"Whenever women are honest about their struggles, they give other women a gift. Mia delivers." Elizabeth Gilbert

'There are many, many books written by successful women who talk about how successful they are and float their theory about how you can get some of that success for yourself if you just Lean In, Say Yes, Live Your Best Life, Beat Your Fear or Sleep More.

Work Strife Balance is not one of those books.

I want this book to be helpful to every woman. And I know from experience the best way to be helpful is to be honest. It's easy to share your successes and your triumphs but the real stuff of life is far less transient: Eating disorders. Grief. Divorce. Losing a job. Losing a loved one. Losing your mind. Infertility. None of these things have rituals. In an age of social media brag-fests they mostly exist underground.

But the way women connect is by sharing failures, disappointments and insecurities. Quietly. Privately. Over wine. Over text. Over fences. Female connections are forged through vulnerability not Facebook brags.

Work Strife Balance is split into those about my most valuable failures, my most significant setbacks and my most mortifying slip-ups in life, love and work. At Mamamia we call it FLEARNING - failing and learning. Learning through failing. In my teens, 20s, 30s and 40s, I've done a lot of both.' Mia Freedman

MORE PRAISE FOR MIA FREEDMAN

"To be generous is common. To be funny is common. To be neurotic is also, alas, common. But to be generous and funny about one's own neuroses is spectacularly rare, and it's what makes Mia Freedman such an exhilaratingly readable writer. Mia Freedman's achievements as a relentless innovator in media are profound, but the real marvel is that she can still write a book like this. Funny, raw, fierce and - at heart - profoundly generous." Annabel Crabb

"There are few writers in Australia who care as much about what makes women tick as Mia Freedman and who reveal so much of themselves. "Mia Freedman has pulled off something marvellous: a book that's funny and frank but also touching and vulnerable." Leigh Sales

"Mia Freedman is one of the most inspirational, informative and accessible voices among contemporary Australian writers. She shares the richness of her lived experience as a Woking mother, thinker and writer to inform challenge and motivate Australian women. This book bears the hallmarks of her distinctive style: witty honest and encouraging. She is dedicated to improving the lives of other women. Hers is an important unique voice in our national conversation." Cate McGregor