“I don’t think my story is that unique.
Everybody faces conflicts --
Everybody faces degrees of adversity.”
- Amy Benjamin

Excerpt
Buffalo News Article
June 13, 2006 (right)

Buffalo Woman Rediscovers Life Through Memoir

For Amy Benjamin, it was a heck of a ride, for four straight years. Into those four years, she squeezed:

• The decision to leave Western New York for Florida, four kids in tow. And then the decision to move back, 18 months later, because it just wasn’t working there.
• Breast cancer, from initial diagnosis at age 37 through treatment and remission.
• The breakup of her 12-year marriage.

Cap it all off with an emotional and psychological crisis that left her shattered -- but, paradoxically, in a position to rediscover her true self and find a happier life -- and you have an idea of what Benjamin’s life has been like lately. “I don’t think my story is that unique,” said Benjamin. “Everybody faces conflicts -- everybody faces degrees of adversity.”

Here’s what makes her different: Benjamin, 41, sat down at her computer in her Amherst home last January and began to pour out her pain onto paper. In four months, she was done; she submitted her work to some agents she found online and the next thing she knew -- by last fall -- she had a publisher.

Now, her book, “The Waking Dance,” which is an intimate memoir of her life over the past four years, has been published by SterlingHouse Press in Pittsburgh and will be available starting this month in bookstores.

“It’s all me,” said Benjamin, a petite, auburn-haired woman with blue eyes and an intense smile. “It’s how I speak, it’s how I inflect. It’s written as if I’m telling you a story.”

That’s true. The memoir reads like a long e-mail from a well-spoken, thoughtful, slightly off-kilter friend -- one who’s been through a lot in her life and wants to tell you about it. Benjamin said she sees it appealing to women, particularly those who have been through cancer or marital breakups. She survived both, and she said she’s now living a happier life than she’s ever been.

“What I gained was a life,” she said.

Benjamin, this summer, is being recognized for that life, and for her writing.

On June 27, members of a national philanthrophic women’s network will honor Benjamin with an “Inspiration Award” in a ceremony in New York City’s Central Park. The award, said Danielle Carrig, executive director of the Step Up Women’s Network, will go to Benjamin for her honesty in writing about struggles which many women can relate to. Benjamin has pledged a portion of the royalties from her book to the Los Angeles-based network.

“I think a lot of women will get something out of this,” Carrig said. “What I liked most about the book is that any woman can see herself through Amy. She had a myriad of obstacles she’s overcome, and she’s still overcomining.”

In her day job, Benjamin is a well-known real estate agent and the daughter of Judy Benjamin, one of Buffalo’s better-known and most successful realtors, the former owner of Stovroff and Potter real estate. Judy Benjamin is retired now and lives part of the year in Florida; her daughter said she discussed the book with her mom and received support for it.

Amy Benjamin said she plans to continue her own career in real estate, a field she is passionate about. But, she said, she may also write something again.

“What I did here, nothing ever felt this right for me in my life,” she said. “I’d love to do it again.”