Chehalis author Karen Frazier is featured in a new edition of the self-help series Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Anyone who has spent more than five minutes inside a bookstore during the past 20 years has likely come across one of more than 200 editions of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Each are stocked with 101 stories submitted by ordinary people that carry inspirational messages about the highs and lows of daily life.
Chehalis author Karen Frazier has been featured in two of the paperbacks that often reach best-seller status and have spawned a social phenomenon. The latest volume, titled “Think, Act & Be Happy” contains the same essay Frazier submitted for publication in a 2014 edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Her story “Affirmations Changed My Life” chronicles a difficult period in her life during which she began a nightly practice of writing down 10 positive aspects of life she hoped to attain, many of which later came to pass.
“It was really life-changing for me,” Frazier said. “I was in a really bad place when I started doing all of that. To look back and see … it helped me to see that things I’d thought about and done organically in my life actually worked.”
The newest version of Chicken Soup for the Soul, published on Sept. 25, was co-written by Amy Newmark, Author, Editor in Chief and Publisher of the series, and Dr. Mike Dow, a psychotherapist, bestselling author and mainstay on the daytime talk show circuit.
Newmark and Dow organized the book into 23 chapters that showcase different ways in which people unknowingly used cognitive behavioral therapy — a goal-oriented form of psychotherapy that is meant to change a person’s behaviors and patterns of thinking that negatively affect the way they think, act and feel.
Thus the tagline for the book: How to use Chicken Soup for the Soul stories to train your brain to be your own therapist.
“We thought (Frazier’s) story was a great example of how you can train your brain to think more positively and have a better life as a result,” Newmark said. “We thought her story was a great example for our readers about how they could use their brains to do a form of therapy that is very practical and efficient. It’s not where you go talk about your mother for a year, it’s giving patients new strategies that work.”
Being included in a publication well known across the nation and beyond hasn’t brought seismic change to Frazier’s own life.
Writers accepted for an edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul receive $200 and 10 free copies of the book when it’s published. They also get to be hands-on in the editing process and final approval of any changes made to their submissions.
What has changed is the number of people who reach out to her about her work. Frazier estimates she receives messages from 1-2 people a day through social media or via email. Most write to say they connected with her writing in some way and often, Frazier responds to thank them and continue the conversation.
“I think it takes a lot for someone to reach out to someone they read and I really appreciate that they take time out of their day to write to me,” Frazier said. “I share a lot of personal information in my writing. Originally, it was really weird, because it feels like you’re baring your soul to the world, and that’s strange. I think if it helps people, it’s good to put it out there.”
