The Mom’s Choice Awards® team is just getting back from Book Expo America in New York City, but we have Scott Jacobs here in the Spotlight to share his book about his life in Chicago, Never Leave Your Block. A long-time resident of Chicago, Never Leave Your Block gathers up Scott’s observations of his local position into an warmly humorous collection of stories. Scott has worked as a filmmaker, political consultant, reporter, and community activist – this guy clearly has some interesting things to tell.

Please welcome Scott to the Spotlight!

Chicago Life told in Stories

MCA: Welcome to the Spotlight, Scott! Can you tell us more about where your material for Never Leave Your Block came from?
Scott: This is a collection of stories I’ve written over the last ten years about life in an inner city Chicago community. It’s a gentrifying neighborhood called Bucktown. What I was trying to do was apply my skills as a reporter to “covering” my neighborhood: If something happened down the block – like the discovery of a water stain that looked like the Virgin Mary under a viaduct – I wrote about it. I would investigate it and try to put it into context, and then turn it into a larger story about how susceptible the news media is to sensationalism on a slow news day.

A lot of these stories are about my own experience trying to raise a five-year-old in the neighborhood. I went to the Moms & Tots class one day (as a 58-year-old dad) and found all the mom’s talking about birthing rooms at a local hospital where I’d just gone to visit an old friend dying of cancer. Life is like that: full of surprises.

MCA: Indeed it is! It sounds like you had plenty to work with for the creative side of your book – did you have any challenges with the more ‘technical’ side?
Scott: The biggest challenge with any book of personal essays is getting published. People want to know what platform you have – life experience isn’t enough. Fortunately, I’ve been through the self-publishing route before, so I was wise enough to choose Wicker Park Press as a distributor, which has opened the door to bookstore distribution. You don’t have to go to my website to get this book! You can order through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, your local bookstore, or just go to the library. It’s available as a paperback and an ebook. Learning how to get my books out into the world was an education in and of itself.

MCA: We here at Mom’s Choice Awards® aim to help self-published authors as best we can! Now, what sort of responses have you received from people who have read Never Leave Your Block?
Scott: I’m bowled over by how many people have told me what a good writer I am. A good storyteller, I’d accept. But a good writer? I reserve that designation for Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, and Mailer. But I always nod and say, “Thank you.”

MCA: Haha! Would you consider Never Leave Your Block to have any sort of impact on families?
Scott: Look, all I can do is write what I know. If it helps others feel more confident about their own parenting skills, that’s a good thing.

MCA: If writing this book has changed your life in any way, please share with our readers.
Scott: My life is pretty much the same old thing it used to be.

MCA: Looking ahead six months to a year, what’s next for you? Maybe writing about a place other than Chicago?
Scott: I’m working on another book of essays about growing up in Wisconsin. It’s a humorous account of my childhood called Famous Ski Hills in Wisconsin (And Other Delusions of Grandeur). I think it’s funny – I hope somebody else does too!

Mom’s Choice Awards® Honors

Never Leave Your Block
by Scott Jacobs
Adult Non-Fiction
Silver

Contact, Connect, and Network with Scott

The Alumni Spotlight is a periodic feature on the official Mom’s Choice Awards® blog. It is part of our ongoing effort to “shine the spotlight” on you and your award-winning, family-friendly products, services, and media.