The hirsute heroine of last year's hit Kindle Single Bearded Lady has found herself on the precipice of failure. A rejected novel has sent newly-married Mara Altman into a tailspin of questioning and self-doubt. Should she stop racing forward, and settle down to start a family? Or should she give her quest for success another shot? With a gimlet eye trained directly on herself, Altman recounts her wild experience of becoming a standup comedian. By turns comic and cosmic, the 31-year-old Altman's search for a new path — and fresh answers — yields a joke-filled journey towards an unexpected and life-affirming finish line.Mara Altman previously worked for newspapers in India and Thailand; worked as a staff writer for The Village Voice; wrote Thanks for Coming, a nonfiction narrative published by HarperCollins in 2009, and published two bestselling Kindle Singles, Sparkle and Bearded Lady. You can check out more of Mara's work at http://www.maraaltman.com and you can follow her on twitter @maraaltman. You can watch Mara's recent standup set here: http://youtu.be/IwQRuZRSd78Cover design by Adil Dara Kim. Cover photograph by James Bartolozzi.