After a few months being insanely busy writing my blog into a book, I finally handed in the rough draft to a publisher!
I'm really excited, but so nervous. This is where all my hard work gets torn apart and nitpicked by a bunch of people who see it as business and not as a piece of my heart. I'm nervous but in a good way. I know it's going to be a long process to publish, but I can't wait to get this out.
I'm a little worried about what the reception will be with this as a book and not just some random blog. I hope readers will like it just like people seem to be enjoying my blog so far.
I'm a little afraid to put such a personal thing out there to the real public where my name will be displayed on bookshelves in Judaica stores and where random unknown people will be able to talk about my experiences and actions without even knowing who I am first.
I know I am likely to be judged and criticised, but I still think that my diary should be out there for the people who will grow and learn and get chizuk and even a good laugh out of it.
I don't even know why I'm posting now; things are so premature- the book probably won't be out until sukkos anyway. I guess I just need the support of my readers right now... :-)
Eventually I'm going to have to shut my previous posts- all the ones from 2003 and 2004 because no one would buy the book if its all online. I feel bad about doing that because the original purpose of this blog was to give chizuk to those who needed it and I feel stupid taking a profit from people who I could be helping for free, but thats they way things work in publishing.
Sorry for warbling, but like I said, I'm nervous!!!
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35 comments:
Your book will be superb. You are right it that it will no longer be free, but, it will become known as the book to give to those who "rachmana litzlan" fall prey to serious illness. Good luck!
Thanks anon!
Thing is, i dont want it to be the book stricly for cancer patients. I want this to be something everyone can read and enjoy and laugh with and cry with and learn from. Think it can happen?
Honestly, I cant see how. However, I am sure the people marketing the book will [obviously] want to maximize their profits and will most likelyb figure out a way. BTW is the book going to the "goyish" [i know that sounds so stupid] world.
Well the thing is that my book is written much better than the blog is. Its much lighter and funnier and generally more fun and I think that other audiences might like it too. I hope they do LOL.
I could go to a non jewish publisher but I really intended it for Jewish readers. I think that a lot of the attitude issues I tried to address in the book are frum issues that the goyishe world wont get and wont care about.
I can make a lot more money going that route but the frum oilam is the one who will gain from it more.
I started all this just to help people so proift is only a side issue. I'm not going to take it to scholastic just to make more money if I know keeping it here will reach less people but more of the people I want it to reach.
Funnier then the blog... wow... the blog is really a great read and very funny too. However, it did, I think, also bring me to tears. Especially those poems.
Most people, when they talk about Hashem, very often sounds like "jewish propoganda". However, when one is really suffering and in a sakana its obvious, its coming from the heart.
i hope it goes well., and am sure it will be an inspiration.
wow! hatzlacha rabba!
Do you have a title yet?
Hatzlacha
YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY :)I'm so excited with you!
Your blog is incredible, full of humor and chizuk. I'm sure the book is a more polished version and will definitely be an inspiration to whoever reads it. Unfortunately in this day and age, everyone knows somebody that was stricken and this book will hopefully help the masses learn how to deal with it.
Anon, I think the book will be just as broadening to people who haven't had cancer as the blog is. In fact, I think we're the ones who really need it -- so many people just don't understand. If you've been there, you probably do.
JAP -- Hatzlacha raba! I will miss the blog but can't wait to see it in print!
awesome!
even though i have read your entire blog, i would still buy the book...
hatzlachah!
I don't know...how willing do you think a frum publisher would be to publish a work of this kind. It would be a little risky...
hey anonymous! Actually, the publisher called dibs- they were the ones who came to me, i didn't go to them.
I know some stuff are a little iffy, but I told them that I could easily go to scholastic and not do it with a frum publisher, so we are working together to see if we can do it through a jewish place even though my stuff isnt the typical dumb jewish novel
This will make a wonderful book. Good luck!
Your book is going to be a HUGE hit! Everyone who reads it will LOVE it! Esp those people who don't have internet access...now they will all be able to read, gain, be inspired, laugh, cry and CHANGE!! I cant wait to buy a copy for each of my married sibs! And get my own copy (with your autograph?!)!!
Just bec someone wasn't sick, doesnt mean they wont be able to gain from your book! That's the whole point! People should try to identify with and learn how to treat other sick people...before they are hit with it from close by c"v!!
Your book will be wonderful and will be a huge success. I know you are nervous but that is only natural. You have a natural flair for story telling and it is a wondeful engaging read.
me
remember the lines in the stores for the ps4 and the iphone?
I'm sure the book will be a blockbuster hit.
