21 Simple Things You Can Do To Help Someone With Diabetes

Writers in the Sky welcomes Cherie Burbach to our blog today. Cherie is an author, blogger, poet, crocheter, and geek. She loves football and is obsessed with anything having to do with the Green Bay Packers or Tudor history.

A passionate diabetes advocate, Cherie has written the book, 21 Simple Things You Can Do To Help Someone With Diabetes.

Cherie used her experience with meeting her husband online to pen At the Coffee Shop, a humorous look at the world of Internet dating. Cherie went on over 60 coffee dates in just six months. She met lots of great people and one of those turned out to be the guy she would marry just one year later. Cherie's new dating book, Internet Dating is Not Like Ordering a Pizza is available now.

She has penned her first novel, For Those Who Knew Zach, told in connected short stories about of a philandering charmer's collision with fate.

She is a staff writer for b5media, and also the author of three poetry books, including A New Dish and The Difference Now. Her latest, Father's Eyes, has received the 2008 Editor's Choice Award by Allbooks Review.

Readers have resonated with Cherie's honest and inspirational "This I Believe" essay, which is the second-most popular out of over 40,000 entries on the NPR website.

On Writing 21 Simple Things You Can Do to Help Someone With Diabetes:

Sometimes books come about from an experience where you think, "I wish people knew about X." X, in my case, was diabetes. I've been a Type 1 diabetic for about twenty years, and throughout my time with this disease I've learned a few things I just wish people knew. Over and over I found myself correcting the good folks in my life who commented on the food on my plate, or told me diabetes was cured because I took insulin, or even served me sugar soda when I went over to their house. These weren't huge things, but they happened often enough (and were simple enough) where I felt a short little etiquette-type book on diabetes might help.

One thing I didn't want to do was write a big, lengthy, technical book. I couldn't do that anyways! But I could write a book that would prompt people to understand their diabetic friend or family member just a little bit better. You know how sometimes you just don't know what you don't know? This book helps you understand what you need to know, so you can do the homework to find out more.

Best of all, it isn't a heavy, boring read. It's short by design, and conversation. It's like me pulling someone aside and saying, "Hey… psst, next time you should really do this." This was one of the challenges in writing it. You know that old quote, "If I had more time I would write a shorter letter?" That spirit was definitely at the forefront of my mind when writing this book. I edited it down so it would be something that anyone could breeze through. It is my hope that diabetics and non-diabetics alike use it to understand each other a little better.

Description for 21 Simple Things You Can Do to Help Someone With Diabetes:

Why should non-diabetics get informed? Because as much as we know about diabetes treatment today, the support from our family and friends still plays a part in how healthy we are. An understanding approach from someone who cares means everything to us. Your diabetic friend or relative counts on you to be the person in their life that "gets it" when no one else does. This book will tell you what you can do to help. Things like what you should (and shouldn't) say, what you should learn to truly be supportive, and even how you can help in the fight for a cure. 21 Things You Can Do To Help Someone With Diabetes will point you in the right direction so you can truly support your diabetic friend.

For more information, please visit Cherie's website, http://www.cherieburbach.com/, her personal blogs, or follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/brrbach.