INPERSON
Ultimate Baseball Road Trip
Norwin grad Craig Labuskes pens young adult fiction novel .
By Jennifer Brozak
As a physician assistant who ’ s always had a penchant for math and science , North Huntingdon native Craig Labuskes never intended to become an author .
That all changed last year when Labuskes self-published his first novel , “ The Best Seat in the House ”, a young adult tale about a 12-year-old Pittsburgh Pirates fan who reconnects with his estranged older brother following a family tragedy .
The project began when Labuskes , 23 , was an undergraduate at Saint Francis University . As part of the university ’ s honors program , Labuskes was required to complete a senior thesis . He could choose from either a factual , research-based project , or opt to write a more creative manuscript . He chose the latter . “ At the time , I was pretty laid down with science courses , so I thought this would be a unique opportunity to take a creative route ,” says Labuskes , who graduated from Norwin High School in 2011 . “ I knew I might never have the chance to do this again , so I embraced the challenge .”
The 180-page novel follows the story of Ryan Shepherd , who , by all accounts , has a “ great life ” until a family tragedy forces him to confront his strained relationship with his much older brother , Dennis . The two try to repair their relationship by embarking on a cross-country road trip to visit Major League Baseball stadiums .
The plot was inspired by his family ’ s summer vacations . Labuskes , who played on the high school tennis team , is a self-described “ sports nut ” and has traveled with his family to numerous MLB stadiums throughout the country .
“ I definitely had plenty of real-life experience to draw upon while writing ,” he chuckled .
When he graduated with his Bachelor of Science degree in 2015 , the project could have ended there . However , he already had a completed manuscript in hand , so he decided to pursue publication .
“ I realized I had come this far with it — I thought , why not go the extra mile and publish it ?” says Labuskes , who earned his Master of Physician Assistant Science from Saint Francis University in 2016 .
During the master ’ s phase of his schooling , he worked on revising the draft . It took approximately three years of revising and editing to reach the final product , which was published in October . The cover was created by his cousin Stephanie Labuskes , a graphic designer .
“ I wasn ’ t going to publish something I wasn ’ t happy with . I wanted it to be worth all of the effort and frustration that went into it ,” he says .
He was surprised at how tedious the writing and publishing process could be .
“ The writing did not come easily . I easily went through dozens and dozens of revisions . It ’ s fun to come up with the plot and the characters , but doing that in words that make sense to other people is a highly different task ,” he laughed .
While he appreciated the process of taking a novel to publication , Labuskes has no immediate plans to work on a new book , choosing instead to focus on his medical career — for now . He recently moved out of the area to start a new job as a physician assistant for a health care system in Hershey , Pa .
“ Down the road , once I ’ m more settled , who knows what awaits ,” he says . “ I ’ ll leave the door open .”
“ The Best Seat in the House ” retails for $ 12.99 and is available on Amazon . com and Lulu . com . n
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