Sweta Patel - Writer

🌟 One Year Reflection: What a Journey It's Been! 🌟

📚 Exactly one year ago, we held the first copy of our book in our hands. Today, we're looking back on an incredible journey:
➡️ 5,000+ readers picked up our book
➡️ 400+ audiobook listeners
➡️ 215+ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reviews
➡️ #8 in Drug Dependency & Recovery (Amazon Kindle Store)
➡️ 55 speaking events
➡️ Countless heartfelt messages from readers who have been positively impacted

Here’s what some of you have shared:
💬 "I have struggled all of my life and recently have been trying to find a way out. I feel (and pray) reading this may have given me the blueprint."

💬 "Having lost so many family members to addiction, I was hesitant to read this book. I wasn’t sure if it would trigger my grief. I’ve had the book on my nightstand for months and finally gave it a shot. I’m glad I did. It gave me a better perspective on what my loved ones went through."

💬 "Definitely in my top 5 of addiction memoirs. Rory gives you hope that you CAN break free from addiction and be whatever you want to be."

🙏 This book is about bringing awareness to the nature of addiction, helping people feel less alone, and encouraging reflection on how we choose to connect with others. As we step into 2025, we're committed to keeping this mission alive. With one foot in front of the other, we plan to put in the work to keep getting the word out about this book.

💪 Sharing our goals helps us stay strong when the road gets tough. Let’s do this!

Please help share! 📢✨ Ebook Lovers, This One's for You! ✨📢

This week only, our ebook is on Amazon Kindle for just 99 cents! 🤩📚🔥

A story that will shine a little bright light at the end of your tunnel. You can feel helpless and lost and still rebuild your life, one step at a time.

Twelve hard-earned life lessons that will move you to act, including:
- "If you weren't thinking about yourself so much, maybe things wouldn't be so bad."
- "Pull back your hood and be a part of. Say yes."

To have helped someone in such a profound way means so much to me. 🙏

"...it gave me a better perspective of what some of the ones I loved went through..." This was one of my hopes in writing this book - to share a story of addiction from the inside. 💙

As a teacher, Rory's story inspired me to do better—taking the time to understand before judging, assuming, or reacting. 🙏💭 Grateful to see these powerful messages spreading! 🌟

🎙️It was a privilege to do my first podcast interview with Melanie Davis of Triumph Talks. I shared my journey of writing Rory's story—from my WHY, to the interviews, the writing process, publishing, and even marketing.

We’re so fortunate to live in a time where self-publishing gives ANYONE the chance to write a book. 📖 Yes, it's CRAZY hard, but you can learn as you go as I did, and hold that printed book in your hands too. 💪✨

With 3,400 views, I know the interest is there! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3az0zTiFVh8

How to Write, Publish and Market Someone's Story Sweta Patel, author of "Should've Been Dead," teaches viewers how to write a story for someone else. Sweta is a high school English teacher who spent 2 1/2 y...

I stumbled upon this comment on one of our Facebook book ads, and it made me smile. 😊 There's just something special about imagining a reader on a train with my book in her hands. 📖 I haven’t spotted anyone reading it "in the wild" yet, but this comment makes me feel like I have! 💖

"Run your own race, not looking to the left and right of what everyone else is doing. Everyone's timeline is different. Everyone's hurdles are going to be different. Just continue to improve upon yourself." - Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, after winning the gold in the 400m hurdles and beating her own world record

Need to personally remember as a wife, mother, teacher, and writer.

The queen’s crowning 👑 #ParisOlympics

Thank you for this detailed review, Elizabeth from Goodreads! 🌟 It made my writer's heart happy this morning. 💖📚

Absolutely blown away by the response to the book! Really, a dream come true.

🎉📚 #1 Bestseller on Amazon! 🎉📚

Until August 4, we're offering a special deal on our e-book for just $0.99! 🤩

Please help us spread the word to anyone who might benefit from Rory's powerful story. We believe there's some message in it that you didn't even know you needed till you come across it.💖🙌

📣✨ Please help us spread the word! To give back, we're running a special week-long price promotion on our e-book on Amazon! 📚💻

Get it for just $.99, starting today through August 4! 📆🔥

Remember, you can feel helpless and lost, but still rebuild your life, one step at a time. Rory proves it. 💪💖

🌟 My 12-year-old daughter reminded me that it's okay to slow down.💫 Every night, I check the calendar and to-do list for the next day: driving the kids to and from camps, appointments, errands... When I saw a string of blank days, I asked my daughter if she wanted to register for another camp, invite friends over, or take a day trip somewhere. But she stopped me and said, "Summer's about relaxing. So, let's just do that." ☀️

Since then, I've made myself slow down. 🛑 I've been playing pickleball and reading more. 📚 The kids and I have finished a few puzzles and are in the middle of another fun one. We've baked together and been more spontaneous instead of mentally pre-planning everything and feeling tied up in knots trying to do so much at once.

It doesn't come naturally, though. I feel like I'm programmed to be productive, and if I'm not, I think I'm wasting time or being lazy. But I couldn't be more wrong. Spending relaxed days helps me be in the present and feel grateful for the small yet mighty moments. 💖🙏

My 12-year-old daughter has been helping me create reels for Should've Been Dead. Last night, we finished this one together, lying side-by-side on the bed, passing the phone back and forth. It's incredible watching her swipe here and there, mixing audio, music, images, and animations. She's such a patient teacher, and I cherish these moments with her.

Mark Garkusha narrates Should've Been Dead. Now on Amazon, Audible, and Apple Books!