There's an old adage that says laughter is the best medicine and that could be considered the best way to combat the COVID-19 blues.
A local blogger submitted a short story to a world-renowned publisher with great results.
Marty Anderson’s story, My Wife Tried to Kill Me, is about dealing with planks, an exercise that offers core strength improvement.
The story has been published in the first-ever humour-based book in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series called Laughter is the Best Medicine.
The book series has sold more than 500 million copies around the globe.
Anderson, who lives in the area and works at Vista Radio, has been writing for years, recounting his adventures of raising four daughters with his wife in his blog called theinvolvedhusband.com.
The recently-published fitness misadventure story talks about how his wife, Carla, went to an exercise boot camp and returned home wanting to share her new-found fitness knowledge.
"She came home telling me all these things and I would roll my eyes," Anderson said. "I honestly did not know what a plank was at the time."
When Carla explained what it was, Anderson was convinced it was easy peasy.
"I was incredulous," Anderson said. "You mean you get in a push-up position and then don't do any push-ups? I could do that all day! As it turned out, of course, those planks are not that easy. It almost killed me!"
Anderson stumbled on the call for submissions to the humour-based Chicken Soup for the Soul book when it was posted on social media last year.
"I submitted my story but of course they get tens of thousands of entries every time they put a call out," Anderson said. "It was a long time - about six months - when I got an email that it was down to the final selections and then about a week later I got an email to sign the release to give them permission to use it and here we are."
Anderson said he's really excited about contributing to the book.
He often writes for a snowmobiling magazine and published one himself for a short time years ago so he's no stranger to the literary world.
"So I've got some publishing experience but obviously not as big a readership as a Chicken Soup series," Anderson said.
There's more writing in his future with two book ideas on the back burner and more blogging stories to be told.
"The long-term goal is early retirement funded by writing," Anderson said.
Having received advanced copies of the Laughter is the Best Medicine, Chicken Soup for the Soul book, Anderson said the stories he's read so far are hilarious.
"Anybody that needs a break from this COVID-run world we're currently living in make sure you check it out because there's some funny stuff in there," Anderson said.
