A Spoonie's Guide to Self-Acceptance

by Kelly Esparza

How do you live life to the fullest when you’re diagnosed with a chronic illness in your twenties? In this grief-inspired poetry chapbook, Kelly Esparza chronicles her experience with living with a chronic illness by cycling through what it means to grieve over a diagnosis and find self-acceptance in a completely life-altering experience.

From debilitating fatigue to joint pain that makes one feel elderly, how does one cope over the loss of what used to be? Kelly strives to show the difficulties of living with a chronic illness, but as with all her poetry, she also finds the beauty and the hope to keep moving on and make the most of what she lives with on a daily basis. Her life may have changed, but she has come out stronger than ever.

28 pages, Paperback and Digital PDF

Published November 3, 2025

About the author

Kelly Esparza is an editor and writer who holds BAs in English and Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. Her short fiction, essays, and poems have been published in various literary journals and anthologies. In 2021, she received a Pushcart Prize nomination for her YA fantasy short story, "Destiny Says," and her YA romantic short story, "Take the Jump," made it on the longlist for Voyage YA Journal's Anthology Contest.

She has a new poetry chapbook, A SPOONIE'S GUIDE TO SELF-ACCEPTANCE, out now (Bottlecap Press, 2025)! Buy it here: https://bottlecap.press/products/aspo...

Previously, she has written and self-pubbed two poetry collections (2019 and 2022) and has written a screenplay for a feature film at a film production company. For novels, she writes mystery novels with romantic subplots and sometimes incorporates the paranormal as a subgenre for teens and adults.

Connect with her!
Website: kellyesparza.wordpress.com
Bluesky: @kellyesparza.bsky.social
Instagram: @kelwritesbooks2
Twitter: @Kelly_Esparza7