It Was 20 Years Ago Today...or There Abouts

Good morning and Happy New Year, everyone!

As I woke up New Year’s morning, it dawned on me – it has been 20 years since I began work on my very first book, then titled, “Hike America Alabama”. And what an adventure it was - and continues - to be.

It all began about seven years after my radio career had ended. I had always wanted to be a writer and author but had little success. That’s when another hobby of mine began – rejection letter collecting. It’s quite an impressive collection, too.

Anyway, I had graduated college with a degree in software programming when a friend of mine – a huge fan and collector of memorabilia of the band, the Beatles - suggested that I write a CD-ROM (remember those?) about collecting Beatle memorabilia and records. So, I wrote all of the text, created videos, audio entries, gathered photos, and since this was pre-internet times, I sold it through several collector magazines. Surprisingly, it was a hit.

I decided to try something else – a CD-ROM with everything a person would need to know about section hiking the Appalachian Trail. Once again, I wrote the text, put together videos, audio entries, collected photos and maps, but this time, instead of selling it on my own, I sent it to 20 publishers.

Immediately, my rejection slip collection increased by 19. The 20^th, however, was a small publisher in Virginia called Beachway Press. The acquisition editor called me and said, “Sorry, there is too much out there on the A.T. and we can’t use your CD-ROM. But have you ever thought about writing a book about hiking in Alabama?”

The next thing I knew, I was signing the contract in the summer / fall of 1999 and began doing research at home before setting out on the hikes which began January 1, 2000.  In all, I probably hiked close to 100 trails, documenting each with a pencil, notepad, compass, topo map, measuring wheel, and camera then had to cull those down to the 50 included in the book.

(2nd edition-my least favorite - and everyone else's least favorite.)

The book was released in October 2000 but that first edition had an identity crisis. It was first released by Beachway under the title, “Hike America Alabama”. When Globe Pequot Press and their imprint, Falcon Guides, bought Beachway, they kept the original title.

Little did we know that a gentleman somewhere out west had a little business of his own where he would hand carve hiking sticks with a design for each state in the country. The sticks were called, the “Hike America <state name Walking Sticks”.  So there was actually a “Hike America Alabama” walking stick!

(3rd Edition)

Oops. Falcon changed the name to simply, “Hike Alabama”. Then finally, the first edition was renamed again to fit Falcon’s hiking series and “Hiking Alabama” was born and now, twenty years later, it’s in its fourth edition.

Thanks to all of you who have bought not only “Hiking Alabama” but all of my books over the years. The journey continues with research on my latest, “Hiking Waterfalls of Alabama”, underway and another new title slated to begin this fall.

Oh, and this fall, I'll have some special 20th anniversary celebration events. Stay tuned!

(4th edition)