A Stop on the Life is Tough Virtual Tour

This is the second stop on the virtual book tour for Stacy Gooch-Anderson’s new book, Life is Tough, I Doubt I’ll Make it Out Alive. Each of these stops has a Life Saver that Stacy will expand on at her blog, Stayin’ Alive With Stacy. Here’s the one for this stop:



“Space can be a dangerous place, especially if it’s between your ears!”



Stacy Gooch-Anderson is a woman after my own heart. To look at her, especially as she appears on TV as she does her book tours, you think she’s this polished, one-hundred-percent successful, got-it-together, power woman who has it all and can do it all.


But in her latest book, Life is Tough, she bravely reveals she’s just like you and me. Maybe I shouldn’t lump you in there, but I certainly identify with the stories Stacy tells in this humorous look back on her life.



Stacy’s growing-up family was different from mine. She had four rowdy brothers that got a kick out of flatulence and phlegm. I get the idea from the stories she tells that there was lots of activity in the household. Our family was quieter; we usually all sat around with our noses in books. However, the inner, awkward, often disastrous search for confidence that Stacy portrays is spot-on. That’s my story, too. I can identify. It seems to me that Stacy’s laughing about it and letting the world laugh with her shows that she’s achieved that confidence.



One of my favorite stories is about Stacy’s first experience on skis. It’s a very small story, but really spoke to me, because I was a very timid skier, and my brother did downhill racing. I laughed out loud as she described the aftermath of falling off the ski lift:

…I lost my balance and ended up sitting on my skis because weak knees and cement-like boots didn’t allow me the luxury of standing up like a human being. I must admit, however, that I did learn a few lessons in physics and aerodynamics that day. The reduced wind resistance allowed me to barrel down the slope like a flashy blue bowling ball, indiscriminately striking ski patrons and leaving a wake of destruction and flailing bodies.


When I asked Stacy if she really fell off the ski lift, she said,

“Unfortunately that is true. I am a self avowed clod and I did barrel down the hill bowling people over. God saved the masses and gave me bad knees which required surgery at age 17 and a half. Those who knew me best hid my skis for the duration of that winter. I still haven't found them....;-)”

Stacy’s stories about parenting are funny and poignant and strike familiar chords as well. The one about wanting to strangle a certain challenging child every day until the day he accidently strangled himself was choice, because after she gave the child CPR and called her husband about the incident, she discovered they had a pool at the office about that child’s next emergency incident and whether CPR would be necessary. A fellow by the name of Josh won the pool.

Stacy begins each chapter with a pithy saying, and the book is worth the price just for those chapter headings. My favorite is: “She who never gives up still has hope, and maybe someday that hope can reap miracles. This is true of any heavy burden, whether upon one’s inner soul or upon one’s inner thigh.” Do you see why I identify with her?

The picture on the front of the book says it all: pictures of toast in various stages of brownness. We all know which one we are. We’re with Stacy: the burnt one on the end.

You can buy Stacy’s book at Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble, Deseret Book and Seagull books.


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