Only Days Away from the Alabama Book Festival 2017

I am very excited to have been invited to this year's Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery. The event features some of the best writers not only from Alabama but writers whose work focuses on the state as well. The event will be held April 22nd at Old Town Alabama.

When I was contacted by Kirk Curnutt to do the event I was a little hesitant but when he said there will be food, I was in! Just kidding.

I'll be on a special outdoor panel at 11 a.m. representing my latest Falcon Book, "Hiking Through History Alabama". It's a bit of a different take on the subject, this time focusing on the history surrounding the trails we walk from Native American history to the Civil Rights Movement and everything in between.

I'll be joined by two other great authors talking about the art of writing about the outdoors. First there is Renee Raney author of the book "Hairy, Scary, but Mostly Merry Fairies". This is a really fun book that encourages families and classrooms to get out and explore nature with fun activities and as the synopsis on the book jacket says, it's a "cure for nature deficit." And Renee should know a thing or two about that - she is the Director of Conservation for the Georgia-Alabama Land Trust's Conservation Education Institute.

Then there will be Lawrence Davenport, the co-author of the University of Alabama Press book, "Exploring Wild Alabama". Along with his writing partner Kenneth M. Willis, the book does a deep-dive into over 150 amazing destinations in the state you can hike to with detailed info on the geology, flora, and fauna.

It should be a fun event and I encourage all of you to join us. And don't forget to bring along a copy of any of our books (or you can purchase them onsite) and come on up so we can sign the for you!

Latest "Hiking the Gulf Coast" Video Released

Hi, again, everyone. For those of you who have been waiting the second of my videos taking you on some of my favorite hikes along the Gulf Coast has been posted. In this installment (2 of 4) I'll take you to the dark swamps, bayous, and marshes of the Louisiana Gulf Coast.

Crankin' Up the Podcasts

I'll be posting more and more podcasts this year. You'll be able to find links to them on my Facebook page or on my website, www.joe-cuhaj.com.

There will be audio podcasts with more stories from the past which are the basis for many of my short stories and more videos podcasts like this. This is the first of a four part series based on my book, "Hiking the Gulf Coast". In part one I'll take you to the great hiking trails along Alabama's Gulf Coast. The next edition will feature coastal Louisiana.

Enjoy, won't you?

Hiking the Gulf Coast Part 1: Alabama

Starting to do more podcasting. I've dabbled but time to do more with it. This is the first of a four part series highlighting the amazing trails along the Gulf Coast from Tampa, Florida to Corpus Christi, Texas, all of which are part of my book, "Hiking the Gulf Coast".

Hiking the Gulf Coast Part 1: Alabama

Resuscitating the Dream

Many of you may have noticed - OK, two or three of you may have noticed - that my eBook Living in a Banana Dream is quickly disappearing from eBook store shelves. While I would love to tell you that it’s because it is a New York Times Bestseller, or even a Home and Store News Luke Warm Seller (that’s a nod to my friends up in Jersey), it’s for a different reason.

Living in a Banana Dream is being revamped. Several new chapters are being added; terrible editing is being corrected; rights are being wronged. No, wait. Wrongs are being righted. This is all in an effort to bring Banana Dream to not only digital readers but to brick and mortar shelfs as well in paperback form.

After putting it off for quite some time for a variety of reasons I have finally gotten the opportunity to duck in full force and I am working my way through the process of having the book picked up by a publisher right now. It’s a tedious process but let me tell all of you aspiring, un-agented authors out there, take it serious. You will learn a lot about yourself and your book in the process.

The hardest part, at least for me, is not overselling the book, making it more than it is. For my outdoor recreation books like Hiking Through History Alabama or Hiking Alabama I am very familiar with the publisher so either they ask me directly for a book or I know exactly what is expected when I propose a book. I know the right balance of enthusiasm.

It’s different with Living in a Banana Dream. I’m delving into the literary publishing world, a much different beast. Banana Dream has been brewing for quite some time and when you work something that long and hard you can’t help but be excited and are willing to promise a publisher the moon to get it to print. I’ve learned a lot about gauging the audience, the submissions manager, from this process and how to talk about the book in glowing terms but not going off the charts, even subduing my marketing plan from doing a 10,000 city book tour down to something more reasonable (I exaggerate about 10,000 cities…but I can dream, can’t I?)

The main thing is that the process gives you a chance to review your book again. In the query letter of a proposal you need to give the publisher a little excitement, that this book belongs in their catalog. I did that and realized that there was a disconnect between my initial “hook” and the book itself. I have since revamped that section and now the feeling of the book is summarized nicely in a single paragraph, much better than my rambling diatribe.

So, the process begins anew. I’ll try to share my exploits with you as the journey progresses for Banana Dream and two new manuscripts almost ready to hit the circuit, a murder mystery called Dead Air, and an historical book on the soundtrack of World War II music, GI Jive.

To be continued…

Alabama's Amendment #2

Just one of the falls you'll see when you hike the Falls Loop at DeSoto State Park.

I really don’t like getting political (you lose a lot of friends:)) but I have been asked by MANY people this morning about the upcoming vote on Amendment 2, the amendment that would guarantee funding for Alabama State Parks.

For me personally I am voting yes to Amendment 2. First of all, I love Alabama’s state parks. To me they are some of the finest around with amazing landscapes, trails, and outdoor recreation. They are a treasure.

