Episode 150: The Lucky Husky

Bethany O’Brien is the author of a new UConn children’s book and is a proud UConn graduate. She met her husband in the first month of college in the West Campus residence halls and lives with her family in nearby Tolland, as they share their love of UConn with their two children. Bethany has integrated her passion for UConn by writing a children’s book that celebrates UConn’s success in men’s and women’s basketball – “The Lucky Husky”. The book has just been published, and a share of the proceeds will benefit the care and upkeep of our beloved mascot Jonathan! She joins us on the UConn 360 podcast to talk about her background and how she decided to write this book. The book is available on Amazon and information on appearances and book signings can be found on Instagram.

Listen to Episode 150 on Podbeam

Mike: Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the UConn 360 Podcast. It’s Mike Enright from University Communications, along with Izzy Harris from University Communications. Good morning, Izzy.

Izzy: Hello.

Mike: How are you today?

Izzy: I’m good. I’m good.

Mike: Are you Halloween ready?

Izzy: I think so. I haven’t picked out a costume yet, though. I see a trip to Goodwill in my future with some Halloween thrifting.

Mike: Oh, there you go.

Izzy: I know. That’s the way to do it.

Mike: You know what I’m going to dress up as for Halloween?

Izzy: No idea.

Mike: A host of a podcast.

Izzy: Wow. Original.

Mike: Original stuff. We have an author here today.

Izzy: I know, that’s what I’m hearing.

Mike: We’re very excited to have Bethany O’Brien, who’s the author of a new children’s book called The Lucky Husky. Bethany is a proud UConn graduate, and she met her husband in the first month of college in the West Campus residence halls — where I also lived as a college student, well before Bethany did.

Izzy: Oh, my goodness. Small world.

Mike: So, she lives with her family in Connecticut now. She has two children, and they all share their love of UConn together. She’s taken this passion for UConn and written a children’s book that celebrates our success in men’s and women’s basketball called The Lucky Husky. The book’s just been published, and a neat thing is that the proceeds from the book will benefit the care and upkeep of our beloved mascot, Jonathan.

Izzy: How sweet is that?

Mike: So, you’re getting a great children’s book and helping Jonathan along the way. So, Bethany, welcome to the UConn 360 Podcast.

Bethany: Thank you for having me.

Mike: So, tell us a little bit about your background. Where’d you grow up? Were you always a UConn fan? And it’s pretty amazing that you met your husband the first month of college here at UConn.

Bethany: Yeah, so I grew up in Tolland, which is not too far from here, and we were a very big UConn family. My dad went to UConn, and when I committed to UConn, I had gone on the Facebook page to meet some incoming freshmen. They were all going to live in North, and I was like, ugh, I’m going to live in West. I’m not near anyone that I know. And my dad was like, no, this is great. There’s a cafeteria in the basement, there’s a chef, you’re going to love it.

So, fast forward to the first day of moving in — it’s a study lounge now. It was a cafeteria with a chef 30 years ago, but it’s definitely not anymore. But had I not lived in West, I wouldn’t have met my husband. I met him the first week of school, and we started dating senior year.

Izzy: Oh, what a sweet little UConn love story. So, one question that I had during the intro is — you met your husband here, you have two children, you wrote a book called The Lucky Husky. Do you have any dogs?

Bethany: I don’t, no.

Izzy: Wow, okay. Hmm, interesting. Well, maybe that’ll be something in your future — your own husky.

Bethany: Maybe.

Izzy: You never know. So how did you come up with the idea to write The Lucky Husky, and what process did you have to go through to coordinate the illustrations, get a publisher, and bring the book to market?

Bethany: Yeah, so, you know, I love books as souvenirs, and I think it’s something that you can always come back to. My kids have every Jonathan sweatshirt, they have the water bottles, the stuffed animals, and whenever we would go to the bookstore, I was always looking for a children’s book for them. They love books, they love Jonathan, but there wasn’t really anything that fit their age range.

So, I started drafting an outline of what The Lucky Husky could be. I had really just intended to read it to them at bedtime. They really enjoyed it and kept asking for it every night. So, I said, well, if they like this book, then maybe others would too.

I pitched it to the UConn Brand Department. Luckily, they were interested in it. Then I started researching self-publishing versus traditional. I came across this awesome platform called Reedsy, which allows you to find freelancers for illustrators, editors, and you can also sign up for different lessons. They help you figure out a marketing plan, understand distribution a little more, and so on.

From there, my aunt — who is a paralegal — helped me set up an LLC. I called it Lancaster Publications after Lancaster, where I lived freshman year. My husband works in finance, so he helped me pull together a P&L. Then, every night after I put my kids to bed, from like 8 until midnight, I would book school assemblies, create marketing materials, set up a website, an Instagram account — you name it. It’s been very busy, but definitely a fun project.

Mike: So, tell us about what you do for full-time work. Did you always want to be an author or writer? Was that something you dreamed of, or did this just come to you with the UConn idea?

Izzy: And to bounce off of that, what did you major in at UConn? I’m curious how that all works into your career now.

Bethany: So, I majored in psychology. I work in HR, and I oversee a team in talent and leadership development. That includes succession planning, calibration, performance reviews, leadership development. We also have the first-year experience, so that’s onboarding and orientation.

What I enjoy about that is I get to be creative in offering different solutions to organizations and leaders. I think that’s kind of similar to writing — it’s a nice creative outlet. Did I always want to be a writer? I don’t know. My mom would probably say that I did, because I would always walk around with those composition notebooks and write stories and illustrate them. What’s cute is my daughter’s doing that now too.

