Ebook
ISBN 9798996644919
A debut novel
My Life Is In A Storage Unit
A Novel of Starting Over When Starting Over Wasn't the Plan
Sometimes losing everything is the beginning.
Stacy McDaniels
About the book
One text. One decision. One moment that changes everything.
Ava McClain had the title, the income, and years of proof that doing everything right actually works. Then a text on her anniversary cruise ended all three at once.
What's left: a marriage that still shows up, two businesses held together by nerve and Wi-Fi, and a storage unit full of everything she used to be. Ava does the math anyway. That's what she does when she's scared. She feels every bit of it. She builds her way out.
My Life Is In A Storage Unit is a novel about the space between who you were and who you're becoming, and the mess, humor, and stubborn hope that lives there. Upmarket women's fiction and African American women's fiction, for anyone who's ever had to start over without a plan for starting over.
“Discipline in private. Purpose in public. Legacy forever.”
–
Days until October 12
Paperback & hardcover arrive soon.
Pre-order now and it ships on release day.
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Buy the Book
The ebook is available now everywhere ebooks are sold. The paperback and hardcover release October 12, 2026 and are available to pre-order now on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Paperback
ISBN 9798996644902
Hardcover
ISBN 9798996644933
Want it signed? Get a signed copy from Stacy → · Print edition details
The companion podcast
Life With Ava and Marcus — The Podcast
Ava and Marcus, the couple from Stacy McDaniels' novel My Life Is in a Storage Unit, tell their story of a layoff text on a cruise, a Florida life packed into boxes, and starting over in Durham, North Carolina. Funny, honest, and real.
Episode 1: My Life Is in a Storage Unit, Told by Ava and Marcus — out now.
Ava's story is my story, told the way it needed to be told.
Watch
The Story in Motion
A first look at Ava McClain's story, set to Rise Anyway by Marvelous Starr.
A second look at the novel, carried by the same music and the same stubborn hope.
Music: Rise Anyway by Marvelous Starr.
Captions are turned on by default. You can turn them off with the caption button.
From the author
Signed by Stacy
Signed Paperback
$20.99
Signed Hardcover
$31.99
Ships within the US for $5.99, or free local pickup in Durham, NC. Signed and shipped in 2 to 3 weeks.
Inside the novel
Meet the Characters
AM
Ava McClain
Fifty-four. Laid off by text on her anniversary cruise. Direct, wry, and specific. When she's scared, she does the math. Then she builds.
MM
Marcus McClain
Long-haul trucker, wine connoisseur, sneaker and cowboy boot collector. Quiet strength. Can't remember the name of Ava's business, but believes in her louder than anyone.
Read an excerpt
Prologue: Before the Storage Unit
Listen in Ava's voice
Text size
She did the math at 2 AM. Not because she couldn't sleep — she couldn't sleep — but because math was the only thing that felt like control when everything else had stopped making sense. She did it the way she'd always done it when things got hard. Not crying. Not spiraling. Just numbers. Just the specific arithmetic of a life that needed to be recalculated.
Severance. Bills. Business income. Months.
1
Page 1 of 5
Marvelous Starr
The Sound of the Story
Stacy created music with Suno and created the artist Marvelous Starr. The song Rise Anyway opens and closes the book trailers, and the album Watch Me Rise carries the same spirit as the novel: faith, grit, and rising anyway.
Watch Me Rise was written as the companion soundtrack to Ava McClain's turning point.
Watch Me Rise
Marvelous Starr
Available on all streaming platforms.
The author
Meet Stacy McDaniels
For more than three decades, Stacy built a career in telecommunications in Durham, North Carolina. She believed what so many of us were taught: show up, do the work, and the work will take care of you.
Then came more than one layoff. She learned firsthand what it feels like to do everything right and still watch the ground shift overnight, and to face the question of who you are when the title is gone.
Instead of waiting for permission, she built her own businesses from the ground up and founded SLM Legacy Press. After 50, she published her debut novel, My Life Is In A Storage Unit, drawn from real life and told as fiction. Its companion album, Watch Me Rise, is released under the name Marvelous Starr.
- Durham, North Carolina
- Founder, SLM Legacy Press
- Debut novelist
Contact Stacy: stacy@stacymcdaniels.com
Follow Stacy on Amazon (opens in a new tab)
A little more about me
Why did you write this book?
Because I lived it. I know what it feels like to do everything right and still get that phone call or that text. I wanted to write the book I needed when it happened to me.
What does the storage unit mean to you?
It is where your old life waits while you build the new one. Everyone who has ever started over has a storage unit, even if theirs is not made of metal.
How much of Ava is you?
Her circumstances are mine, told as fiction. Her voice is the voice I had to grow into: direct, a little wry, and unwilling to quit.
What do you hope readers take away?
That starting over is not the end of the story. Sometimes losing everything is the beginning.
Come say hello
Events and Appearances
Events are being planned now. Join the list below and you will hear about book clubs, signings, and launch celebrations first.
View Release TimelinePodcasts and interviews
Invite Stacy
Stacy loves a good conversation. She is available for podcasts, interviews, book clubs, and panels, in person or by video.
Conversation starters
- Getting laid off by text, and what she did next
- Starting over at fifty-four without a plan
- Building businesses after three decades in telecommunications
- Turning real life into fiction
- Faith, grit, and creating music with Suno and the artist Marvelous Starr
Email to book Stacy (opens in a new tab)
Please include your show or organization, proposed dates, and the focus of the conversation. Replies usually come within two to three business days.
For media
Press Kit
Everything you need to cover the book in one place. The text below is cleared for reprint, and the images are print ready.
Book description
Ava McClain had the title, the income, and years of proof that doing everything right actually works. Then a text on her anniversary cruise ended all three at once.
My Life Is In A Storage Unit is a novel about the space between who you were and who you're becoming, and the mess, humor, and stubborn hope that lives there. For anyone who's ever had to start over without a plan for starting over.
Author biography
For more than three decades, Stacy built a career in telecommunications in Durham, North Carolina. She believed what so many of us were taught: show up, do the work, and the work will take care of you.
Then came more than one layoff. She learned firsthand what it feels like to do everything right and still watch the ground shift overnight, and to face the question of who you are when the title is gone.
Instead of waiting for permission, she built her own businesses from the ground up and founded SLM Legacy Press. After 50, she published her debut novel, My Life Is In A Storage Unit, drawn from real life and told as fiction. Its companion album, Watch Me Rise, is released under the name Marvelous Starr.
Book details
- Title
- My Life Is In A Storage Unit
- Subtitle
- A Novel of Starting Over When Starting Over Wasn't the Plan
- Author
- Stacy McDaniels
- Publisher
- SLM Legacy Press, an imprint of SLM Legacy Group LLC
- Category
- Upmarket women's fiction; Black women's fiction; African American women's fiction; fiction about starting over after 50
- ISBN, paperback
- 9798996644902
- ISBN, ebook
- 9798996644919
- ISBN, hardcover
- 9798996644933
- Amazon author page
- https://www.amazon.com/author/stacymcdaniels
Media assets
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Media contact
SLM Legacy Press
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