Author's Corner

When/why did you begin writing?

I began my love affair with writing at age 8 when I wrote my first song. After that I was hooked. Writing just seemed so magical – to be able to create something out of nothing but ideas and words. So cool! In 2004 one of my songs won a first place award in the Billboard World Song Contest and right about that time I started to transition from songwriting to longer pieces like articles and eventually my first book, “Beating Ana: How to Outsmart Your Eating Disorder and Take Your Life Back”.

What inspired you to write your first book?

My motivation and inspiration to writing “Beating Ana” came through the recognition that there was such a need for some kind of how-to guide to facilitate effective mentoring partnerships in the eating disorder community.

I had been volunteering my time privately as a mentor for several years, and had started to notice that all of my mentees seemed to struggle with certain similar recovery questions and issues. Over time, I had also started to hear from recovered individuals who wanted to know how they could give back to support others.

So the thought behind writing “Beating Ana” was to share the Mentor Model I had developed to use in my own mentoring partnerships as a guide for others who also wished to benefit from mentoring for eating disorders recovery. “Beating Ana” is structured as a how-to guide for conducting a mentoring partnership in the context of eating disorders recovery.

Each of the 27 chapters in “Beating Ana” has the same format. The first half of each chapter presents a mentee’s question and then my answer. The second half of each chapter offers a skills-building session called a “Recovery Workshop” where the reader can learn new skills to address the issue in that chapter and then closes with a “Life Celebration Affirmation” that replaces the criticism of the eating disorder voice with positive affirming statements.

Readers can work through the book alone, with a mentor, in a group setting, in treatment, or with their treating professional. For readers who do not already have a mentor and want one, they are invited to join MentorCONNECT.

MentorCONNECT, the first global eating disorders mentoring community, is the continuation of the eating disorders Mentor Model that is outlined in “Beating Ana”. MentorCONNECT is a pending 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Membership and all services, including mentor matching, are provided on a no-fee basis. Any individual who has personal experience recovering from an eating disorder is welcome to join.

What message do you want readers to come away with after reading your book?

You are irreplaceable, unrepeatable, utterly unique – and there is ALWAYS something more you can do to save your own life. Recovery is not optional. You are the equal of any challenge life may present to you, which means that you can and WILL recover if you do not give up. If I could recover, then you can too.

What are some current projects that you are working on?

Gurze Books “Beating Ana” blog: http://www.eatingdisordersblogs.com/beating_ana/

PsychCentral.com “Mentoring & Recovery” blog: http://blogs.psychcentral.com/mentoring-recovery/

Huffington Post Mentoring blog: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannon-cutts/

MentorCONNECT: http://www.mentorconnect-ed.org

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

Movies. Music. Hanging out with my pet bird, Pearl and her two pet finches, Tweety and Taz. I definitely make time each week for friends and family…drinking coffee…yoga and jogging, meditation, reading, SLEEP. Also, I’m turning 40 this year and my birthday present to myself is to meet my favorite songwriter, STING. So if anyone reading this happens to know him and would like to introduce me….