Mike: That’s awesome. It’s great to have a composition book. That’s old school. I like it.

Izzy: It is old school. I had them when I was a kid too, so it’s not too old school.

Mike: That’s true.

Izzy: Do you plan on writing a sequel to The Lucky Husky?

Bethany: Yes. I’ll give you the exclusive.

Mike: Oh boy. Here we go. Right here on UConn 360 Podcast. Everybody listen.

Bethany: We are doing The Dairy Bar Disaster. That will be coming out in the spring, and it’s currently getting illustrated.

Izzy: Can you tell us a little bit more about The Dairy Bar Disaster?

Bethany: Sure.

Izzy: I’m a little scared. Is it like a scary story? Is it a happy story?

Bethany: So, all the freezers break, and all the ice cream is melting. Jonathan saves the day with the wag of his cool tail. It leaves a cool breeze, and it cools all the freezers down. So, the ice cream is saved.

Izzy: So, a scary story with a happy ending.

Bethany: Yeah. With a cherry on top.

Izzy: Have you spent time with the real Jonathan?

Bethany: I haven’t spent too much time with Jonathan, but we did spend some time last month doing a photo shoot. And we are going to be spending a lot more time together because we’re going on a book tour. Starting next month, we’ll be visiting different schools to do school assemblies, bookstores, and libraries.

Mike: So obviously you have little children right now, which just puts your life into chaos — especially with two careers and writing books. But do you get a chance to come to games here at UConn? Do you spend much time on campus with your family?

Bethany: Yeah, we have season tickets to the men’s basketball games. We love going to the hockey games and soccer with the kids, and we come to campus pretty often. We’ll go to Dog Lane for breakfast sandwiches or get ice cream at the Dairy Bar. We do come here quite often. We like coming in the summertime when there are no students and you can kind of go for walks around campus.

Mike: It’s a good time of year.

Izzy: So is right now, with fall and all of the foliage. It’s so beautiful. Yeah, I know. This is my favorite time of year, I think. Now and when we get our first snowfall is when I’m like, wow, I am so lucky.

Mike: You’re lucky. Lucky. You’re a lucky husky.

Izzy: I am a lucky husky. And that was so unintentional. Thank you for tying that together.

Mike: That’s what I’m here for.

Izzy: Oh yeah. So, what were some of your favorite books growing up as a child? And did any of them inspire you to write The Lucky Husky?

Bethany: I would say, you know, I love a book that rhymes, right? Like, if it doesn’t rhyme, what’s even the point for a children’s book? Some of the books that I’ve been loving lately for my kids are the Questioneers books. So, there’s Rosie Revere, Engineer, Ada Twist, Scientist, Iggy Peck, Architect. What I love about those is the rhyming is impeccable, the stories are great, and there’s a lot of diversity in them. They really make sure that, as a reader, you are depicted in their books, and they have a great message.

So, if there’s a series that has inspired me, it’s definitely those. I try to show diversity in my books as well, and to make sure that they rhyme and that they’re fun and engaging for kids.

Izzy: So, children’s books are so much fun. Do you have any personal genres that you like to read?

Bethany: Oh, I’ve been, you know, I loved Fourth Wing. I’ve been loving all of the Rebecca Yarros books. Honestly, I just read Variation, which is about a ballerina. That was really good.

Izzy: Is Fourth Wing the first book in the series?

Bethany: Mm-hmm.

Izzy: I read that one and then I went on to the next book in the series—

Bethany: Did you like that?

Izzy: And I kind of fell off the ladder because—

Bethany: It’s confusing.

Izzy: I was actually reading it on an audiobook, and it’s like a 25-hour-long book. So yeah, to listen to that for so long, I think if I had it as a personal copy, but I gave it back to the library and I didn’t get to finish it.

Bethany: Oh man.

Izzy: Because I only had two weeks and I’m a busy girl.

Bethany: Yeah, no, it’d definitely take longer for sure.

Mike: I’m actually reading a book right now about Man o’ War, who was a racehorse in the 1910s and 1920s who won the Triple Crown, and it’s a great insight into what life and the sport was like back then.

Izzy: So, we’re on two completely different waves. Yeah. Completely different levels.

Bethany: We’re talking about dragons.

Mike: Yes. I understand. I just wanted to tell you what I was reading.

Izzy: No, it’s cool. Yeah. We all need a little different perspective. Maybe I can’t say that I’ll read it, but I’m happy that you’re reading it.

Mike: I doubt you will. So, speaking of getting books, I’m holding a copy of The Lucky Husky in my hand. If somebody wants a copy, tell us how they can get it. And you mentioned some events—how can people find out about events? Maybe they can meet you in person, get an autographed copy for their kids. And with the holiday season coming up, we’re always looking for presents.

Bethany: Yes, so you can get it now on Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s website. It’s also in the UConn Bookstore. We’ll be holding an event on December 7th in advance of the women’s basketball game from 11 to 12. If you want to meet Jonathan, hear a reading, and get a signed copy, you can find me on Instagram at Husky Books and on Facebook at Lancaster Publications LLC.

Mike: Well, Bethany, thanks for joining us today on the UConn 360 Podcast. We wish you a lot of luck with the book, and we wish you luck on your future books, which I know Izzy is very much looking forward to reading.

Izzy: Yes, The Dairy Bar Disaster.

Mike: Happy Halloween everybody. Be safe and we’ll catch you next time on the UConn 360 Podcast.