TV That Talks Back At You (Short Story)
April 17, 2015
You Can’t Blame it on The Altitude (Silverton Style)
May 15, 2015
Part II of the great publishing venture of 2015. I’m getting excited about this one.
Word Count: 663
Collecting
The Laughs
(Part II)
I’ve decided to turn my chronicling of the latest writing odyssey into a four part series. This as opposed to my earlier intention to write about this book publication adventure in three-parts. Simple explanation actually, I’ve gotten the feedback from all the essay readers, and contacted the publisher. Now I suddenly find myself staring face to face at all the project’s minor details. Or logistical ######## if you want give it another definition.
Looking at what essays got picked as favorites presents some interesting findings. Got very excited when every one of the eleven readers told me they had a tough time choosing the ones they liked best. This tells me I’m on the right track in terms of writing things people want to read about. Either that or all of them are just too polite. None want to tell me my literary output is like a blind octogenarian stumbling towards what he thinks is the fountain of youth.
Choosing the appropriate title for the book was also a revealing exercise. For this I talked to a few friends and got their feedback. Also touched bases with selected family members to get their opinions on the subject.
In the end I just went with my gut and came up with a name that sounded good. Decided to add a subtitle to it, then said it over and over to myself multiple times in order to determine whether or not the words just flowed off my tongue. This last action has proven vital for determining how successful I hope the book will end up being.
Next I faced the daunting task of choosing the order of the essays. Carrying this exercise out required me to go back in and read a few of the missives. Some of them for the first time since they’d been initially written. Inevitably I’d read the essay and want to make minor alterations to it. Why not change something so much it’s slightly better than it originally was? Or alter it in such a way that the new treatise is completely different from the initial offering? Thankfully I never had to face this particular conundrum.
Since the publisher I’ve chosen for the book presently finds herself buried in various other projects, I’m unable to personally meet with her at this time. Result: I want everything just right once I get the stuff to her so all she needs to do is type it up and put the book together. That’s also prompted me to contact an editor/friend to carry out the minor edit. Every essay has already seen the radiant light of publication once so theoretically this should be an easy task for my friend.
Unfortunately that still doesn’t calm the persistent fear on my part that the publisher may experience some extreme bouts of drowsiness while typing up the essays. Not really much I can do about this. Also a worry for readers of the book once its finished too.
So where do I stand at this point? One of my sisters asked if I’m planning to incorporate a few photos in the book. Hadn’t thought about that, but then a few other folks asked me the exact same question? One of them even going so far as to tell me photos improve your chances of a non-fiction collection of essays becoming a successful publication endeavor. Now all of a sudden I’m realizing I need to contact my father and stepmother about looking through some old family photo albums in their possession. Hopefully one or ten photos may even relate to various essays in the book.
This endeavor is turning out to be a bit more effort than I originally thought it’d turn into. Then again chronicling the exercise in these blog postings and going through all the trouble of publishing a book of selected essays is turning out to be a lot more fun than I anticipated too. Stay tuned..
