Surviving Myself--The Making of a Middleweight is a coming-of-age memoir about a sensitive little sweetheart who throws a dynamite left hook--a punch that catapults him into Madison Square Garden to fight for a Golden Gloves title. It is also about my fiercely flawed family and our struggles with divorce, drug addiction, alcoholism, a suicide attempt, and juvenile delinquency. My 42,000-word journey is written for anyone who has ever felt fragile, lost, or emotionally inarticulate. It is an uplifting and buoyant tale about a teenager who, despite obstacles, refuses to relinquish his unique dream. Surviving Myself--The Making of a Middleweight addresses the need for a hard-hitting book about boys. Boys--and men-- will discover themselves on each page, and girls--and women--will find this story a fascinating window into the baffling and bizarre world of the male psyche. Surviving Myself will appeal to readers of: About a Boy, Hey Kiddo, The Tender Bar, Hope Was Here, and The Outsiders. Surviving Myself--The Making of a Middleweight has excellent cinematic potential because everyone was a dream, and everyone is a fighter in his or her own arena, Peter Wood's first book, Confessions of a Fighter, was optioned for film by Steve Nicoleides, (producer of When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, Misery, and Boyz in the Hood.) Surviving Myself has the same cinematic punch and potential. Think Million Dollar Baby, The Fighter, Fat City, and Rocky.