A Nationally Award-winning Memoir: WINNER, 2017 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards in HumorWINNER, 2017 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards in Women's StudiesWINNER, 2017 National Indie Excellence Awards in Women's HealthWINNER, 2017 Beverly Hills Book Awards in Women's IssuesWINNER, 2018 Independent Press Award in HumorWINNER, 2018 Independent Press Award in Women's StudiesFINALIST, 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Memoir (Overcoming Adversity)FINALIST, 2017 National Indie Excellence Awards in Humor This book is the celebrated prequel to the critically acclaimed, nationally award-winning and bestselling memoir, Never Give in to Fear. In her raw, vivid, and unabashed style, author Marti MacGibbon delivers a sometimes heartbreaking, often hilarious, always engaging account of her passage through trauma, betrayal, and loss in adolescence and young adulthood to discover her inner badass self. As one of the first women to work as a laborer in the Texas oil field, she set off explosives and staked oil wells before realizing her childhood dream of becoming a successful standup comic. Marti introduces readers to a wide range of characters in her life: from sleazy authority figures, wannabe Sixties musicians and crazed Corn Belt cult leaders, to Texas oil billionaires and wildcatters, to wild-eyed redneck coworkers who robbed banks on their lunch hour--in the company truck. The book includes scenes with iconic comedians, Hollywood entertainment industry moguls, and a legendary bluesman, and offers insights into resiliency, courage, and self-empowerment.