Road To Transplant is a memoir and a sequel to another book
I wrote: Death: Living To Talk About It. Road To Transplant is a memoir of
my struggle with congestive heart failure. The book follows my life as I
deteriorate. I take the reader
through the process of getting a new heart, and share what goes on in the head
of someone who is dying.
Did you
try the traditional route to publishing, i.e. querying agents/publishers?
Yes. The
first book I ever wrote; a management book was picked up quickly by a specialty
press. It was a great experience. They provided the editor, the promotion and a
nice advance. The second book, ten years later, was a reality check. I sent
more than 30 query letters. I
could not find a publisher or an agent that had any interest in working with
me. Exasperated by the whole ordeal, I signed with a company that has, shall I
say, a business model that I am not comfortable. But I signed the contracts, so
I live with it. Road to Transplant was published almost simultaneously with a
fictional book I wrote, “Five Short Stories and Twelve Poems”. Both were
published through CreateSpace and Kindle Select Publishing. It was an
adjustment, but I got through it fine.
Do you
belong to a critique group? Have they helped improve your writing?
I don’t belong to a formal critique group, however I have
developed friends – writers with whom we share our work. We critique and
support each other.
Do you
outline your story or just go where your muse takes you.
It depends on the type of writing I am doing. When I write short stories, I generally
have an idea of how I want the story to flow, or unfold. Nothing too formal. I
want the freedom to change my mind and follow my inner muse. With non-fiction,
up until now, I would outline the story through a series of blogs. Then, when I
am ready, I take the blogs, develop transitions, expound on the stories, adding
lots of detail until a whole book emerges. As for poems, when I get an idea for
a poem, I get to my computer and write the poem. Rough, at first. Then, over the next, oh days or weeks, I
polish the poem until I am satisfied.
Did you
hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?
I didn’t with the first memoir, and I regret it. I was
fortunate to have a friend of mine who is both a writer and an editor volunteer
to edit Road To Transplant. Now this book is more than 330 pages. She painstakingly went through the
manuscript. I could not believe what a difference a professional editor makes.
I will always use an editor for all of my future work.
What have you’ve
learned during your self-publishing journey?
Patience! Getting through the formatting issues is
frustrating sometimes. I feel comfortable doing it again. Like most things, the
more you do it, the easier it gets.
My books are for sale at CreateSpace, Amazon and my web
site. I also have a formal presence in Amazon UK, Italy, Spain, France,
Germany, India and Japan.
What kinds
of marketing [twitter, facebook, blog, forums] are you involved with for
promoting your book(s)?
I us Twitter, Face book, I am starting a new blog in January
and You Tube. I belong to about a dozen writing groups on facebook and I also
belong to something called “Meet-up”. I schedule book readings for clubs. Rael
grass roots stuff.
What
advice would you give a new author just entering into the self-publishing
arena? Be patient. Be
thorough. If you rush to press (I know it is exciting), you are apt to make
mistakes. You do not want you audience’s first impression to be a or one. Also,
practice! I noticed that many of the great writers all had dozens of short stories, novels and other papers. They may have
had a natural talent, but they wrote a lot. They practiced.
What’s
next for you?
I have three more books I expect to publish in 2013. The
first, tentatively called “Memories Of The Cold War” is on schedule to be
released just before Memorial Day. It is a historical semi-fiction. It is based
on a true cold war time line. Then, I over lay my life with some true stories,
some embellished stories and some fictional stories. For the record, it is
fiction – mostly …maybe. The second book is another collection of short stories
and poems, and lastly, I am writing another management book, relating to the
use of strategic and tactical business plans in a small business environment.
My Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/brha99
My You Tube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Brha99
Amazon author page:
I was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1954 into a
middle-class, blue-collar, Jewish family. I am the middle child with a brother
one year my senior, and a sister two years my junior. In 1961, my family moved
to the suburbs of Los Angeles, California. I am the second generation,
American-born son of Austrian and English grandparents on my father's side, and
Polish and Russian grandparents on my mother's side. I enlisted in the United
States Air Force in 1972, and was finally medically discharged in July of 1990.
I
published my earliest book in 1999, entitled "Using Strategic and Tactical
Planning to Make Your Veterinary Practice More Profitable." During that
period, I wrote five scripts for educational videos. Then, in February of 2011,
I published my memoir, "Death: Living To Talk About It." On August
20, 2012, I published my first work of fictional, "Five Short Stories and
Twelve Poems." Now, after more than two years in the works, "Road To
Transplant," my sequel to the memoir, is scheduled to be published
November 17, 2012. I continue to write both fiction and nonfiction, maintain a
weekly blog; recently, I've also began construction of a new, all inclusive
website.
I
married a wonderful girl, Denise, in August of 1974, and I'm happy to announce
that we are still very much in love. We've been happily married for more than
thirty-eight years, with two grown children. Our son, Joseph, married and has
provided us with three absolutely wonderful grandsons. Our daughter, Angela,
also married and has provided us with an additional three terrific step-grandsons.
We currently reside in San Antonio, Texas, where we are surrounded by a support
team of healthcare providers, family, and wonderful friends.
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