So, What's Up?

Good morning, all. It’s time for another entry in the weekly Blog. So, what have I been up lately? Well, I’ve been working hard on the new book, “Hidden History of Mobile”.

The book will tell some unknown stories from the 300+ year history of Alabama’s Port City. There will also be a few tales you might have heard of, but I’ll take a turn and give those stories a unique twist.

I kid you not, the notes I have for stories are overwhelming! What can you expect from a city with such rich – and LONG – history? They are just tossed about all willy-nilly around my writing room where I just stand, look at the notes, and say, “where do I begin?”

But, it’s coming together quite nicely and I think you’ll enjoy the final product. Don’t worry. “Hidden History of Mobile” won’t be a stodgy history book. Besides the Native Americans, early explorer, and Mardi Gras stories, I have plenty of fun chapters with amazing stories from Mobile’s pop-culture and entertainment past as well.

And even though I have a stack of material to work with, I’m always looking for something else – a unique story of what makes Mobile what it is. SO, if you have any stories you’ve heard or know about, I’d like to hear about them. Who knows, if I research it and it is included in the book, you could get a free copy. Just drop me a line through Messenger or through my website.

By the way, the book is slated for a Fall 2019 release.

In the meantime, as I continue on with history, Falcon Guides is looking at two brand new hiking guides to the state. More to come.

Have a great week, everyone!

And the Clock Has Started..Stopped?..Paused?

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Happy Earth Day, everyone! Welcome back to my weekly blog. I trust  you all had a wonderful Easter.

As is the case in writing, you win some, you lose some. More often than not, you end up on the losing end. And that is the case with my manuscript, “Everyone’s Gone to the Moon”.

            I’ve moaned about this before but for those of you not familiar with the wonderful, wacky world of writing, unless you are an established author in a genre, the process for getting a book published begins with a proposal.

            Now, I have written eight outdoor recreation guides for Falcon Books so I no longer go through that process. The editor asks, “what book do you want to write this time?” and poof, a new guidebook begins.

But I am trying to move on to other genres – short stories and non-fiction historical books. Changing genres is a different beast and proposals to publishers when making this move is a double edge sword. You work hard on a proposal, mapping out every detail of the book – the goal, the overview, each chapter, the target audience, marketing plans, you name it. Then send it off to a publisher.

            The general rule is, do not send simultaneous submissions. What that means is, don’t send proposals to publisher “A” and publisher “B” at the same time. There are some publishers that don’t follow that rule and don’t care, but most do. They want to know that they have first dibs at that new bestselling hit.

            That poses a problem for writers. It leaves you sitting on a manuscript possibly for months until you get a response, if you even get one at all. When you do, or when you give it an ample amount of time to sit on an acquisition editor’s desk, you start the process all over again with the next publisher. There is a lot of wasted time between submissions as you wait it out.

            I had the manuscript for Everyone’s Gone to the Moon completed one year ago. It is the tale of what was happening on Earth during the month of July 1969, that historic month when mankind first voyaged to a different world.

Many people say that the world stopped when Apollo 11 made its journey. Well, for a brief moment it did as Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon. But for the most part, it kept spinning. Wars waged on, the Civil Rights movement was intensifying, and families were having a tough time making ends meet. But there were so many other fascinating stories that have been forgotten that I felt needed to be told and that’s what the book was about.

The book follows the month of July 1969 week-by-week with each week being divided into three separate sections: the news and current events that were occurring that week, additional space news beyond Apollo 11, and the pop-culture that was shaping a generation.

So, I sent it to a publisher and waited. Three months later, they replied that they wanted it but couldn’t fit it into their catalog this year and next year would be too late for the Apollo 11 anniversary.

I sent it to a second publisher. They loved the idea and contracts were made ready. And I waited. Three months later, the publisher changed their business plan, dropping out of the print model and now they only offer eBooks. To top it off, authors would have to pay to have their work generated as an eBook.

I sent it to a third publisher, a university publisher, and waited. That was three months ago. Just this week I received a glowing email from the head man. He was extremely excited about the manuscript, couldn’t say enough about it, but…

The book is intended for general audiences, not scholarly types, and while he really wanted to run with it, it would take a tremendous amount of effort to get the people who review books to be included in a university’s catalog - all of whom are historians – to look at it as a general audience book and not as a scholarly publication. He did give me the name of another publisher who may be interested.

