I didn’t write this book to go viral.
I wrote it for the person sitting alone with a full heart and no roadmap.

If you've ever started over, cracked open, or clawed your way through — these pages are for you.

Hope, humor, and the hard truths that set me free.

I’ve been living to tell you something.

What Readers Are Saying

“I LOVE your book. It's very hard to put down — but I also don’t want to get through it too fast because each essay is so impactful I want to soak it in. Thank you for sharing yourself and your experiences. It’s a hard journey, but people like you give me hope. I feel like I’m reading the story of a friend I actually know.”
— anonymous reader

“Your words have traveled with me everywhere today. I have car books, purse books, by-the-bed books — but your book broke the rules. It left its post and followed me. That’s when I know it’s real.”

“The by-the-bed book hits the carpool line.”
— Ashley B., reader

Amazon reader —

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a treasure of essays on being sober & being human that will make you laugh, cry and think.

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2025

When this book arrived on my front porch, I opened it up and began reading it immediately. Shane's writing is like a hybrid of a good sermon and a great story: it made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me think. This collection of essays made me feel seen in ways I had not even known I was feeling invisible. Whether you are thirty years sober, thirty days sober or in those hard days where you just want to be sober but are not quite there yet, you will read something in one of these authentic, vulnerable, wise 111 essays that speak to your soul. One of the beautiful aspects of "I Have Been Living to Tell You Something" is that you *could* pick it up and read just one essay, but you will want to keep on reading until you have read them all. There is a quality to Shane's writing that makes me feel less alone, as though I am sitting down and having coffee with a dear, wise friend who always keeps it real and makes me laugh.

— Rosemary R., reader

M. Shane Willbanks is a writer, speaker, and recovered alcoholic who believes that humor and hard truth can walk hand-in-hand toward healing. After crashing and burning his life in spectacular fashion, Shane rebuilt from rock bottom with nothing but grace, grit, and a laptop.

Today, he writes for the ones still in the fight — the quietly strong, the quietly scared, and everyone brave enough to start over. He lives in Conway, Arkansas, where he’s learning that peace is loud in its own way.

"I don’t want to finish it — because each essay is so impactful I want to soak it in." — A reader via Instagram

This isn’t just a book. It’s a lifeline disguised as a collection of essays.

I’ve Been Living to Tell You Something is a collection of 111 essays that crack open the silence around addiction, recovery, and becoming whole again. With wit, raw honesty, and a hopeful heart, M. Shane Willbanks shares the essays he once needed — stories of failure, forgiveness, sobriety, and the unexpected joy of still being here.

This book is for anyone who’s ever started over, anyone who’s ever wondered if healing is possible, and everyone who needs proof that the truth can set you free — even when it hurts.