My Big Announcement - Oh Boy!

For those of you following my blog, you know from my Year of Amazing post that I set several goals for myself last year (if you missed it, check it out here). All were important to me, but the most challenging goal I set was to “pitch a Life of Dad book to agents and put myself out there.” It’s something I always claimed I would do, but made excuses as to why I couldn’t. Top excuses included “I’m too tired from taking care of the kids” to “There’s yard work to be done” to “Who’s Harry Crumb? is on TV? My wife would be crushed if I didn’t watch it—after all, she’s a big fan of viewing movies with me while I simultaneously recite each line of hilarious dialogue. (I think this may be a huge turn on for her.)”

After facing a challenging year of losing my Dad and losing my sister-in-law, I decided my excuses had to go. I ignored yard work (which my wife loved) and packed my Who’s Harry Crumb DVD away (which she actually loved). I stayed up late at night. I wrote. I worked. I (occasionally) slept. I put my heart and soul into developing an idea, which developed into a pitch, which developed into a full-out proposal, which developed into landing a literary agent, which developed into getting offered a book deal, which developed into writing a full-out manuscript—and working through the entire creative publishing process—which developed into this moment.

I am so humbled and excited to officially announce that in April 2013 one of my biggest dreams will come true, as Adams Media releases my first book OH BOY, YOU'RE HAVING A GIRL: A DAD'S SURVIVAL GUIDE TO RAISING DAUGHTERS.

The book has already received praise from my all-time writing idol, Dave Barry ("As the father of a daughter, I wish I'd read this very funny book sooner, if only to know that it's OK for a grown man to wear a tutu.")—which I still can’t believe—as well as several other humor writers whom I deeply admire. The shock of this all coming together and the sense of accomplishment still hasn’t worn off—and may never wear off. Hell, I’ll consider myself lucky if it doesn’t.

So if you’ve ever enjoyed this blog or have a daughter or are having a daughter or know someone who is having a daughter or are married to a guy who can’t believe he has a daughter or just want a reason to smile, I ask that you consider purchasing this book (you can preorder it now through Amazon or Barnes & Noble, which is my favorite store of all time!). It's written for both Dads and Moms to enjoy. You'll notice there's a new "PREORDER BRIAN'S BOOK" tab at the top of the blog. I’ll be spending a lot of time over the next year marketing the hell out of the book (I apologize up front for that), but I just want the thing to sell well enough so they continue to let me write more books.

Finally, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to every one of you who has ever laid eyeballs on this blog and supported my writing. If it weren’t for you guys, I wouldn’t have had the faith and courage to put myself out there and reach for my dream. I am, and always will be, forever grateful to you for that.

I’d like to leave you with this extremely profound quote from an incredibly wise gentleman, which sums up not only this past year, but the coming year as well:

“You know Nikki, you and I are a lot alike. We're both traveling through life... [He presses the brake pedal and nothing happens] ... IN A CAR WITH NO BRAKES!” —Harry Crumb

Happy New Year everyone.

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