Scottsdale Mom Pens Affirmation Book For Children

SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Most of us could use a little bit of self-affirmation right now, given the state of the world around us.

That's why Scottsdale marketing professional Erin Stremcha set out to pen a children's affirmation book over the past year.

It's a labor of love that resulted in Stremcha's writing debut, titled "Power Up," an affirmation book featuring 29 pep talks designed to encourage children of all ages.

The Scottsdale resident's debut book hits stores and Amazon on April 29, with Stremcha donating a copy of her book for every one that's purchased to local charities supporting foster care and abused children.

Patch chatted with Stremcha ahead of her book release to discuss her work and what her hope is for the release date.

Below is a transcript, edited for brevity and clarity, of that conversation:

Q: I know you have a children's book coming out on April 29. How did that come about? And what led you to write a children's book?

A: I wrote a much shorter version for my son, when he turned 10. So he is 11, going on 12 in October. And during COVID, we were home a lot, right. So, when he would get disciplined or get in trouble, I saw him really starting to use [my book] as a tool to kind of self-soothe and make himself feel better.

I would often find the book on the floor, while he was pouting in his room, and I started to really notice him using it, and I kind of light bulb in my head went off. I asked him, 'what are you doing with that book? Why do you use that after you get in trouble, or you're upset?'

And he said, Well, 'Mom, it just makes me feel better.' And then it just kind of started meandering in my mind. And I couldn't get it out of my head. And if he uses it, maybe there's other kids that would benefit from it too.

And that's really kind of what just started the thought process behind making it happen. You know, and my son would have friends over, he would show his friends. And I started to ask them, 'Hey, what did you think about it? Did you do like this book? Would you like a book like that? would you use it?'

And the feedback was, 'yeah, I really do.'

And when I'd ask them why, they'd say, 'it makes me feel good.' And that's the same feedback my son gave me. So I thought, 'Well, my test market is, is in,' off of a few handful of kids and off I went.

So that's really what started it, to be quite honest. And then I started to think about and researching. I wanted to get involved and give back. I think COVID was a reset for a lot of people. And personally, for me, I spent a lot of time in my early years, you know, dancing in a Christian ballet company, and giving back to the community. And I felt like, for my family and my kids that had kind of gone astray a bit. And I wanted to get back involved anyways, and this was my opportunity to do it.

So I decided to write a children's book, and put it in the place that I could best find for the kids that might need it the most. And to me, that's foster children, and abused children in the state of Arizona.

Q: The name of your book that's coming out on April 29 is "Power Up", can you take me through how you chose that title? And kind of the themes of the book?

A: That title came about because I look at that in two different ways: a pep talk is almost like a power up. I just started writing down things that, when you start to write titles for a book, this is my first time writing a book, I'm a first time self published author. You just start writing down things that make sense to you.

And that when I wrote that down, it resonated. Like, how do you feel when you get a pep talk? You know, you feel powered up, you feel jazzed? You feel excited?

And that's what resonated the most with me because maybe for Christian families, it might mean power up to God, right? For people that are that's a power up a juice given to Christian families to above.

and for people that aren't as religious, it's just the power up. This is your pep talk, you power it up, you're jazzed up, you're confident and you're feeling good. That's it had a twofold meaning behind it for me. So that's what I went with.

Q: I know that a big part of this is your 'buy a book, donate a book' program. Take me through the program, and what you hope to achieve with it?

A: So that program basically is that on Amazon, we can get author copies. So my goal is to take the retail value of whoever buys a book online. And then turn around and buy author printed copies of it and giving those to organizations here in Arizona, to get that book into people's hands.

That really is the goal, is to get the book into children's hands that need that message the most. I know that there's suitcase programs and things like that.

But these organizations here in Arizona are the mechanism to getting that message to these kids that don't maybe necessarily have that kind of messaging at home all the time.

They don't have that mom and dad constantly in their ear, telling him these things, or maybe they've experienced something that you couldn't even imagine. So, just hearing and reading that message is really my goal in this. I want that book in their hands.

If I can just get it into one child's hands and make a difference. You know, that's really the goal of it.

Q: What have you kind of learned about yourself and learned about yourself in writing this book?

A: In this process of writing this, my husband is an accountant. And I did not tell him for the longest time I was doing this. I started just working on it. And my husband's like, 'You're doing what?' and I'm like, 'Yeah, it's too late, we're going, it's full throttle, my friend.'

I had some downtime during COVID, obviously, we're all at home and my business that I do during my day, slowed down, and it really gave me the opportunity to focus on it, and spend time doing something to give back my kids.

They're so excited, my husband's pretty excited too. And this is a great way from a family perspective, for us to get more involved to once COVID lets up. I'd love to get to these organizations, and attend their events and see these kids and be more hands-on.

This, for me, the very first step, and to be honest with you, my goal is not to stop at Arizona, I want this everywhere. I want this in his hands and all over the United States.

And this is the way to do it. This does not just affect Arizona. The book's for sale on Amazon, or it will be. So this is going to affect kids everywhere that get this book, and parents buy it for them. And that's my hope. And that's my goal.

Q: How would you describe your goals with the book going forward and what do you hope to accomplish?

A: I think every author wishes to hit bestseller. Right? I hope I've done the right things to do that. And you ask 'well, why?' Just because it's more exposure, and the more exposure I get, the more books I can buy, and I can give to kids.

That's really the goal. I hope that I can reach all 19,000 kids in Arizona, that might be a lofty goal, but it is my goal.

And that would be my goal, to have 19,000 books purchased and given to every kid. I know it's a lofty one, but I believe I will get there.

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