Start Here 🖤

what you just walked into and where to go next!

Hi gorgeous!

If you’ve been with me since the beginning, you already know the deal. You have probably read my book, laughed with me, cringed with me, all the things.

If you just found me through that viral note I shared about a man writing his novel on cocktail napkins, hi! (wasn’t that so fucking inspiring!?)

If you found me some other way, maybe through Instagram, my podcast, a chaotic but strangely inspiring quote by me about reinventing your entire life that may have been in an Air Serbia ad (I’m not kidding), or just good old cosmic alignment, welcome :)

What This Is

You’ve reached my little corner of the internet, where we celebrate the chaos of life and love and all of its messy, magical, and maniacal moments. My Substack is part diary, part confessional, part creative playground. I write about love, nostalgia, the beautiful but brutal art of reinvention, being a woman who is deeply in her feels at all times and loves a good plot twist.

If you’re new to my world, here’s a quick intro:

🖤 I’m Cara Alwill, a 10x author with books in 10 languages, including my latest release, Don’t Do Anything I Would Do, my post-divorce dating memoir (a hilarious yet heartbreaking shit show of sorts).

🖤 I’m a former unhinged hopeless romantic. I now identify as a healing hopeful romantic. On most days <3

🖤 I am a native New Yorker (born and raised in good ole Brooklyn!) and I now live in the East Village where I’ve been for a long time

🖤 I will always be a lover girl. Bring on the tarot cards and Taylor Swift. I’m here for all of it.

🖤 I am always in the middle of reinventing my life in some way lol

🖤 If we still had landlines, mine would be that clear see-through plastic one that lights up

What You Should Read First

Right now, I’m writing a real-time series called The Plot Twist Diaries. It’s the next chapter of my life I am documenting in real-time, and the unofficial sequel to my memoir.

Start here: The Plot Twist Diaries: The Love Story I Didn’t Think I’d Get (or Tell)

If you’re ready for more, and you want to read the real juice (the parts I only share with my paid subscribers), you can unlock the first full diary here: I Picked Up The Phone.

Want the Backstory?

You can grab the book that came before all of this (the book I started writing in 2023 that landed me on Substack in the first place). It’s called Don’t Do Anything I Would Do: Essays on Dating, Divorce, and Romantic Delusions and you can grab it here. (Totally not necessary to read but really fun and kind of heartbreaking and also important!)

What To Expect Here

There is no real strategy. I just post from my heart when I feel like it (which is pretty often). If you love reading the truth, you’re in the right place.

XO,
Cara