Catching up with . . . Pat Ravenscraft Snyder

Former Beacon Journal consumer news and lifestyle reporter Pat Ravenscraft Snyder laughs all the way to the bank as she teaches others to do the same thing. Pat is a lawyer, columnist/humorist, speaker and registered laugh leader. Honest.

Pat has been writing a humor column, "Balancing Act," for nearly a decade for Suburban News Publications in Columbus. The publisher of the 22-newspaper group is former BJ business editor Jim Toms. Pat’s column also is available to subscribers online, on the air and to print media outside the Columbus area.

Pat offers workshops, speeches and laugh-ins, tailoring stress relief programs for lawyers, sandwich generation caregivers and stepfamily members. Last year Pat became a certified laughter leader through the World Laughter Tour. See, I told you. Check it out at

www.worldlaughtertour.org

Human Resources Association of Central Ohio member Pat offers lunch-and-learn programs on laughter and stress relief. Her appearance schedule is loaded through December. Some are sold out.

Somewhere along the way, Pat also got into hang-gliding. Busy and interesting woman, huh?

Now that she’s retired from practicing law for a few years, Pat found time to write her first book, "The Dog Ate My Planner: Tales and Tips from an Overbooked Life" (Two Harbors Press, Minneapolis), based on the "dog" that creates time management difficulties in her humor columns. The book will be launched Sunday, Sept. 13 at Espresso Yourself Music Cafe, 50 W. Olentangy Street, Powell, OH. The previous location had to be scrubbed when the RSVPs became an avalanche. Kickoff guests include World Laughter Tour founder Steve Wilson.

To buy Pat’s book, go to:

www.patsnyderonline.com/buy-the-book

Other web sites are

www.TheDogAteMyPlanner.com

for additional information about the book.

www.PatSnyderOnline.com

for Pat’s web site.

And for the dog, believe it or not, two places to check: On Twitter at

twitter.com/plannerdog

and on the dog’s Facebook Fan Page (you read it right) at

ow.ly/outA

As Pat explains, it's not really a "dog." But you knew that. The "dog," Pat says, "is all the stuff that interferes with our lives -- electronic devices, food, fashion, etc. -- rather than being a dog that handles time management in my humor columns. The Dog is now advising folks on time management via Twitter, however."

Pat was married to long-time Plain Dealer reporter and editor Bob Snyder, who died from diabetes complications in May. Bob and Pat once co-authored a Sunday PD column on the challenges of stepfamily living, in their case combining Bob’s Hanukkah traditions with her Christmas ones. They published their experiences in “Cup of Comfort for Christmas” (available in bookstores during the holidays and on Amazon.com).

Pat became a grandmother for the first time this year with the arrival of Taylor Joy, born to her son James Ravenscraft and his wife, Tracy, who live in Columbus, where James has a construction company, Exterior Accents. Another son, Paul Ravenscraft, who lives with wife Shelly in Tempe, Arizona, is admissions director for Copper Canyon Academy, a private therapeutic girls boarding school in Rimrock, Arizona. Daughter Sarah Snyder is a senior majoring in psychology and minoring in integrative wellness at Ohio State.

For photos of Pat, Bob, Taylor Joy and, of course, the dog (on the book cover), plus a copy of Pat’s appearance schedule through December in case you’re in the Columbus area and want to see her, click on the headline.

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Incidentally, Mark Ravenscraft, 62, Pat’s former husband who was in Akron and Summit County politics for 17 years, switched to Florida where he has spent 20 years in politics, state bureaucracy and business. You can check Mark out at

quinnell.us/sspb/wiki/index.php?n=Main.MarkRavenscraft