I’m Tommy Hensel, and I’ve spent the last couple of years writing a book about something most people treat as a problem to solve: being alone.

It started the way a lot of good things start – with a dinner I almost didn’t go to. I was on my own, staring down a Friday night, and the idea of eating at a restaurant by myself felt somewhere between brave and pathetic. I went anyway. And somewhere between the first glass of wine and the second, I realized I wasn’t just eating dinner. I was choosing how to spend my time, on my terms, and actually enjoying it.

That’s what Eating Adverbs is about. Not just solo dining – though there’s plenty of that – but learning to do anything alone and savoring it. Traveling. Cooking. Making decisions. Sitting still. Think of it as a grammar of independence: each chapter is built around an adverb that shapes how we experience life on our own. Mindfully. Boldly. Joyfully. Gratefully. The language changes; the freedom stays the same.

Part memoir, part psychology, part practical guide, the book is for anyone who’s ever put off an experience because they didn’t have someone to share it with — or anyone who already loves their own company and wants to love it even more. The e-book arrives in May, with the physical edition following in June.