Monday, October 11, 2010

A Lot is Happening

It's not that there has been nothing to write about since my last entry, but rather that too much has been going on for me to have the opportunity to provide an update on the status of this project. As I write, the book is not only being printed but converted into multiple e-formats. The release day has been delayed till October 22 to accomodate some interviews that will take place that week.

Meanwhile, I'm sending out personal, direct mail letters to Jewish Book Fair venues (which I tried to contact by email, but about half of the emails listed on the sites bounced back) as well as to Hadassah organizations around the country that have book clubs. At the same time, I'm about to begin seeking blurbs from academics in the fields of Jewish History, Asian History, Russian History, Military History so that I can market it to Universities for use on their reading lists. (I'd particularly like to see places like West Point, The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute incorporate the book into their studies; I think the young and impressionable students who plan a military career ought to know that war isn't pretty and it isn't glamorous, despite the way it's been marketed to the public. (Remember when there was an embargo on photographs of coffins returning from Iraq? As if they thought no one would notice that people were dying as a result of that conflict)?

I'm also trying to gather my thoughts on how to explain what living in my grandfather's words has been like for these past few years. Before I began this project, he was something like a Superhero to me -- not because of amazing feats or strength or anything like that but because he didn't seem real to me. He was just a story while I was growing up, an interesting one but not one with which I felt a particular kinship. It's different now, but I still don't have the words to explain it.

I'm still behind in several other matters that I need to a attend to, notably creating a book trailer, which is like a video TV commercial for the book. I'm not going to try to complete with some of the glitzy book trailers that I've seen -- they've hired actors to play the roles in the book! I don't have a budget like that, so I'm going to have to be creative on a budget. I've had a concept in mind for several months, but just haven't had the time to sit down and write it. (Then I'll have to figure out how to film and edit it, but if I always thought about the next step after one I have yet to take, I'd be afraid to do anything at all). So here's to ignorance! Sometimes its the only reason that things get done.

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