Let's Hope it's a Good One...

 

I hope you are enjoying the holidays with your friends and family and wish for you a joyous, prosperous, and healthy new year. 

It will be a laid back, non-eventful New Year’s Eve / Day celebration here. A lot of writing assignments are piling up and until I get to retire from my day job (yes, being an author does NOT guarantee lifestyles of the rich and famous, LOL!) I have quite a workload to take care of. 

Here’s what you can expect from me in 2022. It’s going to be a great year! Again, Happy New Year! Hope to see all of you on the trail soon. 

COMING IN 2022: 

June 2022: Hiking Alabama 5^th Edition (Falcon Books)

August 2022: Space Oddities-Forgotten Stories of Mankind’s Exploration of Space (Prometheus Books)

Winter 2022: Best Easy Hikes Birmingham (Falcon Books)

Winter 2022: A History Lover’s Guide to Mobile and the Alabama Gulf Coast

Just When I Said...

I can say one thing about my part-time job as an author and freelance writer. I am never bored with nothing to write about.

Just after I posted my last blog entry, in comes a slew of projects. In the pipeline, I have eight articles for TravelAwaits to write, two publishers have approached me for two new books and a third is waiting for me to complete a proposal before committing.

I don't think I will be bored in retirement.

In the meantime, I'm awaiting the final proofs for Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind's Exploration of Space which is set for release in July. The last go round wasn't too bad. It's funny how the acquisitions editor red it and only found one error. Give it to the content editor and POOF! I think he must have ran out of red ink. LOL!

Those edits were basically minor corrections, but some of his remarks puzzled me. For example, what comes to mind when I talk about mice being loaded onto a rocket and I say, "the rocket exploded and the mice were lost"? He questioned that and asked, "did they escape and run away?"

Guess you can see it both ways. I can't but the editor knows best.

I hope the "Space Oddities" publisher signs me up for presentations at all of the NASA visitor centers. Now THOSE will be some fun book signings (and road trips). Meanwhile, while I wait for the final proofs, here is a teaser for you, the first trailer for the book. Hope you enjoy it.

The Proposal

 

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I am at a quandary over my next book project and the perplexity continues. This interim period for me between books is an odd time. As I close out the editing process on my latest two titles, Hiking Alabama 5^th Edition and Space Oddities:Forgotten Stories of Mankind’s Exploration of Space, I get the bug. It’s a feeling that I really need to write another book. These last two books have led me to a thousand new ideas for other titles. They are rushing around in my head, each one shouting at me that it needs to be the next one I need to pursue.

Unlike big name and world famous authors, writers like me are not under long term book deals. It’s a fight to get the attention of a publisher and have our book ideas get past the dreaded Acquisition Editor. We do this through query letters first where on a single page we have to describe our idea by making the words jump off the page and smack the editor in the face making them sit up and take notice and say, “Hm, interesting idea.”

 I have been very fortunate since my first book, “Hike America Alabama” (later renamed “Hiking Alabama”) was published in 2000. That book offer came to me by chance when I approached the publisher, Beachway Press (later Falcon Guides) with another project. They declined my idea and offered me the Alabama book. Sweet. My third career was born and ever since, I have been able to skirt around the query letter step.

When it comes to my outdoor recreation books, since I have been with Falcon so long, they usually come to me when it’s time to update my previous titles or to ask if I would be interested in writing this book or that book. That has been the case with PaddlingAlabama, Best Dog Hikes Alabama, Hiking Through History, Hiking the Gulf Coast, and Hiking Waterfalls Alabama. For my non-fiction history books, that is another story.

For my history titles, I make the bold move and skip the query step and go right to the proposal. A proposal is the blueprint of a book that outlines every detail, every nook and cranny of what I envision a book to be complete with a detailed outline of each and every chapter, how it should be marketed, and so on. Not to pat myself on the back but my proposals usually hit the mark and spur the Acquisition Editors to call, ask questions, and sign me on. That has been my experience with Baseball in Mobile, Hidden History of Mobile, and my latest, SpaceOddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind’s Exploration of Space.

