Newsletter: Planning for the book release
On Thursday, I met a major deadline -- the end is in sight, and the summer looks busy as I record the audiobook and build out my author's platform
Dear Reader:
Thanks for your patience — I think it’s been three weeks since I’ve written you. You may recall I also teach, and this is a crazy time — our yearbook (which I’m really pleased with) came out on Friday.
Meanwhile, my wife is out of town on a business trip, so I’m holding down our home, teaching in the classroom (we go until June 15), and taking care of our two Siberian cats.
So yes, I’m busy, but I wanted to take some time to connect with you.
Deadline Update
On Thursday evening, I met a major deadline. There were eleven chapters that needed serious rewriting, which I’ve spent five weeks rewriting. I submitted those for additional developmental/line editing to my editor.
While I wait for her feedback on those chapters, I’ll be completing the rest of the “minor” edits on the other 24 chapters. I need to have everything done (along with the new edits from my editor) by June 1, at which point the revised manuscript goes to our copy editor.
It’s good I love this work, or I’d be stressed.
Updates on Tie’s publishing deadline: September 20
My publisher and I are still finalizing the schedule leading up to this date, but I am hoping to release all four version of the book — ebook, paperback, hardback, and audiobook at once. No promises, but I’m going to do my best.
To complete the audiobook, I’m planning to record from June 15 - 30 in our studio, and then edit it over the months of July and August. This means I’ll be editing on my laptop while my wife and I are vacationing in Los Angeles and on a Carnival Cruise to Mexico.
We’re weird that way — we tend to spend our mornings on vacation writing or editing. As I said, it’s good we love what we do.
A film about the origins of Wonder Woman
I can’t forget a title from the Top 50 Films found on Amazon article that I found in the New York Times. I found it quite powerful. Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017) is a film that explores
the unconventional life of Dr. William Marston, the Harvard psychologist and inventor who helped invent the modern lie detector test and created Wonder Woman in 1941. Marston was in a polyamorous relationship with his wife Elizabeth, a psychologist and inventor in her own right, and Olive Byrne, a former student who became an academic. This relationship was key to the creation of Wonder Woman, as Elizabeth and Olive's feminist ideals were ingrained in the character from her creation. Marston died of skin cancer in 1947, but Elizabeth and Olive remained a couple and raised their and Marston's children together. The film is said to focus on how Marston dealt with the controversy surrounding Wonder Woman's creation.
Let me put it this way — I was surprised by the origins of Wonder Woman. The heroine we see today has been completely re-invented.
If you see it, let me know what you think of the film.
What I see in Malcolm Gladwell’s universe of books
I finished up my Malcolm Gladwell binge, having listened to all of his books in reverse order: What the Dog Saw (most recently), Blink, David and Goliath, The Bomber Mafia, Talking to Strangers, Outliers, Revenge of the Tipping Point, and The Tipping Point (which I read first).
What I love about Gladwell is his ability to zero on on something specific, and then use research and story to help his readers see that something differently. It has definitely affected the way I see the world.
I wish our politics could focus on solving problems, rather than attacking our enemies (as an election strategy). Sometimes I hear the seductive music of my childhood, where we saw the world in black and white.
But I can’t. And one of the reasons I find the current state of politics to be a waste of time is that it is run by the extremes of each party — extreme conservatives on one hand, and extreme progressives on the other — who view the world through a black and white lens. Their side is good, the other side is bad.
Look at the following question:
If you are a Republican, can you tell me one thing President Biden offered us that you enthusiastically supported? And if you are a Democrat, can you tell me one thing that President Trump is doing that you enthusiastically support? It’s hard, isn’t it. We all distrust each other.
What bothers me most about this is that taking such a exclusionary stance on either side devastates any chance of building bipartisan communities. When our focus becomes entirely political, it means we lose friendships.
The problem with making our opponents the focus of our thinking is that we don’t come up with any positive ideas to make society better. We become tribal. All the energy goes to our hatred for the one we think is evil. And when we focus on our enemy, we give them power.
It’s why I’ve withdrawn from talking about politics online. I really can’t do anything there. But in my own small world, I can choose to focus on what I can improve and make better.
Managing a Saturday afternoon Bible study. Supporting my yearbook editors at school. Making our home a safe and happy place to be. Writing a book that I hope will provide an emotional road map for those who choose to leave.
Since I began doing this, my level of happiness has gone up. In other words, when you build community, you find happiness.
Would you like to read a Preview of Tie?
On June 10, after the edits are entered and the final formatting is done, I’ll be posting the memoir for my ARC readers. These are book lovers who download the memoir with the expectation that they will read it ahead of time, and when the book goes live, they can post a review of the memoir.
The goal is to release all four versions of How To Tie a Tie — ebook, paperback, hardback, and audiobook — on September 20.
If you are not an ARC reader — but want to know how to become one (and not just for my book) — I’ll pass that on to you in the next newsletter.
Follow Steven on Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube and Instagram. He can be reached at StevenDenlinger@substack.com