Felicia Day is no stranger to the geeks of the internet or to the various television fandoms following Ms. Day’s characters on their favorite shows and at their nearest Comic Cons, but a new book, a book of Felicia’s memoirs that may one day be coveted as a kind of a bible to Day’s followers, has made Felicia accessible to new audiences.
Entitled You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) , Felicia Day’s book chronicles her life from her young teens, when she first discovered the joy of video games through the years and the events in her life that led Ms. Day toward her fate as an online media mogul.
Ms. Day’s testimonial is as riveting as any autobiography with critics touting it as funny, bold, and inspiring, but it isn’t all good humor and happy endings. As Felicia points out herself, her memoir, like most of our own lives, does have its dark moments, events that forced Felicia to come to terms with her own battles with anxiety and depression.
“If even one person is inspired to seek help or be more self-aware,” says Ms. Day , “that’s an awesome thing to get on a page and share with people.”
Felicia feels that she has written a book that, while entertaining, will also speak to everyone. Ms. Day hopes she has expressed the message that no one is really ever alone because the internet provides a sense of community never before available to those previously considered outside the norm.
“I am who I am. I’m not going away, and if you don’t think I fit in your box, I have a different set of boxes. There is a perfectly wonderful way to be without conforming. That’s what the heart of the book is: You’re never weird, because the Internet has allowed people to accept the things that are different about us, to feel like an insider and to be supported. Which is really what we need in life to get over hard times.”
In fact, Felicia found support from an online community of fans when she brought her own creation, The Guild , to the web. Not easily discouraged by the repeated rejections of network heads, Ms. Day created The Guild , a half-hour comedy series for the online community, producing the series herself, borrowing equipment and props, and utilizing the talents of friends.
“It’s just a question of being pioneers in a sense, and insisting on showing up. And eventually it will be not uncommon… Representation is the most important thing…. Sometimes it doesn’t occur to you that something is a possibility,” Ms. Day says. “We accept a lot of things we’re told are true that may not be true.”
[Featured image: Felicia Day courtesy of Jason Merritt/Getty Images for P.S. ARTS]
