Salem Resident Realizes Dream With First Published Book

It requires a specific level of commitment to not only write a book but have it it published and sold to readers.

For Rodney Lacroix, a father of two and a Salem resident since 1995, much of the material for his first novel was already in print. After all, he had been writing humor posts for a personal blog for five years.

That meant that 1,200 posts chasing the days of his childhood, the raising of his two children, going through a divorce and even a compelling set of diaries on his vasectomy were readily available.

But it took a push from a former reader – Ross Cavins – who had published a book of his own and was writing a second book.

"He said I'll help you do it," Lacroix said of Cavins.

That offer came in July 2012. By December 2012, after Lacroix painstakingly organized the novel, the book was ready.

The title: "Things Go Wrong For Me," sets the tone for the often crass, often hysterical trip through some of Lacroix's wacky experiences.

One of the first stories of the silly read dumps readers into the days when Lacroix raced around on a bicycle, when he thought that the Ex-Lax chocolates in his parent's bathroom cabinet were a cure for his sweet tooth.

"The toughest part for me was that a lot of these stories were written within the first weeks of me starting my blog," Lacroix said. "My tone in those stories was so I hadn't found my style yet and I had to go back through and rewrite all of those stories."

Lacroix works as a computer engineer, and his blogging began after one of his co-workers said they were going to start one themselves.

"My goal was, I'm not a fan of my work, what I do for my job," he said. "I think most people want to do something else."

When Lacroix began writing, Cavins invited him to contribute to his new humor site Scrivel.com, which is no longer in production but saw a few different writers contributing.

"Now defunct but still up and running, the site featured writers who were sincere and earnest about their craft – and then Rodney joined," Cavins joked in the introduction to "Things Go Wrong For Me."

Lacroix's tomfoolery is also present in his pictures, scattered throughout his book.

"I'm a visual person, I draw a lot," Lacroix said. "(Cavins) came into the decision that we need to publish this book full color, and we need to include some of my pictures in it."

Comics, lists of items such as what to do at grandma's house, diagrams, bits of information called "brain nuggets," ridiculous photos – all are fair game in Lacroix's tale.

The book is not available in stores, but can be found online on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble and can be found in Kindle format.

He was also able to obtain endorsement quotes from several big names, such as Jenny Lawson, a New York Time bestselling author and world famous blogger, and television personality Jenny McCarthy.

Local names such as Boston radio personality Kevin Barbare are also on board.

Lacroix said that pretty much everyone quoted was drawn in through connections made from social media.

With big names starting to notice and a book under his belt, Lacroix is still taken aback by his accomplishment.

"It's so exciting, I could not tell you how excited I was to tell everybody that they can buy it," he said. "It's surreal.

Lacroix's blog, Mental Poo, can be found here.

To learn more about "Things Go Wrong For Me," visit here.