Fresh from a cross-country walkabout, Julie Haberstick has some thoughts to share on roadkill, trusting yourself, and the wrinkle in time that is southern New Mexico.
Nearly thirty and disconnected, Haberstick was staring at an endless loop of traffic and toxic relationships. Heeding a quiet intuition, she left her fiancé, packed her life into her car, and — on October 1st, 2019 — just started driving.
Coyote Gratitude is that adventure, from Los Angeles to the EastCoast to New Orleans, a collection of personal essays, poetry, photography, and more. It’s an exploration of truth, uncertainty, and chance encounters, for anyone on a personal journey.
More context
I told my grandma I couldn’t stop thinking about throwing my life into my car and driving east.
She said, and I quote, “Well I guess you better fuckin’ do it.”
And I did.
I’m Julie Haberstick — a storyteller, filmmaker, and recovering overachiever. Over my trip, I met hilarious/terrible/inspiring folks, processed tough times, and re-learned how to trust myself.
Originally started as a private blog for my closest friends and family to track my whereabouts on the trip, Coyote Gratitude is my nonfiction cross-country coming of age story. The adventure is told through photos, poems, personal essays, and short stories — and also unconventional entries like browser history, voice memos, and meditations.
So if you're not much of a reader, that's great: With the longest entry only five pages long, the book is meant for bite-size reading.
From Emily J, who read an early manuscript:
Because you were receiving messages from experiences and people, I was receiving messages from the book. When you are available to the universe, that openness yields serendipity. (But it only happens when you are ready to see things.)
I craved the discoveries you were making. And so I sort of willed myself to discover things about myself, and the journeys I myself am on, as I read.
Every copy of the book also comes with exclusive e-content (a small collection of irreverent poems, pictures, essays, shenanigans) from me, once a quarter. Simply a gift from me to you.
To the folks who are already part of my creative wanderings — who've already seen or read my work, inspired me at open mics, let me stay with them on the trip — to my friends and family (and even the special folks in outer circles): I am deeply grateful for you.
And if you don’t know me, or if you haven’t experienced my work before, I hope we can get to know each other — And that I can pay that gratitude forward, to you.
Sending you good vibes,
