Short Stories and the Story Pod

As you may – or may not – know, I do two different types of podcasts, one audio and one video. If you’ve ever had a chance to view or listen to one, I’d like to hear from you and get your opinions on them. Just add a comment below, drop me a message of Facebook, or visit my online contact page.

As I said, there are two types of podcasts I produce. First, there are my videos that run the gambit, from sharing some of my favorite hikes and outdoor adventures, to short historical documentaries, to music videos by my old band. I usually post these once a month but have two planned for September, a new one from my book, Hiking through History Alabama, and the first one for my new book, Best Dog Hikes Alabama.

The audio podcasts are my absolute favorite to produce, probably because of my old radio career that to me was my dream job. I call these podcasts my “Story Pods”. They are simply short stories about growing up that hopefully we can all relate to, that bring back happy memories for you, or just get you thinking. I always post at least one a month to SoundCloud for your listening pleasure.

Several of the stories have been culled from my book, Living in a Banana Dream, but there have been new stories produced with more on the way, all of which are “loosely based on faulty memories”.

I love producing these for several reasons. The first, as I mentioned, was that I get to put my radio chops to work. I love to work in a studio. The other reason, and most obvious, it that they take me – and hopefully you, too – back to our childhoods when life was simpler.

I love producing these for several reasons. The first, as I mentioned, was that I get to put my radio chops to work. I love to work in a studio. The other reason, and most obvious, is that they take me, and hopefully you, too, back to our childhoods when life was simpler.

So, the stories from Banana Dream, including a ton of new ones, are being refurbished and will be winging their way to a publisher hopefully by the end of the year. We’ll see how that goes. In the meantime, there are more stories to tell so be on the lookout for them. The September 2018 edition is called, “Love is a Many Splintered Thing”, the story of the very first time you go out on a date with the opposite sex. Uh-huh. You’re already reliving your experience, aren’t you?

Don’t forget, you can listen to all of the Story Pods on my website, JoeCuhaj.Com.

Till next time….

The Edits are In! The Edits are In!

My wait is over. I’ve received the first of two go-arounds of edits for the “Best Dog Hikes Alabama” book. All I can say is, at least the Table of Contents is correct. Just kidding! It actually looks great.

From what I see the corrections are the typical lot - a lot of basic “should hyphenate this” and “shouldn’t have abbreviated that”. The rules always slightly change with each book, but that’s ok. I’ll take it!

It really does look good and I think you will enjoy this guide book. I didn’t realize how much detail went into this one until I glossed over it last night.

This first edit is my “corrective” go-around where I get a chance to correct any mistakes that I missed when I proofed it the first time, add any missing tidbits, and make the changes the editors requested. I also get a chance to change any mistakes on the maps.

My hat’s off to the cartographers who did an amazing job transferring my GPS maps and handwritten and diagramed topographic maps into really great looking images.

So, I have 10-days to turn this around and get it back to the editors. The next time I see it there will be no more changes, only minor corrections in grammar and punctuation. It will have all of the full-color photos placed within and I’ll finally get to see the actual cover, which, of course, I will share with all of you just as soon as I see it.

Well, best get to it!

Dear Sir or Madam, Will You Read My Book?

I’m in that Twilight Zone period that all writers face. It’s that void, that black hole where you seem lost, disoriented. You’re not sure what you should do. If you do have an idea about what you should do, you’re not sure where to begin.

That’s right, I’m between projects.

If you are a writer, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I currently have proposals for a few new books sitting on the desks of acquisition editors around the country. You put in long, hard hours on the proposals, putting down on paper (or Word Doc) in great detail the concept behind the book, who the book will appeal to, the marketing plan for the book with solid examples of what you will do to help make it a New York Times bestseller, write a long and lengthy annotated table of contents (which basically outlines the entire book), and then produce at least three sample chapters.

And then you wait.

A response could take anywhere from 2-weeks to 6-months. But here’s the rub: you may NEVER receive a response. Either because they don't like it or they just never read it. So you would think, well, I’ll send the manuscript to multiple publishers. Oh, no. You can’t do that. The publishers you send them to have a strict rule – “no simultaneous submissions”.  What that means is, “You sent the proposal to us, now don’t send it to anyone else until we reply”.

But what if they never reply?

And that’s where I get thrown off the rails. I know the books are rock solid and will do well. Trust me, that’s not conceit. You have to feel that way or why are you writing the book and submitting a proposal in the first place? You want to keep pushing the manuscript to exhaustion before moving on to something else but you know that there is, more often than not, that chance of never hearing from the publisher again for whatever reason. So you feel like you've wasted your time sending the proposal to only one publisher and not hearing anything in 6-months...but you couldn't send it anywhere else. Ugh.

And that’s where I am. I have three proposals out there, manuscripts that I have always wanted to write, that I finally did write, and now they are out there helplessly waiting for the go ahead, or the snub. When you put that much work into something it can be hard to pry yourself out of the hole where all you want to do is just keep pushing the manuscripts out there and do more to give them a fighting chance. But you know that there isn’t much you can do for them except wait, change gears, and get yourself motivated to start on other projects that you have always wanted to do.

But those other proposals…..