Life Is Short: Book Blog
Wednesday, November 28, 2012 at 8:10AM I didn't have any intentions back in 2007 when I first published my thoughts online, no great plan, no goals, I just wanted someone to hear me and understand - I was lost, sucked into a vast confusion by Arden's diagnosis. I didn't know what I was doing with this blog until I received the first piece of email from a reader. It was from a mother who thanked me for sharing, then she offered me support. That email gave this site a purpose, it gave me a purpose. I wanted others to feel the relief that her kind connection gave to me.
I feel a very real responsibility when I share my type I diabetes experiences with you and I sincerely hope that feeling shines through when I do. I've never blogged about anything other then diabetes until now.
I'll be blogging periodically about what it was like to write my book. I hope that you'll find the story interesting and even motivating. It's a story of luck, hard work, a little right place/right time and a whole lot of "look what we can all do together". I'll be titling these posts Life Is Short: Then the blog title so that you can easily tell these posts from the ones about type I. I want you to have the clear choice to either read or skip them as you see fit. I thought very long and hard about whether I should speak about the book here and if I did, how much was too much. I desperately don't want it's existence to take from or sully what I've built. Does that make sense? This blog has always been and will forever remain one of my proudest accomplishments. The feeling that I get from sharing here with all of you far exceeds my wildest dreams and I wouldn't trade your respect for anything. I don't need or want anything more then for 'Arden's Day' to help in some small way. I'm quite sure that most if not all of you know that, but I wanted to say it up front. Okay...
None of that means that I am not excited about my book, I'm crazy excited! I've been writing since I was a child and having a book published is so much more then I hoped for. When I think about what being published means to me... much comes to mind. I'm giddy at the thought of a book spine with my name on it, I have to be honest. Most of all I'm pleased to have the opportunity to keep a promise that I made to my wife a very long time ago. Kelly always believed in my writing and it took me a long time to be passionate enough about a topic to warrant me putting my thoughts down. I never doubted that I could write but I didn't want to write just anything. Nothing in life is certain and this opportunity may only ever come once, I want what I say, what gets bound and bears my name to mean something. I feel things very deeply, watch life intently and I pride myself on seeing humor, love and meaning in places that can often go unnoticed. These things bring me a wonderful peace, one that I'd like very much if others could feel too. I believe that I finally had something to offer that is different and this book is my best and most sincere attempt to tell that story. If I never write another thing, I'll always be proud of the words, sentiments and message that I poured into my book.
'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-At-home Dad' is not unlike 'Arden's Day'. It's the stories that struck at me deepest, stayed with me over time and taught me that parenting is the most important thing that I will ever do. Some of the stories are funny, some earnest. I think that you'll laugh a bunch, cry a few times, get scared, angry, hopeful and if I did my job you'll put the book down seeing parenting through my eyes.
My next entry Life Is Short: Leighann Wrote a Book will include the story of how the opportunity to write came my way, the beginning of the writing process and a bit about how I freaked out and happy danced after I agreed to write the book. With a little luck I may have the final version of the cover to show you soon. I hope that this first entry demonstrated that I plan to be as transparent about the book process as I am about diabetes. I genuinely believe that the ride I'm taking right now belongs to all of us, there is no way that a publisher would ever know my name if it wasn't for the strength that the diabetes online community possess.
- Scott
Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal has it's own FaceBook page, you can visit it at this link or like it with the button below.
Scott Benner
Entry # 2 - Life Is Short: Leighann Wrote a Book
Reader Comments (2)
What a wonderful book.
My name is Rodrigo, I am formed professional Surfer for more then 20 years. I am from Brazil but "stuck" in Atlanta, Ga. I am also stay at home daddy for 5 years.I have 5 years old boy with T1D. I was also a graphic design before we adopted my son at birth. My partner and I discovered that our boy has Type 1 diabetes (T1D) a week after his 1st birthday and our life changed completely. I am very thankful we made the decision of stay at home daddy before the diabetes even arrived. Few months ago I was doing a research on 504 plan for my son's school who just started Kindergarten and one of the websites commented about your book. I connected immediately with your book tittle. Thank you for sharing part of your life. I felt really connected with you.
Rodrigo your note was the cherry on an already fantastic day for me. Thank you so much for taking the time to write and for reading Life Is Short. I can't express how wonderful it is to hear that my book made a connection with you. It sounds like we definitely have a lot in common.
Wishing you and your family the best,
Scott