The Heart of a Father -- First Draft Complete!

Dear Heart Friends:

I have just returned from Staples where I printed and bound copies of the first draft of the book for my co-editor and for Dr. Fedderly, who will write the Foreword for the book. It's 200 pages without any clip art or photos. So one of my first jobs with the line editing is to cut, cut, cut. Michelle Jestice and I cut The Heart of a Mother by at least 10% twice before we were done. I think if I cut HOF by 10%, that will be a good start. I'm not sure I want to cut it by 10% twice. The Heart of a Mother was over 400 pages when I realized that I had to cut, cut, cut.

I have really had fun this week with finishing up my phone calls to the contributors. I still have 6 or 7 calls to make. It has been so much fun putting a voice to the essay. Or in one case, putting someone else's voice to the essay -- since one of our contributors is deaf and I had to use a special relay service to communicate with him. I am hoping that this contributor will sign his essay so we can make it available to other deaf readers in ASL. As a former teacher of the deaf, this is something very special to me -- I'll certainly be letting all my deaf friends know about it!

I appreciate those of you who left a note that you want a copy of the book. I know you won't be disappointed. These gentlemen have really shared some special stories, advice and wisdom. I only hope that my editing and organization does them justice.

The Heart of a Father - Publication Date Set!

Greetings, friends! I have some very exciting news to report regarding The Heart of a Father. I finally received all of the essays I have been waiting for! We are still in the process of editing the essays, but now the book has all of the material I feel it needed to be complete. It feels good to finally be at this point.

I have set Fathers Day 2009 as our publication date. We need time to get the book to the printer, to receive it and then send it out to reviewers. We still need to create the back cover -- which will depend up quotes from the reviews we get from early readers. We are hoping to receive some pre-publication publicity and book reviews in magazines and newspapers. Sometimes it feels like putting the book together was a piece of cake compared to the tasks we have before us -- and we aren't quite done putting the book together yet!

I am excited that we have agreed upon the front cover and that I have hired an interior designer to help with inserting art and photos in the book. I really needed extra help putting this book together. I did almost everything myself with The Heart of a Mother (except for hiring an excellent editor to work with me -- Michelle Jestice), and it was extremely time-consuming. With all of the other things I'm involved in now (robotics coach, swim official, having a senior in high school and taking Alex to college 5 days a week), I'm afraid it would take me over a year to get everything together. With the help of my dad and Sue, my interior designer, I am hopeful we'll get the book to the printer in a much more timely manner.

Once we send the book to the printer, Sue will post a pre-order form on the website. I am eager to see who wants to order the book. I am hopeful the heart community will welcome this new resource which shares so many heartfelt stories, expert advice and downright insightful experiences of men from around the world.