Purpose Built Press · Private Edition

This is for
you, Laurel.

A book built entirely from who you are. It exists because someone loves you enough to make it.

Read the letter ↓
A letter

I have been building a publishing company. The whole premise is that if you can name something, you can create it — that the work of becoming begins with a question, the right question, asked the right way, and ends with a document you hold and keep.

I have been doing this for thousands of people I will never meet. And when I finally built the tools to make a book for a specific person — one person, written entirely from who they are — I knew immediately who it was for.

It is for you.

Not because you need fixing. Not because you are in crisis. Because you are one of the most excellent people I know, and you deserve a book that knows it. A book that opens with what makes you happy. That holds the hard things alongside your strengths. That celebrates your taste and your history and the particular way you see the world. That ends with something you sign.

The questionnaire below is the beginning. Answer what you want to answer. Leave anything you're not ready for. The more you give it, the more specifically it speaks back to you. When you submit, your book begins writing itself. It will come to your Kindle.

I love you!

— Michelle
✦
0 answered

Before we begin.

These two fields make it possible to deliver your finished book directly to your Kindle.

Your email
Your Kindle email
Amazon → Manage Your Content and Devices → Preferences → Personal Document Settings. Looks like yourname@kindle.com
1
Joy — the foundation, always first
5 questions
What makes you genuinely, completely happy? Name at least five things — be specific.
Not "being outside" — what specifically. Not "good food" — what dish, where, with whom.
What is the thing that makes you happiest that almost nobody knows about you?
When were you last completely, visibly, physically delighted — the kind that shows before you know it's there?
What did you love doing as a child that you've stopped doing — and why?
What joy have you been postponing until "after"?
2
Who you are — all of it
12 questions
How do you describe yourself — not your roles, but you?
The version that exists before you put on any of your identities in the morning.
What are the identities you carry? Select what feels true — add anything missing.
These become the chapters of your book.
What is the identity you carry that most people don't see when they first meet you?
What culture, community, or place shaped you most — and what did it give you that you carry everywhere?
What do you know now about who you are that you didn't know ten years ago?
What part of yourself do you like the most?
What part of yourself are you still becoming?
What would your closest friends say is most distinctively you?
What makes you different from most people in the rooms you inhabit?
What identity have you grown into that you didn't start with?
What role in your family of origin shaped how you see yourself?
How has your relationship to your own identity changed in the last few years?
3
Taste and culture — what you love
11 questions
Who are your favorite authors? Who has shaped how you see the world through writing?
What is the book you give to people you love?
What book changed you — and how?
What are you reading right now? What draws you to it?
What kind of stories pull you in — what are you looking for when you open a book?
Describe your aesthetic — how you dress, how your space looks, what you're drawn to visually.
What music do you listen to? What does the right song do to you?
Where in the world do you feel most like yourself? What kind of place, setting, season?
What do you do with your hands? What do you make, cook, build, tend, create?
What is your relationship to beauty — in art, in nature, in people?
What would you watch, eat, wear, and listen to on the perfect day?
4
Your strengths — what you actually know
8 questions
What do you know about people, relationships, or how the world works that you rarely say out loud?
What do people consistently come to you for? What do they trust you with?
What have you survived or overcome that required a strength you didn't know you had?
What do you know about yourself that you haven't fully given yourself credit for?
What are you better at than most people you know?
What skill or ability would people be surprised to know you have?
When do you feel most competent — most like you know exactly what you're doing?
What have you built, created, or made happen that you are genuinely proud of?
5
What you carry
8 questions  answer what you're ready for
What is the hardest thing you are currently carrying?
What has your family given you that you are glad to carry — and what has it asked of you that was never really yours?
What role in your family did you play that you didn't choose?
The job you got before you could apply for it.
What is the thing your family has agreed not to name — and what has the silence cost you?
You can write "I'm not ready to name it yet" and the book holds space for that.
What do you need from the people in your family that you have not received?
What have you never said to someone you love that you need to say?
What are you forgiving — yourself, someone else, a situation?
What is the difference between being angry and being an angry person?
Take your time with this one.
6
What you've been holding back
6 questions
In what contexts do you find yourself performing — being smaller than the full version of you?
What would you say if you were allowed to say exactly what you think?
To anyone. About anything. The thing you keep translating into a more acceptable form.
What have you stopped asking for because you stopped believing you'd get it?
What do you want that you haven't said out loud yet?
What have you been waiting for permission to do or be?
What version of yourself haven't you fully introduced to the world yet?
7
Relationships and intimacy
8 questions
What do you need in a friendship to feel truly known?
What kind of love have you experienced that shaped how you love?
What do you want in intimate partnership that you haven't been able to fully ask for?
Who are the people who know the most complete version of you?
What does safety feel like in a relationship — specifically?
What have your most important relationships taught you about yourself?
What does it mean to you to be a good friend?
What do you need from the people closest to you that you rarely articulate?
8
What you're healing and growing toward
8 questions
What are you actively working on healing right now?
What do you want to understand about yourself that you don't yet?
What do you want to change about how you move through the world?
What do you want to celebrate about who you are that rarely gets celebrated?
The thing about you that deserves more room than it gets.
What habit of thinking is holding you back?
What version of yourself are you in the process of outgrowing?
What does growth feel like for you — how do you know when you're growing?
What is the bravest thing you've done recently?
9
The dream — where you're going
9 questions
Describe the life you are building toward. Not realistic — the full version. Be unreasonable about it.
Where do you wake up? Who is there? What does the day feel like?
What does it feel like to be fully, completely yourself — with nothing held back?
Where do you want to be in 12 months — specifically?
What about 24 months?
What are you most excited about right now?
What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?
What do you want to build, create, or make happen in the next chapter?
What do you want the people who love you to know about you that they don't currently know?
What legacy — however you define the word — do you want to leave?
10
The book itself
5 questions
What do you want this book to do for you?
Joy? Understanding? Healing? Permission? A document to give to someone? All of it?
Is there anything specific you want included that you didn't see in these questions?
What do you want to feel after finishing this book?
If this book could give you one thing, what would it be?
What is the one sentence most true about who you are right now?

When you're ready.

Hit submit and your book begins writing itself. You'll receive the finished workbook on your Kindle — typically within the hour. The more you gave, the more specifically it speaks to you.

Your answers are private. Only Michelle receives them alongside your finished book.

✦

Your book is being written.

It will arrive on your Kindle shortly. You gave it everything it needs to know you. That is the whole thing.