Are you going to include about you and BK because its a little weird for a jewish publication. But, if you don't print it then it leaves out a major part of your happily ever after.
Hey Amazing-
Yes, all the parts with BK are in there, just toned down a bit. I refused to take them out even though they are a bit strange for JEwish publication.
My book isnt about how I love G-d and am willing for him to slap the other cheek. Cancer isn't fun, and I wanted people to know that it was okay to have an attitude about it.
Without BK this story would just be another monotonous chemo blah, and I didn't want that. BK is so important to the story because (besides for being my husband) he helped me see that everything is there for a reason and if not for being sick he would not be in my life!
I've read many books that had some innapropriate moments, (innapropriate for most high schoolers because they are not ready to know such things). I know many mothers who did not let their children read those books even though they had beautiful storylines and themes, only because of those moments. You might be cutting down on the amount of people who will buy your book and that would be a shame
BTW "amazing" goes on your blog not on me.
Hey again Amazing,
I know that I might cut down o my readers- but you need to remember that I did not start this blog for profit or to tell a good story. I started the blog to help other people who needed to hear my side of things.
I get so many emails from people who are going through chemo that identified with me, and thats all that I meant this for.
Most Jewish authors barely break even on their books. I dont' care. The publishing company called me up for this and I gladly let them have it. As long as it gets my story out to more people and can entertain and help more people, the money wasnt what I went into this for.
And besides, believe me, if I took out all the good parts I would lose a lot more potential buyers than I would if I left them in!
BTW, thanks for the compliment! :-)
I think that besides for the emotional content and the whole cancer story, this book would make a great romance,LOL. but I totally agree with you that it will be a great inspiration for cancer patients, but I think that it will not be well recieved by many people, not because of you and BK but because it is about cancer. Many parents try to shield their kids from this and they won't be happy about letting them read a story that bares it in full detail.
Tell me about it Amazing, tell me about it.... :-(
are you going to have this major publicity campaign to spread news about your book or are you just going to rely on word of mouth. I think that to advertise in the local papers like mishpacha, hamodia, yated... would be very beneficial in getting people to take notice of your book.
Dont you worry amazing! The publishing company takes care of that.
And anyway- I have about 40 students and nieces that are already spreading the word LOL
Thanks for being so interested!! I hope everyone who hears about this will be as into it as you are!
I have a lot of grademates and tons of cousins and friends so you bet i'll spread the word. I'm sure that whoever read this blog will be spreading the news so thats the best publicity campaign ever.
well
you can't actually beat the ones the presidential candidates are putting out, but i'm sure you catch my drift. LOL I hope you have great hatzlacha and i'll keep on being into it.
I'm counting on getting my copy of the book autographed Iy''h. You will be having book signings right.
Maybe I get Obama to spread the word! He's all about change so maybe he'll be excited to help change the cancer mentality here!!! Yay!
Book signings? Well I'm not sure if a frum publisher would think its tzniyusdik...maybe if we can arrange an all girl setting. :-P
Holdit, I went back and re-read... just one last fling before it gets taken down... and realized that many of the funniest parts will never make it past any frum editor! All those rotten episodes with teachers and other adult figures...! What would the story be without 'em?! If they don't make it to print, at least leave them up here...
Yeah Bas Melech, I know. I did fight to keep those funny parts in though. I managed to get my way with most of them, so dont fret!
youre taking a major risk by putting this material out there. I know you want to spread your story to help other cancer patients deal with it, but many people will be very upset with this book. Don't you want to get on with your life without having people come over to you every day, either with complaints (which you will be getting because there are some very thoughtless, shallow and so called righteous people out there) or even the compliments. Aren't you tired of having to live as a survivor. Why don't you just leave your blog as the source to help other people and move on.
I know anon, I know. I know theres a risk involved, but I feel that someone has to take it.
I deal with the comments all day for 4 years and so far ive never had enough bad to make me wish I were not involved. The amount of good more than outweighs the bad and its so worth it.
Besides, the book wont be in my name. Even though people will know its me, I'm not going to be ALL out there.
I am tired of living as a survivor. But you know what? As much as I try to live like everyone else, that survivor thing always manages to find its way back into my life- I found that I have been able to help so many people that I'm okay with living normal when I can and being there for others when I need to be.
And criticism- I dont take it from anyone. ANYONE. Everyone can take things the way they want to but no one has the right to make me take my nisayon the way THEY feel it should be.
