What My Book Says About You

Most readers are familiar with the idea that a book says a lot about the author. Unless you’re a reading machine who devours books the way some devour gummi bears and never bother to think about them as you go, I suspect at some point you’ve read a passage and wondered what the author had to go through to come up with that idea. At least, I hope you have. It’s OK to think about a book as more than a story.

I maintain the first book an author writes is a therapy book: meaning, intentionally or unintentionally, we write it as part of our own therapy. I may think this because I trained as a marriage and family therapist and tend to view the world through that lens (relax. It’s a strengths-based lens and I’m looking for what’s right with you, not what’s wrong).  I will concede – grudgingly – that the first book written may not be the first book published, but I suspect it is more often than not.

My Angel Has No Wings

The Whovian in me wouldn't let me pass this image up when looking for angels...

The last two posts on here have hit on the fact that we Cheesecake bloggers are doing this whole group blog thing as a way to reach our readers. There really is no skirting the issue–authors generally blog for one of two reasons:

1) They are famous, and as such, have hordes of fans who want to see inside their lives, and they oblige so those readers stay readers.

2) They are not famous, and as such, will share their lives whether you want them to or not in hopes that you’ll say, “Wow, I really like this chick/dude and want to read her/his book!”

Admittedly, I am the latter. Yep, I’m not ashamed. But I do want to clarify.

For My Little Beastie

My "Beastie" is actually the most beautiful Beauty in the world!!!!

This week has been hard for me. I had to take my daughter, whom I affectionately call Beastie 2 (my son is Beastie 1), to the orthopedist the other day. She was diagnosed with scoliosis nearly a year ago. She was only eight years old, now nine. If you are not familiar with scoliosis, it is a side to side curvature of the spine and it normally doesn’t show up until around ages ten to fourteen.

I know a lot about scoliosis because I have it, too. Mine was found when I was twelve, though, considerably older than Beastie 2. To stop the curve from progressing, I was put into a back brace. The other day, we found out Beastie 2 will be braced also. I was praying hers would not be progressive, of course. But I am thankful for two things: we caught it early, and the braces these days are nothing like what I had to wear! Mine was like a heavy plastic and metal cage. These days, they are a lightweight, plastic-foam thing, with no metal, that’s completely contoured. Think Suburban vs. SmartCar.

Anyway, the whole experience has had me feeling nostalgic, and more than a bit distracted, so trying to come up with a new post  for today just didn’t work. Instead, I’m sharing with you MY story that was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Just for Preteens.