Who'd Ever Believe It

I’ve been posting to this blog for about a year and a half. A few months ago I took down the original blog and started a new one. The reason I took the old one down was because I wanted to publish what I had written up to that point.

Well, I did it. I took everything I wrote in 2006 and uploaded it to a site called lulu.com and it’s now a book. It’s 268 pages and has a real cover with binding and everything. The cover and back photos are pictures that I took. I’m actually pretty proud of myself. I’ve never been one to complete much of anything and this, like most things in my life, is a project that I kept putting off and avoiding.

There are a couple different feelings that go along with doing
something like this. The first is pride. As stated above, I’ve never been good at finishing anything and it’s nice to see something like this come to fruition.

I also feel kind of strange about it. This book is all about me, things I’ve done, my feelings, my thoughts, hopes and yes, a ton of whining. I sent a copy to a friend and said it was like a little Christmas gift. Saying that, to me, sounds rather egotistical and that’s the last thing I want you guys to think.

I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on my writing from so many people. Not just family, they’re supposed to support me, but from friends and other folks I don’t even know and without that feedback I would have never had the confidence to even consider putting it together like this.

I guess they call doing this “vanity publishing” and that’s exactly what this is. I got myself a copy and the feeling of opening the package, when it came, and seeing a picture that I took on the cover of a book that I wrote with my title and name on it was an incredibly powerful moment.

The beauty of doing it the way I did is that I can make revisions at any time. The first copy was formatted all wrong so I went in and reformatted it to my liking. I’m also finding spelling and grammar errors that I can correct with the touch of a key.

I have no illusions about striking it rich as a writer. Don’t get me wrong; if Oprah wanted to put this in her book club, I certainly wouldn’t stop her. There is, however, something really cool about the idea of having something on my bookshelf with my name on it. I’ve gotten a copy for each of my children. I hope it makes them proud and it’s something they want to pass onto their kids and all that but it won’t kill me if they don’t.

I’m not asking any of you to buy it. Most of you have read everything in it already. I will post the link to it though. I think it’s neat just to see it there. I do want to thank you all for giving me the fortitude to do this. I am so proud to know all of you and I always hope you feel the same.
I’m not sure if the link will work but if you’re interested you can copy the link into your browser.

http://www.lulu.com/content/1408214