Going Where the Wind Blows
Some of you have hung around Fragments long enough to see several surges of zeal toward the prospects of some day putting together a book. Those tides have ebbed and flowed, then turned to calm seas and slack sails when I started teaching again. Now, I have this broad horizon of open ocean during which, if I'm ever going to do anything but cut bait, the time is now to fish! I have only this weekend printed out the 60 thousand words or so, and still have more reworking to do. But the winds are at my back and land is in sight, even if far off yet.
I need to decide soon what to do when the manuscript is done. Do I look for a middle man to help me 'publish on demand' or 'print quantity needed?' Do I jump through all the hoops and send it off to a small trade publisher or academic press? Or do I follow David St. Lawrence's steps and do all the formatting and printer-readiness work myself and then look for someone to print in batches of a few hundred at a time? Do I include some 'woodcut' black and white images from my digital archives to illustrate, or not? Do I work concurrently on a 'coffee table book', a DVD multimedia illustrated book (maybe with narrated chapters) and an online book?
The other question which I guess I just decided has been "do I make it available online" as part of the introduction of the book to a possible readership. I guess I've decided yes, I want to do that--at least excepts along as the segments approach completion. So in that frame of mind, because they are so much a part of the full experience of these fragments from home, I've added a few pictures to a word document of the foreword draft. I'd be honored if you chose to download and read it. Reader-visitors deserve the credit for there being anything written here at all, so it seems reasonable to include you in the telling of the collected fragments that make the whole of this book which I am calling "Nothing Ordinary: Reflections from Nameless Creek."
You can download the foreword from this link. I hope to put this and future additions in the sidebar as a permanent path to the parts of this thing as it takes shape. I would be happy for editorial feedback and advice you might have regarding any of the future directions this opus might take that I have mentioned above--or your ideas that I would never dream of in a hundred years.
Comments
A suggestion: Talk less do more. I've found that the more we mull over the pros and cons of the project most of our time is spent mulling and not doing.
But, if you want to accomplish your long-stated goal of bringing your words and/or photos to the world for consumption you are going to have to concentrate on that and spend less time trying to save the world from bird flu and fossil-fuel burners. Concentrate on what you're good at and leave fighting windmills to the other Don Quixotes of the world.
Posted by: Doug Thompson | January 8, 2006 10:08 AM
Fred, your atom.xml feed (the one with full text and images) has not updated in weeks.
http://www.fragmentsfromfloyd.com/atom.xml
Posted by: COD | January 8, 2006 10:23 AM
I appreciate what you're saying, Doug. But the real world at risk and this is not a Quixotic illusion or an idealistic mirage. I find it impossible to make music while Rome burns. I won't and can't stop staying abreast of these issues any more than you can ignore what is happening to our country because of the political pollution and toxins that threaten us. We have to maintain a balance between our creative selves and those parts of us that demand we speak truth to power, be it political or environment or medical. Even with this said, I am definitely shifting my energies away from blogging and current events--but not entirely! (posted also to comments where you still come via email notification but no one else does. BTW did I tell you that when MT rebuilds, it frequently never shows the process complete. I have to go to the front page and see if a new post has posted, then just close the window that is frozen in a rebuild. Sigh.)
Posted by: fred1st | January 8, 2006 12:39 PM
I have read the word document. This is really good stuff! I think you have something to say that will be meaningful to many of us on our journey "home". I am looking forward to reading more.
I do tend to agree with Doug. This is being presumptuous but methinks that perhaps this book is just where the universe wants your energies to be right now.
Posted by: Arthur | January 8, 2006 4:54 PM
I think that there is plenty of room in one's life for both talking and doing. As long as the talking is worth listening to, and the doing is worth talking about. While some folks do tend to give you their opinion before you even think to ask for it, I don't think Fred falls in that category. I'm glad to suffer his low-grade consternation because it represents the minority of his posts rather than the lion's share of blogs out there where negativity represents the vast majority of posts. The latter is my least favorite sort of blog - the sort of blog where one's negative persona runs wild and virtually every post is so much pissing and moaning that I cease to frequent it altogether ;)
Sean.
Posted by: Sean Pecor | January 8, 2006 7:12 PM
"We have to maintain a balance between our creative selves and those parts of us that demand we speak truth to power, be it political or environment or medical."
Perhaps, but let's remember that one man's truth is another's tin foil conspiracy theory. The bird flu threat may be real or it may be hype. The jury is still out. I don't happen to share the belief that the world is going to hell in a hydrocarbon-fueled handbasket. All any us have in this world are our opinions and they are just that.
Fred, you are one heck of a writer and photographer and a great storyteller but, in my opinion, you seriously dilute those talents when you venture off into crusades. Crusaders are, by nature, one-dimensional beings who live for the battle and nothing else. You are far too well-rounded for such single-purpose zealotry. That book you have in you needs to be published and we will all be better off if it is but I am concerned that it never will be as long as you allow yourself to be distracted by battles you can't possibly win.
Just one man's opinion. :)
Posted by: Doug Thompson | January 8, 2006 7:56 PM
Oh Goody - a book! I'm wildly interested, especially seeing as how you ended up in my world and I ended up in yours (Bammy ain't far away, and there are a LOT of your comrades down here in Florida - banjos on knees).
I want to read about how in the world you ended up in Floyd (via Wytheville) and how you ever adjusted to such a change! From the eternal sunshine and upbeat warmth of the Deep South - a big, open world - to the often damp and gloomy mountains - a world made small by ridges and fog. Did you miss the very SKY? The crispness and clarity as far as you could see? Did you miss the sun? The in-your-face blast furnace of summer? The not even dead winter landscape?
Did you hate it there at first, or was it love at first sight despite there being no childhood memories there? Did you have to change your way of thinking about some things in order to stay there? Did your long-ago ancestors live there at one time and have you come full circle?
Guess I have to wait for the book. (grins)
Posted by: M. Lawless | January 8, 2006 7:56 PM
In my humble opinion, no editing is needed. With this book, you are going to touch hearts, stir souls, create yearnings for that once in a lifetime place called 'home'.
One thought hit me like a lightening bolt,"Good came from what turned out to be a crisis of opportunity." It has happened in our lives. Life has swiveled on it's axis and spun us into new places and opportunities. We have learned to 'milk' change for all it's worth. I will be anxiously waiting for more.
Posted by: AnneD. | January 8, 2006 10:09 PM
Every one has an opinion. If it makes you happy, just keep doing what your doing, Fred. Your are a good read and an excellent photographer.
Posted by: Dave | January 9, 2006 11:58 AM