There’s nothing Hollywood about my story. I’ve popped in and out of LA for work, but I always feel like Elly May Clampett in an Elle Macpherson world. I am a small town Texas woman with enough stories to fill a book. I had the conviction that if I do, it will embolden other women — mothers, especially — to go at hard things with gumption. The Hollywood part of the story is you. Your well-being will be bolstered by my words. As Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan say on American Idol, “you’re going to Hollywood!” I’m not talking about the literal city (unless you want to). I’m talking about the wellness transformation prepared for you– in a journey of 124 pages.
The book conception and direction took a start like a pinball in an arcade machine. That’s the way my brain operates, too, so it was fitting but dizzying, nonetheless. I quit a full-time job during the pandemic. Join the club, right? I believe we can coin Summer 2020 “Mommy Brexit.” My overarching initiative in life is twofold: to nurture my children and to help people. Quitting my job ticked one box, but the other one could not sit unfulfilled. I began writing this book out of necessity to serve my calling of helping people.
The book, in ideation, was to move mothers to well-being. We were in the throes of a global pandemic and mothers were getting plummeted with the responsibilities of homeschool teaching, cooking meals with whatever scraps we could find on picked-over supermarket shelves, potty training our kids with Brawny paper towels because there was no toilet paper, supporting our husbands, internalizing the social-emotional friction with friends and relatives on to mask/not to mask; to get together or shelter in place; to vaccinate/not to vaccinate; the elephant in the room: President 45.
Mothers were grappling. I thought that my musings would “help other mothers lift the motherload.”
I titled the book “Sweat Like a Mother.” You’ll notice when you read the book that Chapter One and Chapter Ten are “puttin’ it all out there” mom-stuff. There are some issues that women have to live with after pushing humans out of their nether-regions. For as long as homo sapiens have existed, these “issues” have been hush-hush. Some 300,000 years later, this mother decided to run her mouth // write it in a book.
But I came to realize, as my life spilled out on the computer screen, that most of my stories don’t just touch mothers. They speak to women. I’m not only a mother. I’m a woman, a champion of women, a believer that women support women, a woman who has survived some stuff, and a human being who has been unwell but is well now and will stop at nothing to reach out her hand and gently guide others to well-being. I changed the title to “Sweat with Brook Benten.” It’s my life’s stories, in puns and pieces.
I couldn’t resist the desire to tie in the thing that I am most known for, and that is workout videos. I enjoy choreographing workouts that are fun and engaging for the home exerciser. I executed unprecedented strategy for a nonfiction book and hired a film production crew to videotape a workout for each chapter (warm-up, running, cycling, strength, dance, kickboxing, Step, HIIT, kettlebell, barre, yoga-Pilates, and foam rolling/massage ball recovery). I then employed an out-of-this-world graphic designer to fully illustrate the hardcover book and insert the videos via QR code.
Finally, after three years of writing, editing, adjusting, deleting, second-guessing, redirecting, and writing some more, on January 22, 2024, the book was published.
I have never been more proud of my work. Getting sober, I’m more proud of that. Marrying Daniel, I’m more proud of that. The world, my kids, I’m more proud of that. But as for professional work, nothing comes close to matching the pride I have in this book.
I hope you’ll read it. I hope you’ll do the workouts! I hope you’ll laugh. If you’re a mother, I hope it lifts the motherload. If you’re a woman, may my muscles be your prop and my stories be your support. More eyes will see the book if you review, so I hope you’ll review in order to extend a hand, hope, and maybe a lifeline to other women. Your review is not for my bravado. I did not do this for ego or sales. Full disclosure, it cost $10,000 to produce this book. It will sell for $29.99 on Amazon. From that, I’ll get $4.28 per sale. I cannot fathom selling enough books to pay off the investment. But the point is to impact women: to move you to well-being. If this book does that, and if that creates a ripple effect, not only will the book have done what it was created to do, but my reason- what I believe to be the reason I am taking up space, oxygen, resources on this planet- will be fulfilled.
“Sweat with Brook Benten” is available in hardcover (that’s the beautifully illustrated version!), ebook (so cheap- $1.99), and audiobook (narrated by me and comes right to your phone for immediate MP3 download). Access any of these book versions at brookbenten.com/shop. The hardcover and ebook redirect you to the book giant– Amazon.
Getting the word out is not my forte. I wish I could just write this blog post and every woman would take her golden ticket and go to Hollywood. But exposure is going to mean playing the long game of newsletters, blogs, podcast episodes, social media, and speaking engagements. The thought of all that makes me want to walk away from this computer right now and take the dog on a walk. It’s overwhelming. (When I’m overwhelmed, my go-to is drop everything and walk Ernie). But it’s not insurmountable. When I started the “More than Sweat” podcast, I had four listeners. Now, I have over a hundred. And hope to add one more if you don’t already tune in. {A new episode hits Apple Podcasts every Friday.} The sweat pod episodes are for your benefit, not mine. But isn’t it always reciprocal? I love human connection. We’re wired for connectivity. It gives me warmth knowing that you and I are connecting right now, even though it’s just me behind an old 2009 computer with letters worn off the buttons from my OCD key-pressing. I’m glad you’re here.
The newsletter. Ay! Right now, my newsletter subscribers are: three different emails of my own, my web developer, and Jessica Nelson. (Thanks, Jessica.) So, we’ll call that five subscribers. If you scroll to the bottom of the homepage at brookbenten.com, you will see fields to subscribe to the newsletter. Please do. I won’t e-blast you with “buy now and we’ll throw in this Chia pet” gimmicks. These will be emails that rival Laura Belgray of Talking Shrimp. (I said that they’ll rival hers, not that they’ll be just like hers. If not for plagiarism, I’d rip her off in a New York minute.) The newsletter will entertain you, make you laugh, and move the needle to the right on your well-being meter.
Thanks for taking the time to read about the heart work of “Sweat with Brook Benten.” If you thought you were in for “hot goss” by the title of this blog, sorry. It’s marketing. But it got you to the bottom of a pretty long post! May your mind feel clean, gossip-free, and well. There’s a constant theme here. I’ve held your hand this far and promise to hold on like a vice grip. Give me the pleasure of lifting you up where you belong. Hollywood.