Sara Evans Says Working on Upcoming Memoir Was 'a Long Journey' (Exclusive)

Sara Evans is releasing her first memoir, Born to Fly, in September, a project she worked on for four years to get just right. "That's been a long journey," she told PopCulture.com. "It started out being more of a funny, how-to book where I'm just giving a lot of advice, like parenting advice, and how to raise kids while you're on the road, or being a working mom, but in a weird working atmosphere. Just all of the stuff that I knew."

She explained that her publisher recommended a memoir, but she wasn't sure about the idea at first. "I was like, 'No, I'm too young to write a memoir, and I'm not ready to tell everything yet,' but the more I wrote, the more I realized, in order to write anything, I've got to tell some stories about who I am and why I am the way I am and the person that I am today," Evans recalled. "It turned out to be really cool. It was really interesting."

Along with sharing her story with fans, working on the book also allowed Evans to look back on her life in a new way. "I think if anybody sat down to tell their life story up until now, and me being in my forties, it's just a lot of reflection, a lot of reflection that I had to do, but I enjoyed it," she said. "It was sort of therapeutic."

The memoir will cover Evans' life from childhood throughout her career and includes several stories that are sure to surprise fans — they even surprised her daughter. "My daughter is reading it right now, and she's just shocked every day," the singer shared. "She's like, 'Oh my God, Mom. I had no idea that this, this, this, and this.' I was like, 'Really? I've never told you that?' She's like, 'No, you've never told me that," so many things. That's been really fun."

Evans is fifth most-played female artist at country radio in nearly the last two decades with five No. 1 singles, which means she has plenty to talk about when it comes to her career. The 49-year-old shared that her book will focus on all aspects of the music industry, including just how much work it takes to make it.

"A big part where I talk about the negative aspects of the career, which is something that I've never talked about before," Evans revealed. "That'll be, hopefully, riveting for people to read, and just get an inside look on what it's like to be a recording artist professionally, and how it's not at all probably what people would imagine it is. It's not just this glamour, all that. It's really, really hard, and pride swallowing a lot of the time, especially when it comes to trying to get your stuff played at radio."

"I can't wait," she added of the book's release. "I really cannot wait for people to read it and go like, 'Good Lord. You had a very, very dramatic life,' and I have." Born to Fly will be available for purchase on Sept. 8, 2020 and is currently available for pre-order.