That last title, “Space Oddities”, was the most fun I had writing. The researching and writing was everything I believed writing should be and it spawned a dozen different ideas for future books, each one more exciting and interesting to me than the first. That is where my problem lies. 

As I said in the beginning, each one of these ideas are shouting at me, “Write me! Write me!” I literally have five proposals started for different titles. While researching the proposal for one book I’ll stumble on some interesting facts for another that sucks me into the proverbial rabbit hole and the next thing I know, I’m working on that proposal instead of the first one that I originally started on.

But this is a good problem to have. With retirement from my day job imminent, I see a whole new world opening up. I can’t wait for that adventure to begin. But before that time, I have a proposal to finish writing. Oh, wait. Look at that over there. That would make a good book.

The journey continues.

On Deck

 

I took a short break from writing after I worked through the final edits for Hiking Alabama 5^th Edition and Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind’s Exploration of Space. It’s a waiting game now until the initial proofs arrive for my final blessing. In the meantime, as I relaxed by mowing our pasture over and over and over again (I miss the horses!), I began thinking about what the next book would be.

Hopping off the mower I went inside the house and dug out my bajillion notebooks, each with ideas scribbled in them with possible ideas that date back to my high school days. Most of those will NEVER see the light of day. Out of the stack, five options leapt out at me. One of those is the mystery that I had started working on two years ago, Dead Air, a good old fashioned mystery based at a local radio station in the 1940s. (The rough - and I mean rough - first chapter can be read here.) The concept is good, the rough draft was mediocre at best, so that one would need a lot of work. 

As for the others, I had already started fleshing out the material, doing enough basic research, and writing sample chapters to include in possible proposals to publishers. Before going down the long and winding road of creating a lengthy proposal, I put together a query letter for each one and will be submitting them to a few publishers to see what will stir up interest 

As I have mentioned previously and in earlier blogs, my writing began in high school. After graduation, I wrote many articles and short stories which led to a new pastime – rejection letter collecting. I have quite the collection, too, all in three ring binders neatly tucked away on bookshelves in my writing room. 

The first is my collection of short stories about growing up, all loosely based on faulty memories. Many of you have either read or heard some of these stories on my podcast, Joe’s Shorts. They need a good re-working plus several new stories will be added. 

The next three are non-fiction historical books. One came to me as I was writing Space Oddities. It is the story of how pop culture and the space race ran parallel courses between 1958 and 1971, many times intersecting to create unusual results. 

In that same vein, I had started another book five years ago that recounts the history of July 1969 as the first humans walked on another world. The manuscript titled Everyone's Gone to the Moon (after the 1965 Jonathan King song) was centered around the entire month from July 1st to 31st. The book would chronicle interesting and unusual new stories and pop culture events that occurred during the month as well as present interesting and lesser known stories of the preparations and eventual first landing on the moon.

Finally, I have always been fascinated with the music of the 1940s, particularly during the war years. I have a proposal for another non-fiction historical book tentatively titled, GI Jive. The title was taken from the great song composed and sung by Johnny Mercer and also sung by Louis Jordan. The goal of the book is to document not only the history of many of these tunes – how they were written and recorded – but to also put them into context as to what was occurring during the war at the time of their release and how the songs related to the people fighting overseas and those fighting the war on the home front through interviews. 

So, now I need to figure out which one to pursue. Can’t do them all at once, you know. Or can I? Hm. Who needs sleep! I’ll keep you posted and let you know what the final decision is.

Rest & Relaxation...Not.

 

I've taken a few days off from the day job to just take a break and relax for a bit. It has been a hectic few weeks. It has been very busy at the day job (yes, friends. Don't let anyone kid you - writing does not necessarily pay the bills.) Then there is the writing. I had to complete the second round of text and map edits for the new edition of Hiking Alabama (which is due out April 2022) and at the same time, run through the second and final round of edits before the galley proofs arrive for the book Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind's Exploration of Space. And there are constant articles I have to write for various online sites.

Don't get me wrong. I love it. But sometimes you need a break and that's what I've been up to. Trouble is, within a few days of saying that, I get the itch. In fact, as I take a couple days off from that day job to do absolutely nothing, three new book ideas popped into my head and all thought of relaxing have been put on the back burner as I sit here and begin writing the proposals.