Did you read that stupid letter in the Binah a few weeks ago? About the woman who didnt wnat them to publsih all the articles on cancer because it bothered her??? I mean, why would I take criticism from someone who needs mental intervention? People like that dont bother me. they give me a good laugh and plenty of material for my blog and lashon hara stories :)
Amazing- please email me and I can give you what you asked for- startled19@yahoo.com
I am tired of living as a survivor. But you know what? As much as I try to live like everyone else, that survivor thing always manages to find its way back into my life- I found that I have been able to help so many people that I'm okay with living normal when I can and being there for others when I need to be.
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This is beautiful.
Your book should be a great success, because it is obvious that you are writing it so that you can help others. Hatzlocho!!
I just stumbled across your blog and have only begun to read some of what you have written so please accept my apology if you've already covered the following topics:
The "my uncle had an even worse problem blah blah blah blah' visitor who seems to think you'd enjoy hearing about a stranger's problem of fourteen years ago while you’re trying to get your mind around everything you must face right now. Somehow, knowing that someone I never met had a different illness in a different part of the body at a different time of their life and was treated with technology as closely related to state of the art medical care today as blood-letting, and mustard plaster and wearing fresh garlic around my neck is supposed to be uplifting.
The visitor who assures you in response to a set back and bleak prognosis c"v that 'eh, doctors, they don't know what they are talking about' (usually followed by an uncle story). Somehow that is supposed to make you feel better about the DOCTOR who is either going to explore your insides or invade (hopefully the correct) parts of your body with radiation or chemo.
DON’T even think of getting me started about the newly rediscovered best friend you haven't seen since kindergarten (and you never liked back then either because he was always trying to sell you the second 'half' of his sandwich, which just happened to be the crust) who shows up with a pitiful gift to make you feel guilty about not buying the alternative medicine product he drove 14 hours from Pittsburgh (without stopping!) to show you as soon as he heard you were sick, without mentioning that he happens to sell it for the Amway equivalent of junk science and even bought a $300.00 supply for you while driving (14 hours non-stop!) FROM PITTSBURGH! (could you pay me back in cash? I don't have a bank account right now) where he had gone to save the life of a yogurt farmer who LIVES on this miracle cure and has survived every illness from male pattern baldness (by rubbing it on his scalp which he has prepped by soaking it all night in cultured organic orange juice) to cancer in every major organ of the body (non of which the doctors could diagnose because they are in a conspiracy with Lyndon LaRouche, Merck, the FDA, Dick Cheney and Big Oil) all caused by his drinking a can of Splenda-sweetend diet soda while standing under the path of a Concord jet on a day he forgot to wrap his head with an extra layer of aluminum foil, all by ingesting copius dosages of the Original, Genuine, ProFauxFlaxiodtrated (unadulterated, of course) which the FDA has been preventing his uncle (the one who survived something worse than you have by staying away from tap water and now showers in WalMart Naturally Desalinated Spring Water - do you think you could help us raise money for him so he can shower in it four times a day like a mequbal he met on a secret flight to Bagdad to daven at the kever avraham avinu would have been buried in if Iraq had been Eretz Yisroel told him to?) from distributing so it is only sold in health food stores (and kept under the counter next to Dr. Marvel's Marvelous Midlife Malitated Midrif Melter that Oprah was censored for when she was this-close to bringing on her show because ABC is secretly owned by a French company that manufactures blood pressure medication that no one would need if they all lost 50 lbs.! They've been using it in Europe for 40 YEARS!) and (take a breath, you sound like you WALKED from Pittsburgh!) dropped everything to drive 14 hours in the other direction to pick up for you at the only surviving retailer selling this stuff because all the others were rounded up and shipped to a secret air-force base in Wyoming (which they have to disguise as an old hippie commune every four years when the national media looks up Wyoming on the map to report on the outcome of the presidential primaries, in which all three voter participate).
SEE! You got me started!
Stay tuned next week for the next episode of "The Chizuk I Could Live Without" in which the adult child of your grandfathers great uncle Mutchkeh' youngest daughter's music teacher's cleaning lady's landlord (in Brownsville. Isn't it just terrible what the goyim did to that neighborhood? I remember when you could walk there at three o'clock in the morning, but your too young, you wouldn't remember, ah kids today what do they know!) offers (threatens) to drive you to all your doctor appointments (by the way, you think maybe can we use your car? I don't have plates on mine right now because my license was suspended a few years ago because I didn't have insurance which I couldn't afford any more after some anti-semit cop wrote me 27 tickets, one for each red light I ran one purim. What did he want anyway? I knew it was no good to drive after so many drinks so I was trying to get home and stop driving as soon as possible and anyway the red light should only be for cars on the street, not the ones on the sidewalk, right?)
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