What if the life you longed for meant leaving everything you knew behind?
At twenty-six, Anna Vatuone packed her Jeep and left California behind. No plan. No destination. Just a woman alone on the road in the middle of a pandemic, chasing the promise of something more. From the outside, it looked reckless. But inside, it was survival.
Lonely Girl is a visceral memoir of heartbreak, desire, and the dangerous hope that comes with starting over. A portrait of a woman on the edge — driving across America, documenting her journey in real time, and discovering that sometimes the hardest person to outrun is yourself.
Today, I help others share their stories online — but it all began with the moment I chose to share mine.
And yet for years,
I held back.
I told myself that if people saw the tender, messy parts of me, they might think less of me — that my vulnerability would make me less credible, less trustworthy.
But life has a way of teaching us what we most need to learn.
When I finally let myself tell the truth — when I stopped hiding and began sharing the parts of myself I was afraid to show — something amazing happened.
People didn’t pull away. They leaned in closer.
That’s what my book Lonely Girl became: my way of practicing what I preach. My reminder that the more of yourself you share — the more the world opens to meet you.
Your story is the thing that makes you simply magnetic and unforgettable, a never-been-done-before kind of brand. So this book isn’t just for readers. It’s a letter to anyone who’s ever wondered if they could be fully seen and still fully successful.
You can. And you will.