As I was writing the proposals, I got the bug to do a little audio and video production again so now I am working on the book trailer and an interview for the Space Oddities book.

I guess I should face the fact that letting my imagination run wild on the printed page IS my relaxation. So, I'm back from my little vacation and at it again. Much more to come.

First Review

 

Don't get me wrong. I love all of the 12 outdoor recreation books and two non-fiction history books that I have written over the past 20 years and think they all turned out great, but my latest title, "Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind's Exploration of Space" is my absolute favorite. I jokingly call it my "real book" only because of the amount and depth of research I had to do to and how the words flowed as I wrote it. It was liberating not having a strict format to follow and being given complete artistic license to actually write.

I put the manuscript to bed several weeks ago and shipped it off (ok, emailed it) to the editor and last night received an incredible reply, the most glowing review I have ever received. It is the proudest I have ever been about any of my works which made it difficult to sleep last night. The review said:

"What a joy to read! Loved every minute of it. Interesting, well-researched, compellingly written, full of “what! Really?!” moments – exactly what we had in mind for this book. Excellent work, and a squeaky clean manuscript to boot – I wish every author that I worked with submitted a manuscript as clean as this."

WOW! Nice! I can't wait for it to hit bookshelves but unfortunately, we'll all have to wait until July 2022.

Photo courtesy NASA

 

Coming Soon..Well, a Year from Now

Guess I better get cracking finishing the new book, "Space Oddities..." Looks like the publisher is serious about releasing it. LOL! This is a great write up (click here) that explains the book (that will be out July 2022) except they messed up the bit about the First Lady Astronaut Trainees. There were 13 selected, not 25. But still, good write up. The book will sell for $19.95 (or 13 pounds 75 if you're buying it in England. :) )

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781633887848/Space-Oddities-Forgotten-Stories-of-Mankind's-Exploration-of-Space

Now Available!

UPDATE (6/10/21)

Sorry, friends. But the few copies I have to sell and autograph are sold out! Thanks to all who purchased a copy. But don't worry if you didn't get one. I'm scheduling book signings and presentations now across the state and they are available at your favorite bookstore or online at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books-a-Million, etc.

   

 One of the best feelings is when that book that you've been working so hard on for the past year finally arrives in book stores and on your doorstep. I was thrilled the other day when my latest two titles, Hiking Waterfalls Alabama and Paddling Alabama 2nd Edition, arrived.

Both books are available through your local book store or online retailers but I have a limited number of copies of each for sale through PayPal. 

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If you order a copy, I will be more than happy to sign and personalize it for you.

Thanks for your continued support of my writing over the years! Happy Trails!

New Releases

 

Good morning, all! There are so many aspects to writing a book - any book, any genre - that brings joy to my heart: Beginning the research and the possibilities that blank page holds, the writing process to bring all of the pieces together, seeing the cover photo for the first time, even the editing process. But the one thing that makes me really happy is opening the front door and there sits a box from the publisher with copies of my latest book hot of the press.

And yesterday, there they were! The brand new book, Hiking Waterfalls Alabama, and copies of Paddling Alabama 2nd Edition.

Both books are now available online or at your favorite brick and mortar book store. I'm lining up some book signings and presentations so be on the look out for those and (hopefully) will have some autographed copies available online soon.

Now to finish the next two books - Hiking Alabama 5th Edition and Space Oddities: Forgotten Tales of Mankind's Exploration of Space. It won't be long before there will be a knock on the door and again, I will feel this feeling again.

Have a safe Memorial Day weekend, everyone. Until next time...

Even Astronauts Love a Good Laugh

Good morning, all. Work continues on my latest book for Prometheus Books, "Space Oddities: Forgotten Tales of Mankind's Exploration of Space". I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying the research and writing on this one.