The question is whether the amendment would also allow the parks to be privatized. I think an article by Conservation Alabama (view the article here) answers that question quite nicely. One line in the article says it all, “If [the amendment] passes, the only thing Amendment 2 would change about how parks are operated is to allow facilities that were paid for by a state bond issue to also use contractors.”

As I said, my personal feeling is that the state parks are a treasure for Alabama and need to remain open for tourists and residents to safely enjoy and explore the wonders of Alabama’s natural settings without the worry of having the rug (funds) pulled away by the state at a moment’s notice like last year when several parks were forced to close. The state has dug itself into a financial hole and instead of fixing the problem they have become comfortable with moving money from critical services such as education and health to put a band aid on the problem. Without this guarantee state parks will continually have an unsure financial future. They survived the funding fiasco last year, they may not be as lucky next year.

I think the article outlines what the amendment is all about quite nicely. The parks need to have a solid future for the hundreds of people who work for the park system, for all of us who love the parks, and for our kids and future generations.

Just my humble opinion.

The Dream Lives On

I hope you’ll allow me to indulge myself for this blog entry and take a trip away from the outdoor recreation books and my other writing to instead take a trip down memory lane. 

For those of you who have read the first edition of “Living in a Banana Dream” (yes, first edition, but more on that in an upcoming blog) you know that this “fictional” tale of growing up (loosely based on faulty memories, of course) centers around a gang of friends reuniting at a quintessential New Jersey diner before heading off to their 40^th class reunion. Well, the “dream” continues.

Back in June I made my way up to old Mahwah, New Jersey for just that, the real-life 40^th reunion, the one I wrote about two years before it even happened. Every hour except those used for sleep and the 3 or so hours that I spent at the real class reunion was with the gang and I’m here to tell you, and I can only speak for myself but I think the rest of the gang felt the same, it was just like in the book, like we had never left.

I’m sure there are other groups of friends that have survived the years and are still as tight as they were all those years ago but this seemed different, like we were family not just friends. Even though 2,000 miles and forty years separated us we were, and still are, just a phone call away. Our sense of humor including non-stop bad jokes and puns, our dreams, nothing has changed. Even my family is awestruck with how close this “gang” is.

As expected we did the usual reunion type events like eating at our favorite diners and restaurants we knew all too well from our distant past. We slurped down large frosty mugs of Egg Creams and chowed down on Kinchley’s Pizza and had Reuben’s at the Mahwah Bar and Grill. The only eatery we couldn’t visit was Pal’s Diner, the central figure of “Living in a Banana Dream” which was physically moved years ago to save it from ruin and which is now a thriving diner in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

We visited the old high school which isn’t the same at all. In the book, you may remember that I described it as a campus, several separate buildings that made it a challenge getting from one class to another on those frosty, icy, bitterly cold northern winter mornings. Today it is a single building, all-in-one. A couple of the old buildings remain and are being used by the school board or for storage but otherwise, it’s not even close to what it used to be with the exception of the gold-ish statue of the school mascot, the Thunderbird, perched out front.

Even though the school was closed for the summer the new principal was gracious enough to allow a few of us to walk around and check out the newer building. We looked at the plaques, the awards, names of kids we knew from the Class of 76 who still hold records in one sport or another. Then we came upon the one place that was a must see for us - the cafeteria.

It basically looked the same but was no longer a single building. The front now had an overhang that attached it to the new building like an umbilical cord. It still had large glass windows in the front like it used to be but instead of looking out over a beautiful northern New Jersey mountain vista it now looked out into the walkway and the brickwork of the new building.

Each of us took a seat on the benches that were attached to long tables that stretched from one end of the room to the other. They were almost exact replications of the tables we used to sit at, or as far as we could remember they did. This is where the memories really began to flow. The cafeteria was the center of activity forty years ago. When we weren’t at one of our houses watching the Yankees, playing baseball, or cruising with our best girl, the cafeteria was the hub where crushes on your favorite girl or guy were either realized or dashed. It was where many notes were passed between tables and friends, sometimes being intercepted by the wrong person. It was where we made our plans.

After leaving the school we drove around town to see our old houses and haunts. Million dollar houses were springing up next to or replacing the old blue collar homes of years gone by. The town had become upper class, a far, far different feel than forty years ago when factories like the Ford Assembly Plant would chug out smoke and products to the world.

We circled around and drove up Route 17 not once but several times. The traffic there was still mean to borrow a phrase from TV show host Uncle Floyd.  My face pressed up against the glass of the car I was riding in, straining to see any vestiges of my old house, but there was nothing, not a trace of the old house that sat on the side of Houvenkopf Mountain, blown away by tons of dynamite years before so that a new multi-lane highway could merge in with Route 17.

For the first time during the trip my eyes began to tear as I remembered my Mom and Dad, long since passed, my sister who passed a year ago, and the too many to mention remarkable times the gang had in that house.

On the very last day, the day of the actual reunion, the class had set aside the morning to have a hike that I was to lead. It was a hike to McMillan Reservoir. Forty years ago, before we ever attempted our first backpacking trip we would take day hikes to the top of Houvenkopf Mountain, the nearby cliffs of Ramapo Torne, and McMillan Reservoir. The reservoir was one of our favorite destinations especially in the fall when the autumn leaves are bright and reflect in the still water. 

It’s hard to believe that those hikes so long ago, those little jaunts with the gang would end up leading me to the hills, canyons, rivers, and beaches of Alabama and an amazing side-career writing about one of my favorite activities.

I worried about the reunion. I worried about how everyone might have changed. I worried about how I have changed. I should have known better.