Undaunted, I sent the proposal back out again to the publisher the university press recommended but, sadly, there is no way the book can come out in time for the Apollo 11 anniversary. With luck, it will still be released as a general non-fiction historical book, just not in time for July 2019.

BUT, having said all of that and in spite of all of the shenanigans of the publishing world, I’ve decided that I will treat all of you to the book and will be releasing portions of it in serial form beginning July 3^rd right here on my blog.

I’ll have all of the details for you in an upcoming blog entry. Stay tuned!

So, to Recap...

Friends, if you missed the 2019 Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery, you missed another great one. The festival celebrates authors and writers from Alabama or authors who have written about some aspect of the state over the past year.

I can’t tell you how much fun it is to hang out with fellow authors to commiserate and celebrate. Away from our book signing table and panel discussions we talk about marketing, publishers, toss ideas out at one another. A great time with plenty of information for authors who are published through traditional imprints or go the self-publishing route.

The lineup was phenomenal. I especially enjoyed hearing from Frye Gaillard as he talked about his latest book, A Hard Rain: America in the 1960s. It was an interesting discussion of how the 60s parallels what is happening in the country and the world today.

I was honored and humbled (if you were there, you could tell) to be on the Exploring Alabama Outdoors panel with Craig Guver, author of Lizards and Snakes of Alabama, and William Deutsche, author of Alabama Rivers: A Celebration and Challenge.

It was a fascinating 50-minutes talking about Alabama’s biodiversity, how the environment - rivers in particular – are facing their biggest challenges to date, and the amazing reptile world the state hosts. Then our moderator, Kim Nix, turned to me to talk about hiking with your dog and I was barely able to muster phrases like, “uh, yeah. It’s beautiful out there.”

Just kidding. I think the three of us fit together on the panel nicely.

The day also features an Open Mic where writers get 15-minutes to tell or read one of their stories of passages from their books. Well, I thought I’d give it a try this year and tell one of my humorous short stories about growing up that was loosely based on faulty memories.

I showed up at the stage and I’m greeted by a woman who introduces herself. I tell her who I am and that I’m scheduled for the 12:15 slot. She says that she is scheduled for 12:15. She said, "Well, I only need 5-minutes. I'll go then that leaves you 10-minutes." 

“Uh..you..uh..I...but..”, he stumbles before reluctantly saying, “Okay.”

Now, when I do the podcasts of these stories just like I used to in my radio days, the basic story starts off being 15 to 20-minutes, then it  morphs into something bigger as when I'm telling it I recall other little bits of the tale or a related story. Before you know it, I've gone 30 to 40-minutes long. 

All week long I practiced the chosen story, honing it down to 15-minutes exactly and promising myself I would not veer off course. But now, only 10-minutes? YIKES!

I quickly regroup and decide instead to tell a story from my new book, Hidden History of Mobile (Alabama). I was winging it. It was a chapter about the Marx Brothers, in particular, Harpo, who had a significant piece of Marx history occur right there in Alabama's Port City.

I didn’t do too bad, but you could tell I was a bit blindsided and derailed by the switch. The story, coincidentally enough, was about the Brothers begin literally derailed on a train. 

ANYWAY, I began and immediately made a glaring mistake, calling the Marx Brother’s aunt "Mimi" instead of "Minnie". For some reason I was confusing John Lennon’s aunt Mimi with the Marx Brother’s aunt Minnie. 

I chuckled to myself thinking, "How appropriate. Just like the comedy group the Firesign Theater's album, All Hail Marx and Lennon."

But, I survived and had a good time with it. Stay tuned. I’ll be posting a condensed video of  both the panel and Open Mic very soon.

Exploring Alabama's Outdoors

I am thrilled and honored once again to have been invited to the annual Alabama BookFestival in Montgomery which, by the way, takes place this Saturday (April 13^th) at Old Alabama Town.

The event celebrates the state’s rich literary heritage. Authors are invited to participate in panel discussions, workshops, and book signings on every genre imaginable – history, romance, sci-fi, mystery, music, comics, you name it.

The festival is free and open to the public. A complete schedule and more details can be found on the festival website.

I’m excited to have been asked to participate in a discussion of a subject that I love – exploring Alabama’s outdoors. I’ll be joined by two other great outdoor authors and environmentalists and I confess, I’m very humbled to be on the panel with them and feel a bit out of my league – William G. Deutsch and Professor Craig Guyer.