I'm currently working on a chapter that introduces us to the lighter side of space and proves that astronauts and engineers are humans who love a good joke. Wally Schirra tells a great story about the splashdown and recovery of his Mercury capsule - Sigma 7 - in 1962 (an excerpt from the chapter, photo courtesy of NASA):

After successfully completing six orbits, the capsule’s retrorockets fired and Schirra made a textbook landing in the Atlantic Ocean only a half mile away from the recovery ship, the USS Kearsarge. Schirra jokingly radioed to mission control that he was so close that he thought they were “gonna put me on the number three elevator.”

The plan was for a team of Navy Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) swimmers (now known as Seals) to swim up to the capsule and secure a floatation collar around it to prevent it from sinking with the astronaut aboard. This was in response to the near tragic incident during the second Mercury flight in which the hatch of Gus Grissom’s Liberty Bell 7 capsule was blown, causing the capsule to fill with water and sink leaving the astronaut helpless in the ocean until help could arrive.

Panels had been removed from the top of the capsule to let fresh air in and from which Schirra could hear the swimmers outside.

“I hear this unbelievable splashing, yelling and screaming,” Schirra says. “All of a sudden everything lurches and this…guy in the water leaps up on the top [of the capsule] and I said, ‘What in the hell is going on out there?’”

The swimmer, who is trained to have nerves of steel to perform some of the most dangerous and terrifying covert missions one could ever imagine shouts back, “I saw the biggest jellyfish of my life here in the Pacific. It's unbelievable."

"What color was it?" Schirra asks.

"Orange and white!" the swimmer replies.

Schirra laughs, "You never saw a parachute under water before?"

The Alabama 100 Miles Challenge - Are You In?

If there is one thing many people have learned during the pandemic is that getting outdoors and participating in an outdoor recreational activity is fun and good for the heart, mind, and soul. With that in mind, I thought it was a good time to update an article of mine from two years ago that introduces you to a great program in Alabama - the 100 Miles Challenge. No, you don't have to hike, walk, bike 100-miles all at once. It's a total goal you are striving for during the year. Let me explain:

The Alabama 100-Miles Challenge.

It seems like a no-brainer but sometimes we all need a little reminder - doctors say that outdoor recreation is the best form of medicine to keep you healthy, relieve stress, and promote mental health. In fact, medical journals are reporting that some doctors have now started prescribing outdoor recreation as a means to cure what ails you.

For many, however, freeing up time to get out and away from work and the bustling lives we all lead can be a challenge, and getting the kids away from their video games, well, that can be an even bigger challenge, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, Alabama has a program that will help both kids and adults jump start a healthy lifestyle while at the same time, getting out and exploring one of the most beautiful and ecologically diverse states in the country - the 100 Alabama Miles Challenge.

This is Where is All Began 

Brian Rushing with the University of Alabama Center for Economic Development was the mastermind behind the Challenge. His plan was to encourage Alabamians to get out and walk, run, hike, swim, bike ride, paddle, or skate 100-miles in a year while exploring the state’s blue trails, state parks, preserves, and national forests. 

With the backing of organizations like AARP and the Alabama Trails Commission, the Challenge was off and running (no pun intended) and hasn’t looked back.

 

How to Take Part in the Challenge 

The Challenge invites you to challenge yourself, your friends, and family to do 100-miles of activities over the course of a year. Sounds like a pretty lofty goal, right? Actually, it is quite doable and really a lot of fun. All you have to do is to hike, paddle, bike ride, swim, skate, even ride horses for two-miles a week for a year, and you’ve made the challenge. The ultimate goal is that once you get started, you’ll find that you will quickly burn past that goal and add on additional miles because you are healthier and feel more invigorated while at the same time exploring even more beautiful Alabama landscapes. 

Now, you don’t have to do an extended backpacking or paddling trek to get started. A simple neighborhood walk is a good place to start.

If you want to involve your children, it’s much easier if you start them off right by taking them to a destination with plenty to do and see. Engage them as you experience nature by talking about the wildlife you come across (especially insects), try to identify different varieties of birds and wildflowers, or take them on an easy walk to a beautiful waterfall, swimming hole, or on a short canoe trip where you can pull off to a sandy beach and do a little swimming and picnicking.

