We on the last edits, the copy editor stands ready, and the designs are ready to go. We’re just about into the production process, which means pre-sales will be happening soon. To get ready for that, we’ve made these handle little reminder cards:
The best stories rarely make it into the final draft of a book. I’m convinced of this. In the First Edition, I wrote what I thought would be the epilogue. It was the story of Richard Garriott’s mother as she spearheaded the creation of the Leonardo’s Children Museum in Enid, Oklahoma. This wasn’t just any […]
In 2006, John and I began working on what would become the Second Edition of Dungeons & Dreamers. For a variety of reasons, it’s taken us almost 8 years to get this story finished, but it now appears as if that journey is almost complete. We’ve edited, rewritten, haggled, reported, thrown out, and rebuilt the book, […]
After years of writing, we’re down to the last few edits. We have a (mostly) completed and re-written manuscript, we have a draft out to some amazingly kind readers, we have the printing process nailed down, we have the press materials ready, and now we have the front cover (tentatively) designed. Since you’ve been popping […]
“The only way it’s ever going to change for us is if a poor person is elected president, and that isn’t going to happen.” How I See People Viewing Appalachia When elections roll around, I try to pay close attention to how people speak about Appalachia. I do that because I’m both interested in how […]
“Hello cousin Brad. Just letting you know that Dad died this morning. The last of that group of Bakers. Glad you got to visit. Love Connie.” I received the text at 9:33 pm last night as my wife and I sat on the couch watching television. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to think […]
The difference between Bob and I was just a matter of degree. Our lives had taken on eerily similar trajectories. Yet an objective observer would have likely said my life was empirically better. The difference between my cousin and I was this: I carried a deep-seated shame that he didn’t know.
“You waking up hungover in jail is right up my alley. The rest of it sounds too academic.” That’s what Alex Heard said to me during our conversation after he finished reading my proposal. I can’t say I jumped for joy at that critique, but the conversation that followed helped me frame what I wanted […]
What is Appalachia? When I tell stories about my family and its relationship to Clay County, Kentucky and the County Seat of Manchester, people tend to think I exaggerate. You hear about poverty, feuds, grudges, anger at the government, lack of formal education, and a general desperation, but they don’t seem real.
As I’ve worked on the book, I’ve had the opportunity to do quite a bit of traveling to visit important monuments to my family’s past and to meet relatives and friends of the family whom have kept our story alive. The one person I hadn’t had the chance to meet, though, was my grandmother’s youngest […]
Most people from outside the Appalachian region are bombarded with depictions of Appalachians as something otherworldly. This list of shows keeps me up at night and helps me slog through some of the less-than-glamourous parts of pursuing an independent publishing product.
While returning from a trip this past weekend, I asked my wife if we could swing by Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Without hesitation, she said yes (and then I launched into an entirely unnecessary history of computer games.) I wanted to visit the place that helped inspire one of the first computer games: Colossal Cave Adventure, […]