I’m fast becoming a fan of Donna Ashworth, having reviewed Wild Hope here and Growing Brave here. Imagine my delight, therefore, when I was sent a copy of her latest book Words to Live By: A Daily Journal. My huge thanks to Flora Willis at Bonnier for sending me the gift of Words to Live By. Now, I wasn’t intending on blogging today, but having begun to use my journal, I simply had to share details of it with others.
Words to Live By was published by Black and White on 28th November 2024 and is available for purchase here.
Words to Live By: A Daily Journal
A daily journal of inspiration, comfort and encouragement from the UK’s No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Wild Hope, beautifully designed in four-colour throughout
Start every day with Donna Ashworth by your side in this beautiful, interactive daily journal. With uplifting poems, guiding words, wise insights, perspective shifts and understanding on every page, Donna will accompany you throughout the year to help you embrace life in all its messy wondrousness.
Donna also encourages you to explore your own words and writing to help you ride each wave this life sends your way, helping you find beauty and wonder on days the world scares you, comfort and patience when sadness is visiting, and courage and hope when you can’t see the light. She also gently steers you back to love yourself, as you are, and to see that, no matter what you experience in this world, you are never alone.
Every day is a journey and it starts with you.
My Review of Words to Live By
An inspirational journal to last a year.
What. A. Book! Words to Live By is brilliant. I love it.
Having been almost broken at times by 2024, setting aside a few minutes each day to write my thoughts in Words to Live By in 2025 already feels like a habit I’m going to want to continue throughout the year. It gives me space to think about me for a short while before the demands of life creep back in. Words to Live By gives status and support to those of us struggling with life, those of us who are already confident, and those, like me, who are aware of journaling but previously had no idea where to begin.
I must first acknowledge the physical attributes of the book. The hardback is weighty. This isn’t a book to slip in your pocket! And that is part of its success. It feels special to pick it up, turn the pages of Words to Live By and realise that the reader – and now writer – has something of quality in their hands that has been designed just for them. Its very weight means it takes time to hold, to turn the pages and to consider. It’s beautifully illustrated in pastel, watercolour shades that feel calming and peaceful. There is plenty of white space to write – to the extent that, although this is a book set over a year, I think it could be used like a five year diary and the reader/writer could return and add to previous entries. Although the months have ‘Day 1’ and so on, they are not allocated a year so you could pick up Words to Live By and start your own reflective writing journey at any point of the year.
Interspersed between the journal space you’ll find encouragement, poetry and supportive words. Quite a bit of the text is in the form of questions so that it feels as if Donna Ashworth is actively listening to the reader/writer, giving them attention and focus they may feel is lacking. I imagine anyone feeling isolated or lonely would be enormously comforted by Words to Live By. I’m finding it is reducing my stress levels considerably.
I confess that in writing this review, I haven’t read all of Words to Live By yet. I’m savouring taking a moment or two of calm and reflection each day, of thinking about what I’m feeling and why, and I’m loving allowing Donna Ashworth to guide me through my year. I have already written a some poetry as a result of Words to Live By and you never know, I might by the end of the year, have the courage to share it via the author’s website.
Words to Live By is a lovely, high quality, book written by someone who genuinely seems to understand humanity and to care about it. It’s also a source of comfort, support and creativity that reminds us we are not simply cogs in the machine of life, but we are important individuals who can be both inspirational and inspired. I think Words to Live By is just what I’ve been looking for and it might be for you too. I really recommend it.
About Donna Ashworth
Donna Ashworth is a number one Sunday Times Bestselling Poet, whose words you will often find flying around the internet, widely shared daily, by her 1.7 million followers.
Donna’s writing came to spotlight during the lockdown period where she saw her purpose as building a place to find hope, calm and comfort, amidst the collective chaos. She quickly became an internet favourite with one viral post after another and a list of celebrity endorsements.
Having published eight books since; three successful self-published titles and five with Bonnier Books/Black & White publishing, her newest collection of words, Growing Brave is now available and has been received just as warmly as the much-loved Wild Hope.
Priding herself on being ‘imperfectly human’ and ‘sharing the dark with the light to harness hope’, Donna engages constantly with her followers in a bid to find comfort in numbers as we ‘walk each other home’ on this journey of life.
For further information, find Donna on Instagram or Facebook and follow her on X/Twitter @Donna_ashworth.