 

Events 

What’s your pleasure? The 100 Alabama Miles Challenge isn’t limited to hiking. Mix and match your activities to make it even more interesting for you and your kids. Eventually you will find one activity that you all prefer over another. One week it may be a hike through a nature preserve, the next a paddle down a black water river, or maybe a little roller skating along the Chief Ladiga Trail.

Don’t know where to start or where would be a good destination to take your kids on their first adventure? Your best bet is to head off to the safe confines of an Alabama State Park where the options seem endless – take a short hike to some beautiful waterfalls or try your hand at mountain biking on the 2.5-mile long Family Bike Loop at DeSoto State Park; take the 1.5-mile round-trip walk to explore the magnificent stalagmites of Cathedral Caverns; or maybe do a little paddle boarding with the dolphins at Gulf State Park, 

The 100 Alabama Miles Challenge and the Alabama Trails Commission websites list plenty of destinations for you to explore. The Challenge website has also set up a special directory that lists participating groups across the state. These groups and organizations plan fun events where you can join in with a community of friends with the same goal and that will help get you and your family off on the right foot to make the challenge and continue on for a lifetime.

 

Who Says Astronauts Aren't Cool?

Hi, all! 

I know, it's been a while since I last logged an entry in the old blog. Funny thing, writing gets in the way. :)

I've been very busy - getting ready to do publicity for two new recreational guides - Hiking Waterfalls Alabama and Paddling Alabama 2nd Edition - to be released any day now and working to meet my June 1st deadline for two other book, Hiking Alabama 5th Edition and Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind's Exploration of Space.

While researching Space Oddities recently, I stumbled on this little gem. 

As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the moon in 1969, Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson played his song, "Bouree", in concert. In 2011, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight (the first person in space), astronaut Cady Coleman took Anderson's flute 220 miles into space on ISS and performed a duet with the rock legend of the same tune.

Later, back on Earth after she had returned from the International Space Station, she appeared on stage with Anderson to perform "Locomotive Breath".

Some of the stories I'm diving into for this new book. Enjoying every minute of it!

The Weather Outside if Frightful

 

The weather outside is frightful... at least by Gulf Coast standards. We're hanging out in the 30s at night with a cold, icy rain. Tonight we're expecting low 20s with wind chills in the teens, maybe less. I know, for all of you up north, you're saying, "suck it up, pal!" I feel the same. After 40 years here on the coast, I still haven't lost that Yankee blood and I'm enjoying the brief respite from heat and humidity.

This weather also makes a great excuse to keep brewing cups of hot tea and chocolate flowing (no, I didn't do hot Dr. Pepper - and for those of you wondering, it was a thing) and fleshed out more notes for two chapters of my new book, "Space Oddities: Forgotten Tales from Mankind's Exploration of Space".

Two chapters in particular are getting bigger and bigger. One is on the space program and Civil Rights with stories of Ed Dwight who should have been in the "New Twelve" astronaut corps in the early 60s after completing all of the tests and examinations with near perfection only to have his opportunity ripped out from under him, and the first black astronaut (well, cosmonaut) keeps getting more intricate.

The same goes for another chapter on international space agencies and flights. It just keeps getting more fascinating the more I research - the story of the Zambian space program whose centrifuge was an empty 55-gallon oil drum with a trainee in it that was rolled down a hill, the Soviet Union's plan to nuke the moon.

Suffice it to say, I now have binders of notes and reams of bookmarks in Internet Explorer on these two chapters alone. I guess I should start putting them all together. Deadlines wait for no man!

New Articles

 Happy Friday, all! Sheesh, I'm having a hard time keeping up with myself these days. I just turned in the final edits for Paddling Alabama 2nd Edition which will come out in June (Hiking Waterfalls Alabama hits bookshelves in July), and articles of mine are posting like crazy online.

Here are my latest two articles on TravelAwaits - the first is a guide to paddling with dolphins and manatees on the Alabama Gulf Coast. The other focuses on some basic tips for hiking Alabama's long path, the Pinhoti Trail.

Till next time...

Spring has Sprung..Almost

 

Spring has almost sprung. Well, almost. But it is time to start making plans to hit the trail to catch some beautiful wildflowers. Here's my latest on TravelAwaits.Com focusing on seven great wildflower hikes in Alabama.