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An "Aha" Moment with My Niece: Why Young People Should Read My Books

I just had one of those unexpected heart-to-heart conversations that turns into a lightbulb moment. My 19-year-old niece, Millie, asked me a simple question that stopped me in my tracks:

Updated June 24, 2025 8:05 PM

"Uncle Woody, why should I read your books?"

I paused, then realized this was my chance--not just to explain my writing, but to help her see the value in it. I told her the truth:

I'm not just telling stories. I'm talking to my younger self--and to people like her.

Many of the chapters in my books come from real moments that happened in my late teens and early twenties. Advice I got. Mistakes I made. Lessons I didn't even know were lessons until I looked back, sometimes 20 or 30 years later, and saw how they shaped the man I became.

Sometimes it was just one sentence someone said to me. That's all it took. And now I think to myself, What if I hadn't heard that? What if I didn't listen? Would I be better off? Or worse?

That's the heart of it: My books are full of those moments. Wisdom in disguise.

Also read: What I Told My 19-Year-Old Niece About Success, Regret, and Getting Ahead

I told Millie, "You don't have to wait 20 years to appreciate good advice. You just have to know how to spot it now."

Put It In The Bank - A Book by SP Woodring Put It In The Bank - A Book by SP Woodring

In Book One, I talk about people who are poisoning your mind--and others who are planting something valuable in it, putting it in the bank, like my father told me. But it's on you to tell the difference. You have to learn how to listen for wisdom, especially when it doesn't come dressed up as a lecture.

That's what my writing is really about. Helping the next generation listen better, grow faster, and live wiser.

Millie got it. She told me she's going to start reading. And if you're her age--or if you're a parent of someone her age--I hope you'll give these books a chance too.

They're short. Honest. Real. And just maybe, they'll speak to something you're going through right now.

Because sometimes, all it takes is one sentence to change everything.

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