By Kerry Makin-Byrd, PhD — 08 Jun 2026

Pride, books, and a fortnight of blueberry muffins

Kia ora and dear Friends,

Happy pride month darlings! Here's to love and legally protected rights for all to love whomever they do.

Fun & free-ish things

Re-falling in love with the magnificent work of therapist & artist Lindsay Braman:
- please peruse her site to see her free downloads including "creating a crisis plan", the visual explanation & positive childhood experiences quiz, and many more emotion wheels and trauma information visuals.
- I especially like her "embodied window of tolerance and trauma responses" wheel.

My own one-sentence pitch in italics:

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (fiction) American Conservative "tradwife" and social media personality wakes up to find herself living in the 1800s. I lost sleep to stay up reading this one, if you've read it I want to talk to you about the ending!
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (fiction) Follows 4 generations of Korean immigrants living in Japan, gorgeous and sneakily-educational.
The Secret River by Kate Grenville (fiction) Loosely based on the author's ancestors' story of being sentenced to prison in Australia after a robbery in Britain. Writing is lush and vibrant, like biting through a mandarin.
One Day by David Nicholls (fiction) Narrator's wife of 20 years says she's probably done with the marriage, right before the couple and their son go on a grand trip around Europe. Sweet and sad and gentle and (surprisingly) so funny.
Come Together: The Science (and Art!) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections by Emily Nagoski (nonfiction) Great metaphors and stories to illustrate science-based intimacy recommendations, accessible and inspiring.

Final call, please join me for my START HERE AND KEEP GOING day-long training on 19 June outside Wellington.
Or! Join me for a cheeky (and free) talk about the lies of burnout and self-care on 23 June at 12 PM in the gorgeous Ngā Pou Ruahine room of the newly reopened Te Matapihi Wellington Central Library.
Would you like me to speak to your group? I updated my 'book a talk' page including talk descriptions and the variety of formats that I offer.

Wishing you a fortnight full of blueberry muffins, long walks in the bush/forest, and the stretching burn of growth and earned wisdom.

Love, Kerry