#sisterhoodoftheshortyellowpencils: Mental Health Mayhem, One Sticky Note at a Time by Amber Weigand-Buckley Published by Abundance Books LLC on May 5, 2026
Genres: Biography & Autobiography / Memoirs, Personal Growth, Self-Help / Personal Growth / General
Format: ARC
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What happens when a multi-award-winning journalist's six-month manic writing spree lands her in the psych ward - hunting down short yellow pencils and sticky notes like they're contraband?
You get this book.
Not a memoir. Memoir-adjacent. 250 pages of honest, unfiltered, laugh-out-loud-then-ugly-cry truth from a woman navigating daily life with a cocktail of brain hiccups - written the way a neurodivergent brain actually works. No neat chapters. No tidy bow. Just sticky notes, stubby pencils, and the stuff most people are too ashamed to say out loud.
This is a multi-layered art experience - scribbles, constellation connections, Easter eggs hidden in every illustration, fandom references, and rabbit trails that somehow all connect. Because you cannot explain a beautifully haywired mind by putting words alone on a page. Neurotypical readers may get dizzy. Neurodivergent readers will finally feel seen.
Along the way you'll meet her Keep Calm and Carry On British husband Philip - still processing what he signed up for - her three daughters the Neurospice Girls, and be invited into her sunshine-yellow and coffee grounds kitchen where she is forever perfecting the art of pyrotechnics. Thank you, ADHD.
You are not too much. You are not failing spiritually or as a person because your brain works differently. You were never meant to do this alone.
"Honest. Insightful. Disarmingly funny." - Deseri Cunningham, Psy.D.
"To read Amber is to know her - and to know her is to love her." - Deborah R. Maxey, PhD, LPC, LMFT "
"Room for grace, laughter, and hope - for ourselves and those we love." - Dr. Michelle Bengtson, board-certified clinical neuropsychologist
"An excellent (and legally questionable) prescription." - Chris Crain, RPh - Amber's Pharmacist
Welcome to the #sisterhoodoftheshortyellowpencils. It's messy. So are we. Let's laugh about it.
Sometimes you know a person who knows a person. Okay, often times. Maybe it’s a mechanic you can actually trust. Maybe it’s someone who can help with the technology you don’t actually understand, but need to work. And sometimes it’s a book you need to read. And that’s how I found this book. I know a person (who knows I’m an avid reader) who knows the author and landed a PDF copy in my inbox before release day. And . . . I absolutely knew I needed to read it.
And here’s where I take a moment to make it all about me. The author would say I’m just building connections, so it’s fine . . . right? You don’t get to be my age range (hello Gen X) without picking up some baggage along the way. Even if your life is near Insta-perfect with a whole lot of Pinterest thrown in, you got some baggage. The hard part is sharing it. At all. Social? Friends? Family? It doesn’t matter where; hard truths like to live in darkness. I’m not dropping any of that closet baggage here, so don’t worry. Not the time or place. But . . . Official diagnoses – 0. Neurospicy level – pretty high. I knew in college that I was a poster child for ADD (as it was called then). I’m still the poster child on the inside, though I can frequently make it look like I got all my squirrels together, as long as you don’t open the cabinet door or look at the multiple organizational tools I try to use, and yes, it takes more than one, as I need one to organize another one 😀 I have to organize my attempts at organizing. As social media takes more and more hold on us as a society and more people are using it to share their journeys, I find myself tucking into the information pouring off those on ‘the spectrum’. And I feel that so hard sometimes. Like, wait, my brain does that too! Again, zero factor for anything official, but the more I hear from others in the world, the more I feel affinity and identity in what they share.
And what Amber Weigand-Buckley does with this book takes it all to another level. The brutal honesty she delivers with her own journey is something that frightens me and also draws me in. The absolute fear we all have of our truths being out there, she threw to the wind and ran with it. I know being open and honest about struggles is something that’s becoming more and more prevalent, but as a fellow Gen Xer, it’s also brave, scary, and wait what?!? It’s really hard for me to attach a rating, a score, a grade to someone else’s life. But I did it for any number of reasons. Ultimately, big picture, while I wish she had been a bit deeper, I adored the humorous honesty she uses to share tools that we could all add to our toolkit of just getting through life. No mental illness or spicy needed. Just every day tools to help calm the mountains (that often materialize out of a molehill). Told from a position of faith, she’s open and honest about where to skip and how these can be applied outside the faith construct. But I’ll say go with faith every time! I think everyone should read this, preferably in a physical book, because there’s room for notes, takeaways, and even your own new tools you find that fit ‘you’ better. And honestly, I think it’s going to be one of those things you turn back to again and again, as life does love to throw plot twists. It’s raw, honest, hopeful, sometimes hilarious, and gives you just enough to know that nothing will make it ‘all better’ but everything can make it manageable.
About Amber Weigand-Buckley
Specializing in Global Brand and Communications Management, #barefacedcreative owner Amber Weigand-Buckley is a member of the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA) and has over 26 years of award-winning multimedia experience. The publications she has served have received over 25 awards from the Evangelical Press Association. She was named the 2015 AWSA Member of the Year and the 2018 Evangel University Distinguished Communications Alumni of the Year. Currently, Amber serves authors and speakers in many consultancies, coaching, communication strategy, as well as book cover and promotional design capacities. This includes her role as Marketing, Communications, and Brand Director for the Right to the Heart Ministry Network, including AWSA.
Amber is the founding editor and Art Director of Leading Hearts magazine (which has received an EPA award every year of its 8 years of publication. Amber is the former co-host of a weekly FB Live video podcast and internet radio show; Something 2 Celebrate, on the Acts Media Network. She also serves Asia Pacific Media (a ministry based in Manila, Philippines) as a fundraising consultant and editor and art director for their multimedia e-mag MISSION magazine. In her partnership with AP Media, she traveled to Asia Pacific Theological Seminary in Baguio, Philippines, to teach media missionaries from Myanmar, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines how to launch a Christian publication at their home churches.
Amber heads social media and internet marketing for London Calling Pasty Company and client social media communications for Pregnancy Care Center of Springfield (Missouri). She is the marketing assistant for Red Umbrella Pictures, an independent screenwriting company, and a marketing and editorial consultant for CEO Lifestyle Magazine in Richmond, Virginia. She has helped launch businesses and ministries in the greater Richmond, Virginia community.
Amber has the heart to help others launch and put their best foot forward in the ministry that God has called each one to serve.
Amber has been married to Brit-native Philip for over 28 years, and they have 3 daughters: Saffron, Imogen, and Penelope. In their spare time, her family enjoys doing reptile education in Springfield, Missouri, and their surrounding communities as members of the Southwest Missouri Herpetological Society.
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