Marginalia Press → this shelf
Hard Conversations & Boundaries
From the physiology of anger to the exact sentence. 4 guides, 168 pages between them, 66 citations.
The Hard Conversations & Boundaries shelf
All 4 guides, as a set. Sold separately they come to $71.
What is on it
Open any title for what it promises and what it is built on.
How to Have a Difficult Conversation
Anger physiology, timing, and what de-escalation really requires
The conversation you keep rehearsing in the shower and never having. This treats it as three stacked problems - your body, your timing, your words - and explains the physiology behind why each fix works, so you stop blaming yourself for going blank.
Written for: People facing hard conversations with someone fundamentally safe - partner, colleague, manager, sibling, friend
- 15 chapters in 3 parts
- 5 self-audits
- scripted openers
- 14-day drill plan
- cut-out pocket card
- source list p39
$19 · 40 pages · 47 citations · Ebook (print-and-write audits) · on the Hard Conversations & Boundaries shelf
Inside the book — 4 pages. Tap one to read it.
Boundaries Without Guilt
The Say-No Handbook
You can already say no. It's the four hours of guilt afterwards that make you stop. Word-for-word scripts for 19 real situations, each paired with a rebuttal for the pushback you will actually get - so the no holds, and you don't apologise it away.
Written for: People who can already say no but cannot survive the guilt afterwards - trained to be endlessly available by family, bosses and one-sided friends
- 5 parts
- 19 scripted scenarios
- an if-they-push rebuttal for each
- the three core techniques (broken record, delay, warm no)
- F.O.G. guilt-trip decoder
- pocket cheat sheet p23-24
- graded source list p26-27
$14 · 27 pages · 6 citations · Ebook (tear-out cheat sheet) · on the Hard Conversations & Boundaries shelf
Inside the book — 2 pages. Tap one to read it.
The Boundary Script Book
What to Say in 50 Difficult Situations
You know what you want to say. You freeze anyway. Fifty word-for-word scripts for fifty real situations - each with the psychology of why that particular one hooks you, in a warmer version, a firmer version, and one for when they push back.
Written for: Chronic people-pleasers who already know what they want to say and freeze in the moment - at work, with family, in dating and with friends
- 40+ scripted situations across work, family and dating, each with THE PSYCHOLOGY, SAY THIS and gentle/firm/final tiers
- broken-record and de-escalation sections
- graded source list p67-69
$24 · 69 pages · 7 citations · Ebook (script field guide, no worksheets) · on the Hard Conversations & Boundaries shelf
Inside the book — 6 pages. Tap one to read it.
Setting Boundaries with In-Laws
The Parenting Edition
Food, screens, discipline, safety, photos - the same low-grade friction every week, with people you don't want to lose. A boundary is what you will do, not what they must do. Twelve flashpoint scripts in three escalating tiers, plus the united-front rule: whoever's parent it is does the talking.
Written for: Parents in low-grade ongoing conflict with grandparents over food, screens, discipline, safety and photos, where the relationship is worth keeping
- 6 parts
- three hidden drivers of conflict
- request vs rule vs boundary table
- P.A.U.S.E. method
- 12 scripts each with instead-of-saying, gentle / firm / final line, why it works and a push-back reply
- broken-record and de-escalation section
- 3 worksheets p27-29
- quick-reference card p30
- graded source list p31-32
$14 · 32 pages · 6 citations · Ebook (print-and-write worksheets + quick-reference card) · on the Hard Conversations & Boundaries shelf
Inside the book — 3 pages. Tap one to read it.