Enthusiasm Benefits Potty Training, Book Publishing

by John Ettorre

If this column is about anything, it’s about the notion that parents can find the answers they need, or at least most of them, by looking around and asking for help. Sometimes that means finding answers through reading, but more often it involves asking advice from other parents who have already grappled with these issues themselves.

And then there are rare people such as Teri Crane, who go to extreme lengths to get answers to their most vexing parenting challenges.

Teri is a young working mother who lives in Cleveland’s western suburbs. Earlier this summer, she published a fun and informative book, Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day—Proven Secrets of the Potty Pro. It’s quite an accomplishment, doubly so given how much of a publishing novice she had been before she started work on it. But then, Teri is one of those remarkable people who see opportunities where most others would perceive only insurmountable barriers.

I met her about a year and a half ago, after she called to say that she enjoyed this column and wondered if I ever took on any editing projects. We met on a blustery winter night to discuss her idea for a book.

Her situation was this: she had been through a difficult time potty training her son, Spencer, and had searched everywhere for answers on how best to induce kids past that crucial developmental hurdle. She explained that getting kids out of diapers was even more serious than it seemed, since in most cases, children cannot graduate to the next level of day care without being able to go to the bathroom by themselves. For children who lag behind at this task, it can be the first of many reminders in life that they’re being judged against their peers.

In the process of her personal search for answers out of this conundrum, she had become something of a self-taught expert in the subject. She had begun speaking about potty training to other parents, even branding herself as "the Potty Pro" and positioning her seminars as toilet training boot camps. And now she wanted to write a book. That is, she wanted to write the very book that she failed to find when she was dealing with the problem.

That was pretty ambitious, I thought. This was a person who as far as I knew had never published a word in a single article, though she did send clients occasional newsletters. And now she wanted to write an entire book on the subject? Ordinarily, one would counsel someone that just as no one is expected to take their initial driver’s training course at the Indy 500, nor should a novice writer begin with a book.

But then, this was no ordinary woman. She has the kind of uncommon drive and determination that’s catchy. As a bonus, she works for a company that sponsors some of the country’s leading inspirational speakers, with whom she routinely came into contact. Their relentless optimism seems to have rubbed off, though Teri also credits her parents "for encouraging me to never settle for less than my dreams."

I must admit that, probably like most dads, the subject of potty training had mostly escaped my attention. And it didn’t interest me much. But I was quite intrigued by Teri’s extreme enthusiasm, which was now rubbing off on me. I asked her to send me some of the material she had begun to write, and found it pretty good. The voice was clear and the material compelling. I helped her prepare an introduction and a couple of sample chapters, standard elements in a formal book proposal. Pained that I couldn’t do more on her meager budget, I wished her well and hoped she’d stay in touch. I even said a prayer or two for her.

She kept me informed of her progress. At her own expense, she attended a pricey book seminar, where the would-be authors competed over lunch to see who had the best brief pitch for their book idea. Teri won that contest, which landed her an agent. And the agent soon landed her a publisher. And she was off to the races.

Since her book was published in late May, Teri has had the time of her life, touring the country to promote it. She seems to have appeared at nearly every Babies R Us location in America, and has even been a guest on ABC’s Good Morning America program. At each stop, I’m quite certain that she’s winning converts to her cause not so much by her message, as compelling as it is, but through her unquenchable energy and enthusiasm. You can learn more about her and the book at her website, www.tericrane.com.

In her book, Teri invites parents "to listen to your own exquisitely sensitive parental intuition." That’s great advice. She also quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson’s famous maxim, "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." The grand old poet never knew Teri, but if he did, he might well have dedicated that line to her.

John Ettorre is a Cleveland-based writer and editor who has also worked in Washington, D.C. and Chicago. Over a 20-year career, his writing has appeared in more than 70 publications, including the New York Times. His online weblog, Working With Words, can be found at www.workingwithwords.blogspot.com. To reach John, send e-mail to: jettorre@voyager.net or leave a message at (440) 708-2994.