A Trip For Slowey
Some of the authors that write for my publisher, Spry Publishing are sharing stories of what writing means to them - it sounded like fun so I thought that I would join in.
I wrote my first book in grade school for something called the Young Authors Conference. That book took first place in my class - remember when everyone didn’t win - and I recall being ushered to the front of the classroom where my teacher spoke a few words about my accomplishment and then handed me what she considered to be my prize, a blue ribbon.
But that ribbon wasn’t the prize.
The next day our school librarian collected all of the winning titles from throughout the building and put them on her book trolley. The trolley would visit each class and students were given a chance to read the winning books in their classrooms. This was my prize!
I loved to imagine that someone was curled up with my book, ‘A Trip for Slowey’. You see Slowly was a turtle from a small pond who dreamt of something better, but when he took off to find excitement and adventure… all he found was the striking lesson that there was no place like home. I wrote that when I was six years old, I had to dig it out of a closet just now to remember what it was about because my only memory of that book was the joy that I felt when I imagined it being read.
Many years later I began to write about my life as the father of a child who lives with type 1 diabetes. If I had to act as my own psychiatrist for a moment, I’d say that I probably began to write online about type 1 as an outlet for my emotional pain. Soon after the blog went live, I heard back from one of my first readers and their message was one that informs what I do to this day. My sharing was helping her. I wrote something that she identified with. The knowledge that she wasn’t as alone in the world as she felt, was physically and emotionally freeing. I finally found the joy from my childhood as an adult, and it’s a joy that only comes from sharing my thoughts in an intimate way with others. Writing allows that intimacy unlike any other form of communication. Written words follow an unspoken path that begins in the writer’s heart, and with some luck, ends in the reader’s.
Though I don’t want to give short-shrift to ‘A Trip for Slowey’ and other elementary school award winners like, ‘Star Wanted to be a Star and ‘Grammy and the Green Ford’, eventually the blog led to my first book.
As a child, my only goal for writing was to get my book on that trolley. Today, I just hope that something that’s floating around in my head can create a moment of sameness with another person. I’ve seen now first-hand what that connection looks like, I no longer need to imagine someone reading my words. There is no purer feeling then the return I experience when exposing my thoughts in writing, leads to a stranger find themselves in those words.
That energy takes away my fear and fills the void with a satisfaction and warmth that it impossible to replicate. It recharges me so that I can do it again. Writing is my own personal self-sustain engine that powers me so I that can try to empower you.
Spry Publishing is leading the way in diabetes resources: check out Spry’s diabetes titles at www.sprypub.com/diabetes/ . Hurry! If you order in November you’ll receive 50% off your book by using the code “Diabetes50”.
Opening Day: The Language of Baseball
Image property of Major League Baseball
Today, in celebration of the 2014 Major League Baseball season, a chapter from my book is available as an excerpt on both Huffington Post Parents and Huffington Post Sports. Baseball, Part II, is the story of how my son and I often communicate about life in baseball terms and how the game lends lessons that go far beyond the field.
The chapter captures a moment from my son Cole's 2012 Little League all-star tryout and ends with a conversation that we had about setting goals, perseverance and the love that we share for each other and baseball.
I hope you have a few moments to check it out and click share over at Huff Post.
2013 Fall Championship game
Winner of the Gold 2013 Mom's Choice Award
I can't tell if I'm more excited to share my book on a big stage or to see a picture of Cole playing baseball on the front page of HuffSports, on Opening Day.
Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal is available at Amazon.com and everywhere that books and eBooks are sold.
Only One Thing Better Than a Great Book...
There's only One Thing Better Than a Great Book... A great book that's on sale!
Spry Publishing (My publisher) is offering their catalog of diabetes books, from DOC members that you know and love, at 50% off this week in honor of Diabetes Awareness Month. I know what you're thinking, "50%... that's almost half!".
Books by Moira McCarthy from Despite Diabetes - Leighann Calentine from D-Mom Blog - Gary Scheiner, yes, that Gary Scheiner - Susan Weiner, whose diabetes organizer just landed on shelves and me.
So from now until November 15, these books are available at a tidy discount when you buy them directly from Spry's website, www.sprypubdiabetes.com and use coupon code: Diabetes50
Raising Teens with Diabetes: A Survival Guide for Parents - Moira McCarthy
Kids First, Diabetes Second - Leighann Calentine
Until There Is A Cure - Gary Scheiner
The Complete Diabetes Organizer - Susan Weiner
Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Dad - Scott Benner
Link to my review of Moira's McCarthy's, Raising Teens with Diabetes.
and
My review of Kids First, Diabetes Second from Leighann Calentine -
I wish that Kids First, Diabetes Second was in print when my daughter Arden was diagnosed with type I diabetes. I spent years figuring out the things that Leighann’s book could have taught me in a weekend. It’s a roadmap for newly diagnosed families and a reference for those that have been living with diabetes for years. If you are the parent of a child with type I, this is the book for you.
— Scott Benner
Book Review: Raising Teens with Diabetes
AmazonI found my diabetes crystal ball and it’s Moira McCarthy’s new book, ‘Raising Teens with Diabetes: A Survival Guide for Parents’. My daughter (diagnosed with type I diabetes at age two) is only nine years old, but the topics Moira covers are the exact ones that keep me up at night as I try to imagine what my daughter’s teen years will bring.‘Raising Teens with Diabetes’ is written in the voice of a mother but with the skill of a seasoned writer and each page makes you want to read the next. I genuinely can’t remember the last book that taught me so much without preaching or making me feel like I was in school. The thought of my daughter’s teenage years still give me pause but now with Moria’s help, I know what will be coming our way and I have a much needed head start on understanding how my family can handle those issues.I really appreciated how the book was structured. It contains personal stories that are told with heart, reflections from Moria’s now adult daughter and easy to follow, common sense approaches to life with type I diabetes that reveal a lifetime of amassed wisdom. I am a thirteen year stay-at-home dad, a seven year caregiver to a daughter with diabetes and I’m putting Moira’s book on my shelf so I can reference it for the next decade.
Goodreads Book GiveAway
My publisher (Thank you Spry Publishing!) is giving away autographed copies of 'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal' to ten lucky Goodreads members... Looking forward to signing your book... Good luck!
-Scott
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal
by Scott Benner
Giveaway ends June 07, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Giveaway ended June 7, 2013. We may do another in December... Stay tuned. In the meantime Life Is Short is available everywhere books are sold and on all ebook readers.