner. With this relationship came larger, more complicated and unanswerable questions: Am I ready for marriage? Where does a career fit in? Does love mean losing my self? Does permanent mean forever? What will I never know about where I’m going if I don’t go?

Harrison reflects on her journey from starry-eyed innocent to responsible adult and expresses it with dazzling visuals and candid insights in Messy Thrilling Life. It is a singular book sure to resonate with readers who have laughed, wept, and grown along with her.