“Daddy shot himself…” These are the first words that Grammy-nominated songwriter Aimee Mayo wrote down in her diary that she got when she was just eight years old. This diary was the beginning of what has become her memoir titled, “Talking to the Sky.”
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From the age of 13, she found excerpts in her diary saying that she would have her own book one day. “I always felt like I would write a book, but I didn’t know what it would be about,” says Mayo.
Eventually, she realized that she had so much written down from what she had experienced, that she could turn those entries into a book and one day, maybe even a movie.
Mayo has been through a lot in her life. Her father tried to commit suicide, her mom married an abusive stepfather, she had an abusive ex-husband, she tried to commit suicide and so much more that she explains in this book.
After being forced to sit in her room so much as a child, she developed an OCD for writing. She thought she would never get out of that situation, but once she finally did, she moved to Nashville. By this time, she already had tons of songs written and ready to share.
While she continued to work on her songwriting in Nashville, she was also adding new chapters to the book.
She called her memoir “Happy” for 10 years before she discovered a title that felt right. Mayo shared the moment she knew that it would actually be called “Talking to the Sky.”
“I was walking around one night out in the driveway, and I was looking up and the sky thinking, ‘what am I going to call this book?’ Then it just hit me so hard, “Talking to the Sky,” because I had done that my whole life.”
Through all her toughest moments, she would go outside and look up to talk to the stars and the sky. That was her safe space.
“It’s like talking to god, talking to the universe and talking to whatever’s out there, it’s kind of like a prayer.”
The cover of the book has burn holes that reveal the sky. This represents a moment from the time she burned the house down when she was a child. She recalls being in her bedroom after the fire had been put out, looking up and realizing the roof was completely gone. All she could see was the sky.
Mayo is one strong woman who wouldn’t give up and that is made very clear in this book, but there were times she almost didn’t finish it.
Luckily, she had the support from her current, loving husband and children to help her finish it after 15 years. While the book contains her personal stories, the good and the bad, she hopes that people will be able to read it and feel less alone and motivated to live a better life.
Because of this, she added what she calls a “dream portal” into her book so that people can write down their dreams in a safe space.
“Somebody told me, ‘this is a book for dreamers’ and I just love that,” says Mayo. “My biggest passion is trying to encourage people to go after their dreams.”
