Bronxville resident Pamela Hackett Hobson had been in banking her entire professional career, but that didn”™t stop her from following her passion for writing. And her passion has paid off. She is now part of a hundred million-edition bestselling juggernaut: the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.
Hobson, who credits the Ursuline nuns for her strong writing foundation, had written two novels and some magazine articles and was looking for other creative outlets for her writing when she began her Chicken Soup career.
“Chicken Soup for the Working Mom”™s Soul: Humor and Inspiration for Moms Who Juggle It All” is her latest effort. She has three stories in the multi-author volume.
“I was drawn to the “Chicken Soup” series for a number of reasons,” she said. “The books feature true, personal stories by ordinary people and have a strong emphasis on family. The stories featured have a goal to make the reader feel more hopeful, more connected, more thankful, more passionate and better about life in general.”
The “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books were first published in 1993 and have since sold more than 100 million copies. There are now 145 different “Chicken Soup” titles in 37 languages.
Hobson thought her first contribution, featured in the “Chicken Soup for the Mother and Son” book, would make a great legacy for her own sons, Thomas, 25, and Michael,19. Both sons were born at Lawrence Hospital and grew up in the leafy, square-mile village of Bronxville.
“Although I tell my sons just how much they mean to me, it’s wonderful to be able to share that feeling with the world,” she said.
Hobson was thrilled to learn three of her stories would be featured in the latest “Working Mom” book. In the first, “Mommy of the Board,” she recounts a presentation she made to the board of her company when her first son was still young.
She was proud this story was in the section titled “Good Moms Can Work and Still Have Kids.”
Her second story in the current volume, “Chat and Chew,” conveys some special moments shared by working moms and their children during a local book club meeting, illustrating the desire common to working mothers to find creative ways to share special times with their children.
In her third story, “Eight Days a Week,” Hobson reminisces about the jam-packed calendar she juggled as a mom of two active sons.
Jean Sgarlata, owner of Womrath Bookstore in Bronxville, has had Hobson in his Pondfield Road shop for book-signings for each of her non-“Chicken Soup” solo fiction efforts, “The Bronxville Book Club” and “Silent Auction.”
He said the store also sells books from the “Chicken Soup” series, including some in which Hobson has been published previously.
Hobson is very close to her two sisters, acknowledging a special life-long bond. In the “Chicken Soup for the Sister’s Soul 2,” she wrote “Road Trip Down Memory Lane,” the tale of the trip she and her sisters took when they went to visit their father in Florida.
In “Chicken Soup for the Beach Lover’s Soul,” she shares the story of the priceless Christmas gift her son gave her ”“ a weekend of uninterrupted family time in Cape May, N.J.
Hobson will also have a story titled “The Long Way Home” included in an upcoming book, “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Celebrating People Who Make a Difference.” This is a personal account of her experience on 9/11 as she tried to get home to her family the day of the World Trade Center tragedy.
“While I have always been interested in writing, I began to write in earnest after 9/11,” she said. “The writing process was very cathartic and helped focus my mind on something positive and creative.”
For more information on Hobson, visit www.pamelahobson.com or www.chickensoupforthesoul.com.
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