To be honest, I’m already a little teary over here.

Here it is. This is the book you know I’ve been working on, the one that almost broke me, the one that I tell people, “may have done something to my insides that will never fix”… in some good and bad ways. 🙂 And I finally get to spill the beans.

Her name is Let’s All Be Brave. And this book is for you.

For adults. For college students. For men. For women. For anyone.

I absolutely love writing books for teen girls, and I hope I get to keep doing that, but I’ve always wanted to write a book for you, my friends, and Zondervan gave me the chance.

What’s Let’s All Be Brave about? Here’s an official blurb from official people.

“In Let’s All Be Brave, Annie’s first book for adults, Annie calls you to grab hold of the brave life you desperately desire. Using honest and often humorous illustrations from her own life, contemporary real-life examples, and fascinating biblical stories, she challenges you to step into those places that require courage and gives you the help you need to take the next step forward . . . even when it’s scary.”

So. There you go. My personal blurb?

“Let’s All Be Brave was really hard to write, but my editor took a good book and made it a great book and I will cry whenever I get to actually hold a copy because my heart lives on those pages.”

The book doesn’t release until July 29, 2014, so we’ve got a good four months. But you can always go ahead and pre-order it from your local bookstore or your favorite online retailer.

. . . . .

Zondervan, in partnership with NoiseTrade, has done something unbelievable today.

. . . . .

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS OF LET’S ALL BE BRAVE FOR FREE!

. . . . .

Here are the first two chapters,

beautifully packaged into a PDF

and ready and waiting for you over at NoiseTrade.

I think that’s incredible. And nerve-racking. And whoa.

(Also. There is a place to leave a tip. You don’t have to do that, but if you do, know that money will go towards much needed redesign and rebuilding on anniefdowns.com to make the website and book more accessible to more people.)

. . . . .

I believe in this book. I believe in what God will do with this book. And I’m so happy to finally tell you about it! I hope you’ll download the sample chapters, I hope you’ll pre-order it, and I hope you’ll tell your friends today about the free chapters!

Phew. Glad to have that secret off my chest. 🙂 Happy Wednesday!