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Alicia McKenzie | Author

@whataliciawrote

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These ABCs Belong To Me — out now!

There are countless ways to support me as an author that will cost you nothing. If you can spare 3 minutes of your time, I would greatly appreciate it.

💬 Leave a quick review on Amazon, Goodreads, or Barnes & Noble — it helps new readers discover my book.
📸 Share this post and my book on your stories.
📚 Ask your local library to carry it.
💌 Tell a friend or teacher about it.
⭐ Add it to your “Want to Read” shelf on Goodreads.
🤗 Follow my author page @whataliciawrote

Every little bit matters more than you know.

Authors don’t just write books, they inspire and create worlds with their words.

#authorsupport #booktok #readersofinstagram #childrensbookstagram #TheseABCsBelongToMe #shopsmallthischristmas #storytimemagic by @whataliciawrote

✨Pub Day Feature: These ABCs Belong to Me! By Alicia McKenzie!✨

Read When You’re Craving: “A joyful ABC picture book that helps kids reclaim the words used to describe them—transforming labels into superpowers and building confidence one letter at a time.”✨

“A is for Ambitious…I have a desire to be great! My thoughts spark passion and the need to create. I have never been one to play it small. I’ll pave my own way while I conquer it all!”
~Alicia McKenzie, These ABCs Belong to Me!✨

Happy Pub Day to this wonderful, uplifting new Children’s ABC Picture Book! I absolutely loved reading through this book with my kids!✨

“When others use words to define us, they’re not always kind.These ABCs Belong to Me! flips the script, inviting children to reclaim traits like “bossy,” “quiet,” and “picky” as personal strengths. From ambitious—because chasing big dreams takes courage—to zany—because creativity deserves to shine—each page celebrates what makes us unique.”✨

“Here’s what makes These ABCs Belong to Me! shine:
• Turns Labels into Strengths: Shows how being “bossy” means taking charge, “quiet” means loving peace, and “picky” means knowing what’s best.✨
• Empowers Kids’ Self-Image: Helps children build resilience and pride in who they are—perfect for nurturing emotional intelligence.✨
• Inclusive & Vibrant: Written from a child’s perspective, free of gender pronouns, so every kid can see themselves in these pages.✨
• Playful, Uplifting Art: Filled with colorful illustrations that celebrate individuality and spark joyful conversations.”✨

“These ABCs Belong to Me! is more than an alphabet book—it’s a heartwarming guide to self-love and a reminder that the stories we tell ourselves are the most powerful of all.”✨

Congratulations to @liftlikeamother on this incredible new release! Thank you for writing this book!✨

#theseabcsbelongtome #aliciamckenzie by @whataliciawrote

3 Author Signings, 1 panel and lots of hope for the future.

Let the book launch begin! Thank you to all the amazing librarians and book lovers at the @americanlibraryassociation for spending your time with me and my brain children.

Thank you @iamleewind for your leadership on this panel and your sweater. Both were immensely appreciated.

Here’s the a bright future with empowered children. Books change the world 🌎

#liftlikeamother #whataliciawrote #momof5 #bookloversunite #booklaunchevent #booklaunching #wellnesslifestyle #socialemotionallearning by @whataliciawrote

Some weeks you do not need a productivity system. You need a way through. These five prompts are the ones I reach for when a week is genuinely kicking my butt and the last thing I can handle is a color-coded plan.

What is actually within my control today. What am I carrying that was never mine to hold. What would enough look like, instead of perfect. Who could I ask for help if I let myself. What is one small thing that would feel like relief.

Notice that none of these are about doing more. They are about seeing clearly, releasing what is not yours, and lowering the bar to something human. Save these for the next hard week. It is coming for all of us, and these five questions genuinely help.

#journalprompts #BalanceIsBullshitJournal #journalingforwomen #overwhelm #womenwellness by @whataliciawrote

Playing with the over-dramatic declaration trend because honestly, for a lot of us, taking an actual sit-down lunch break does feel revolutionary.

We have normalized eating standing up over the sink, answering emails through lunch, treating our own basic needs as interruptions to the real work. So yes, I am announcing with full dramatic flair that I sat down and ate a meal like a person. Groundbreaking.

But underneath the joke is something I actually mean. Rest does not have to be earned to be valid. You do not need to finish everything first, or justify it, or apologize for it. Sometimes the most radical thing you will do all day is sit down for twenty minutes and let that be allowed.

#restisradical #momhumor #BalanceIsBullshit #antihustle #workingmom by @whataliciawrote

We tell our kids they are special constantly, with the best intentions. But there is a quiet problem hiding in that word, and it is worth thinking about before the school year fills their heads with comparisons.

Special is a comparison. To be special is to be better than, more than, standing out from the others. It sounds affirming, but it builds a fragile kind of worth that always needs to be proven, defended, and re-earned. A child who needs to be special is a child who performs.

