Since launching the Socially Shared Online Bookshop, we have added over one hundred and fifty books to the site. These books were written by local female authors within the network.
Seeing the steady increase of ladies within the community writing and publishing books, we knew we wanted to celebrate and support them.
Writing across a wide range of genres, there is something for everyone, and we wanted to share this fabulous collection of books with a wider audience. Although we don’t sell from the site, we provide a platform for authors to promote their work and tap into our growing online audience.
As part of our mission to continue supporting these female authors, we will highlight an author on the blog each month.
June’s author spotlight falls on Jenny McDonald.
Tell us a little about yourself. (How did you get started writing? What do you do when you’re not writing?)
Jenny McDonald, aka The Food Freedom Fairy®, empowers serial dieters and emotional eaters to eat cake without feeling guilty, release weight without dieting and most importantly, heal their relationship with themselves.
Like many, Jenny struggled with food from an early age. Recognising her larger body was not accepted by society led to feelings of shame and guilt around food, secret eating and constant dieting.
In 2004, Jenny started to repair her relationship with food and lost over 40kg. She went on to work in the diet industry. Years later, when she witnessed clients repeating the lose/gain cycle, she knew there had to be another way.
Fast forward to today, Jenny is an award-winning, best-selling author of ‘The Book the Diet Industry Doesn’t Want You to Read’, speaker, coach, and energy alignment mentor with 20 years of experience in weight loss and behaviour change coaching.
Jenny believes her unique formula of energy therapy, mind expansion and simple nutritional principles enables her clients to radically change how they think and feel about food.
Jenny is a certified and accredited Health and Life Coach trained in CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) and various energy healing modalities. She offers private coaching and small group programmes for women ready to ditch the diet and lose weight for the last time!
What or who inspired you to write your latest book?
I never planned to write a book. When a client first suggested it a few years ago, I laughed — it felt like something reserved for ‘other people.’ But what began as a passing comment turned into a powerful journey of sharing my truth. Writing gave me a voice beyond the coaching space — a way to reach more women with a message I’ve been passionate about for years: that food freedom is absolutely possible.
My clients were my biggest inspiration. I kept hearing the same stories — shame, secret eating, the exhausting all-or-nothing cycle. I knew I had something meaningful to say. If this book helps even one woman feel less alone and realise she isn’t broken, it was worth it.
What writing advice do you have for other aspiring authors?
Oooh, first I would say, have a clear blueprint of your book, but also be open to it changing. Don’t wait for it to be perfect or polished — just write. Get out of your head and let go of the thoughts about being “good enough” and write! Something that helped me was having an allocated writing hour each day. I wrote most of ‘The Book the Diet Industry Doesn’t Want You to Read’ in 6 weeks. (It was the editing that took over a year!) Also, don’t start your writing session by reading over what you wrote the day before; you will start to edit it and never move forward. Write the whole manuscript without looking back and expect the first draft to be rubbish, every first draft is!
What do you enjoy most about the writing process and why?
There’s something powerful about putting thoughts into words. Sharing my own story was very cathartic and allowed me to release the past version of me. My writing time became a special, almost sacred time. I always wrote before the rest of the house woke up, sometimes there were tears, other times I would be laughing out loud. When I finished my daily writing, I could start the rest of my day knowing another 1000 words were on the page. I guess what I most enjoyed was knowing that my book would help so many people break the cycle of dieting and change their relationship with food and themselves.
What is your next project?
Well, ‘The Food Freedom Journal’ is now available! (Okay, this is not really a book!) I have no plans to write a second book – but who knows what the future holds? Right now I am focusing on supporting ladies with The Food Freedom Formula, my small group programme for women who are ready to heal their relationship with food and themselves.
Find out more about Jenny McDonald and her books.
ou can connect with Jenny and access her freebies on social media or her website!
All links: https://linktr.ee/_jennymc
Book: https://amzn.eu/d/ho7gXAt
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/foodfreedomfairy/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JennyMcDonald.Power
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foodfreedomfairy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/foodfreedomfairy/
Dates for your diary:
Saturday 18th October – Join us for our 6th Meet the Author Event. This is a fabulous event showcasing the talent in our community. Come along to meet the authors in person and buy signed copies of their books. Kenilworth, Warwickshire 11am – 3pm.
Within the Socially Shared Business Support Network, we have a growing number of women who have written books and either had them published or self-published their work. Writing across a wide range of genres, there really is something for everyone, and we wanted to share this fabulous collection of books with you.
Check out ALL the amazing books HERE.
Interested in learning more about our online bookshop, Meet the Author, and Author Insights events? Sign up for our newsletter or get in touch with Shelley at books@sociallyshared.co.uk