Bill Deutsch is the co-founder of Alabama Water Watch, a community based water monitoring program, and is a Research Fellow, Emeritus in the Auburn University School of Fisheries. He is the author of the book, Alabama Rivers: ACelebration and Challenge.

Craig is a professor of biology at Auburn University and is the co-author of Snakesand Lizards of Alabama which caught the attention and applause of famed Alabama biologist, E.O. Wilson.

I’ve been preaching about the incredible bio-diversity in Alabama for quite a while now. If you didn’t know, the numbers are staggering! The state is:

·         1^st in the number of species of fish – 332 or 27% of those found in the U.S.

·         1^st in freshwater mussels – 180 species, 59% of all of those found in North America

·         1^st in freshwater snails – 202 kinds, 28% of all in North America

·         1^st in crayfish – 85 kinds, 22% of all in North America

·         1^st in freshwater turtles – 27 kinds or 57% of all in North America

And that doesn’t include the plants and wildlife.

I’ll leave it to the professors to tell you the science behind the amazing bio­-diversity found in Alabama (which the University of Georgia calls the “Fort Knox of bio-diversity in the United States”), but I can tell you that to truly see, experience, and appreciate what nature has bestowed upon the state, you need to get out and explore either by foot, paddle, or bike. And don’t rush it. Take your time.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ll post a picture from a hike of a beautiful flower or landscape on my website or Facebook page and people – both casual and avid hikers - will say, “I’ve been on that trail a thousand times. Where did you see that?”

Hiking, paddling, biking, whatever, is not a race. Take your time doing it! Slow down. Keep your eyes open. Be inquisitive. Take it all in and you will see it, and it is everywhere!

I’ll have more to say on that and much more this Saturday. Hope to see you at the Alabama Book Festival.

And That's a Wrap

All I can say is that the "Wagging Tails and Happy Trails" event at Cheaha State Park was was a blast! As you know, the event was to launch my new book, Best Dog Hikes Alabama, but also to help raise money and adopt a few rescues from the Clay County Animal Shelter in Ashland.

A portion of the book sales from the event went to help the shelter feed the pets in their charge and help pay for vet care. They brought 3 dogs with them and from what I hear, a couple may be finding a home! I'll let you know when we get the good news.

I was talking with the shelter's manager and currently they have 67 rescues but only 2 volunteers and a small staff to take care of them. That means abbreviated walks and socialization. If you live in the Ashland, Alabama, area, please consider volunteering. Whatever time you can spare will be greatly appreciated, and if you can't volunteer or adopt, then please consider giving a donation. Even the smallest amount goes a long way.

I was especially thrilled to meet the Bosarge Family. Mike Bosarge love Cheaha and when he passed away, he left a beautiful legacy - the Mike Bosarge Memorial Dog Park - a great oasis for your pups on top of the state's highest mountain. And people love it! It was crowded with playful pups all day.


Whenever I do a book signing I love to meet fans and FB friends. I was really happy to finally meet Florence Bradley and her hiking partner, JoJo. Florence has been a reader of mine for many years. So, I'm sitting at the signing table when a bag of books plops down in front of me. In that bag was a copy of ALL of my outdoor recreation books to sign! I jokingly tell everyone that Florence belongs to the "Cuhaj Book of the Month Club".

There are so many people to thank for making this event a success and I can't thank them enough: Thanks to Shannon and Brandy with the Animal Medical Center in Anniston who gave some impressive presentations on everything from vaccinations and preventive medicines, to hiking gear, to getting your pup ready for hiking. They put out a lot of information and the crowd was really into it.

Thanks also to the Comb and Collar and their dog Huck for showing us some training secrets.

And of course, the biggest thanks of all to Alabama State Parks, Cheaha State Park, and the two women who made this all happen - park superintendent Ranee Raney and park naturalist Mandy Pearson! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I was talking with Mandy and we're looking at doing a couple of really special and unique events at Cheaha later this year. Stay tuned for details.

In the meantime, I am starting to look at doing a similar event here on my home turf of Baldwin / Mobile County on the Alabama Gulf Coast. More details to follow.

Thanks again for joining me atop Cheaha! It was great meeting all of you all and we'll do it again VERY soon.