Belonging is different. It is unconditional. It does not depend on being the smartest or the fastest or the most impressive. A child who knows they belong does not have to earn their place, so they can relax into simply participating in their own life.

That distinction is the whole reason the book is called These ABCs Belong to Me. Not 'these ABCs make me special.' Belong. A place to stand, not a rank to defend.

#raisingkids #TheseABCsBelongToMe #belonging #childrensbooks #parentingwithintention by @whataliciawrote

Maya Angelou meant this as grace, and I want to point it directly at the way you treat yourself.

We love to apply this quote to how we show up for other people. Do better as a parent, a partner, a friend. But the version almost nobody applies it to is the internal one. Do better in how you speak to yourself. Do better in how much you demand from yourself before you allow any rest.

For most of my life I did not know better. I ran myself into the ground, called it dedication, and treated my own exhaustion as a personal weakness. Then I learned better. I learned that the constant self-criticism was not making me more capable, just more depleted.

And once you know better, you get to do better. Not perfectly. Just a little more gently than yesterday. This quote is permission to extend yourself the same grace you have always been so quick to give everyone else.

#mayaangelou #selfcompassion #BalanceIsBullshit #blackwomenwellness #grace by @whataliciawrote

The mental load feels so loud because it lives entirely in your head, looping and reminding and never letting you fully rest. The single most relieving thing I do is get it out.

One page. Everything. Every task, every worry, every 'don't forget the field trip money' rattling around up there. I write it all down, not because I am going to do all of it, but because my mind can finally stop carrying it all at once when the page is holding it instead.

There is real psychology here. An unfinished task takes up mental space until it is either done or written down somewhere you trust. The brain-dump page in the journal is that trusted place. Empty your head onto it and feel how much quieter everything gets.

#braindump #mentalload #BalanceIsBullshitJournal #journalingforwomen #womenwellness by @whataliciawrote

There is a lovely wave of articles right now about taking a reset trip before the school year to prevent burnout, and the research behind them is real. Interrupting the stress cycle at the end of summer genuinely helps. But most moms cannot drop everything for four nights in a spa town, and I do not want you to feel worse reading about a reset you cannot access.

Here is the reframe. The reset was never really about the location. It was about interrupting the stress cycle, and you can do that at home in much smaller ways. One hour alone with your phone off. A do-nothing evening where productivity is banned. A full brain-dump of the mental load onto paper so it stops rattling around in your head.

You do not need a trip. You need an interruption. And those you can give yourself, starting this week.

#resetseason #momburnout #BalanceIsBullshit #antihustle #backtoschool by @whataliciawrote

Consider this your official first-week-of-school permission slip. You are allowed to survive this week on frozen pizzas and grace.

The first week back is a lot. New schedules, an avalanche of forms, and somehow you are supposed to make it all look effortless. You do not have to. Getting everyone where they need to be, mostly on time, mostly fed, is a genuine win.

Here is the one small practice I would add. At the end of this hard week, open the journal and write a single line: what actually went okay this week? Not what you failed at. What quietly went right. On weeks like this one, that one honest sentence is the difference between drowning in everything that went wrong and remembering that you are, in fact, doing this. The reflection page in the journal exists for exactly these weeks.

#backtoschool #BalanceIsBullshitJournal #momlife #journalingforwomen #permissionslip by @whataliciawrote

We have made wellness into one more thing to be perfect at, so here is how to tell if yours is actually working or just quietly stressing you out.

Green flags: you can skip a day without a shame spiral. It fits the real life you have, not the ideal one you keep meaning to build. It gives you energy instead of becoming another obligation on the list. You would keep doing it even if no one was watching or tracking or applauding.

The biggest red flag is simple. If your wellness routine consistently makes you feel behind, guilty, or like you are failing at rest, it is not wellness. It is just productivity culture wearing a softer outfit. Real wellness feels like relief, not pressure.

#wellnessrealtalk #selfcare #BalanceIsBullshit #greenflags #antihustle by @whataliciawrote

People assume I must have some secret setup to have written two books while raising five kids. A quiet office. Full-time childcare. Endless uninterrupted hours. I have none of those things.

What I have is a different relationship with time. I stopped waiting for the big blocks that never came and started writing in fifteen-minute pockets. Car lines. Waiting rooms. The quiet before the house woke up. I kept a notes app open for the sentences that arrived mid-chaos, and I let my first drafts be genuinely, freeingly bad.

If you are waiting for perfect conditions to start the thing you keep dreaming about, I need you to hear this: the conditions are never coming. You do not need them. You need fifteen honest minutes and the willingness to begin badly.

#authorlife #amwriting #writingcommunity #momauthor #writersofinstagram by @whataliciawrote