Learning About Alzheimer's -- Part 1 of 5

In Chapter Eight of Where Love Once Lived, the male protagonist, Brian Donelson, learns that his mother has Alzheimer's. This week, I'm going to give you the entire chapter to read. I would love to hear what you think about it. I know that Alzheimer's patients react in different ways, but I'm basing this on my own experience with my mother.

Brian parked his rental car in front of his parents’ home in Redondo Beach, California, and glanced at his watch. Last week, at this time, he was parking the bookmobile at Karen’s school. An image of her walking across the parking lot was as clear to him as if he were there now. He wondered if she’d miss him when he didn’t show up today. He started to call her before he left, but he wasn’t ready to talk about why he’d shut down the bookmobile service. He owed her an explanation after barging into her life the way he did, but he wasn’t sure what he’d say. He still wanted her to love him the way she once did and the way he loved her still, but the bookmobile approach hadn’t worked. Perhaps this trip to see his parents and his daughter would give him time to decide what to do next. He stepped out of the vehicle and breathed in the smells of his youth. Even though his future was fuzzy, he felt a calmness he only found here in his old neighborhood with its palm trees, stucco homes, and the fresh smell of saltwater from the nearby Pacific Ocean. As he walked toward the house, he noticed Dad hadn’t kept the yard as neat as he usually did. Perhaps Brian could give him a hand with it while he was here. It’d be fun to trim the bushes, dig up the weeds in the flowerbeds, and mow the grass again.

The front door opened as he approached the house, and his daughter stepped out. She shut the door behind her and put her arms around him.

“Hi, Daddy.”

He’d planned to stay in his old room while at home, but when he called Amy to say he was coming, she’d insisted he stay at her place. She wanted to show him her new condo, she’d said, and it’d give them more time to visit. Even though he talked to her by phone and e-mail frequently, seeing her now reminded him why he’d stayed in a loveless marriage for so long.

“Hi, sweetie. What a nice surprise.” He backed away and looked into her eyes. “But what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

Her smile faded slowly and her eyes took on a seriousness he’d seen only once before, the time he told her he was getting a divorce.

“I need to talk to you before you go in.”

Something was seriously wrong.

“What’s happened? Is it Mom? Dad?”

Amy reached out and grasped his hands, her brown eyes focused on his eyes. “It’s Grandma.” She gently squeezed his hands. “Don’t be alarmed, Dad. She’s in no danger. It’s…it’s Alzheimer’s.”

Final Text Changes Made Today

Today, I made the final text changes to Where Love Once Lived. That scared me because every time I look at the manuscript I find something else to change. For example, I just happened to see this:

She felt the heat of his body and his familiar scent, both so strong she turned away.

Yikes! She couldn't have felt his familiar scent, not unless it was burning her nose. I changed it to:

She felt the heat of his body and smelled his familiar scent, both so strong she turned away.

Not great literature, but more accurate. This I found after millions of edits by me and several professional editors. So, I know there will be mistakes in the printed book. But, I've reached the point where it doesn't matter. Surely, there won't be anything too seriously wrong.

I made the final text changes because I received the interior proof for final approval. It was the first time I have seen the entire book in its final format. I had been wondering if it would look like a real book. It does. It's not huge. About the size of Elizabeth Berg's books. It is 5 1/4 x 8 inches and has 296 pages. The Microsoft Word version is 310 pages, double spaced, so this gives me an idea of size for future books. Now that we know the number of pages, the cover designer will know how wide the spine is.

CreateSpace recommends printing the interior proof out so you can see what it looks like on paper, but I only printed the first chapter. Then I scanned the rest of it on the computer screen. It looks pretty good. It would have been much longer if I hadn't cut out so many of the subplots. I kept everything and might find a way to use some of it in another book. But, I like the way the book ended up. It contains just what is needed for an interesting story.

Next week, this blog will be a little different. I've taken an entire scene from Where Love Once Lived and divided it into five parts. You'll be able to read one per day starting Monday, May 31, 2010. Let me know what you think about this. I might do it again sometime.

Smoking Grapevine

In Where Love Once Lived, one of my characters lives in the Clarksville area of Austin, Texas. There are references to my own experience living next to the neighborhood that was reserved for blacks only back when I was there. I lived on the white street, but our backyard was adjacent to the backyard of a black family. I don't remember anything about the parents of that family, not sure I ever saw them. But, I did talk to the children. We would often meet at the wire fence and stare at each for awhile until we finally got into a normal childhood conversation. I'm not sure how old I was, but since my family moved from there in 1946, I had to be about nine years old.

In future posts I'll tell you more about living near Clarksville because it made a big impression on me. However, today I would like to tell you about the move to South Austin. Back then, and to a certain extent now, South Austin was like a separate town from Austin. I remember telling my girlfriend goodbye. Lajuana Jolly. I bought her a necklace so she'd always remember me. But I knew I'd never see her again. After all we were moving to the other side of the river.

But we might as well have moved to another city. After the move, we only ventured out across the river when we had to go downtown. Checking Google Maps today, I see that it is only 2.3 miles from West 9 1/2 Street to Josephine Street. Today, I walk further than that for exercise.

The nearest grocery store was on Kinney Avenue and it was the size of a current day home two-car garage. Maybe smaller. Mother would send me to the store nearly every day to get groceries. We had a charge account there. They would give me what every was on the shopping list and then Dad would go in on Saturdays to pay for the week's purchases. I would often sneak in a candy bar that wasn't on the list so I didn't mind doing the shopping.

One day, a neighborhood friend went with me and he showed me a shortcut to the grocery store through a wooded area. Right in the middle of the forest he stopped and pulled out a knife. I didn't know what was going on and thought I better get out of there. But before I could move, he grabbed a thick piece of grapevine and cut off a few inches of it, stuck it in his mouth and lit the other end just like adults did with cigarettes. He took a few puffs, coughed, and passed it to me.

There were many interesting childhood times while I lived in the Josephine house. I wish I could put them in the book along with the Clarksville story. But, I'll tell you more here in the future.

Smoking grapevine is not smart, but it is not as serious as what our children and grandchildren face today. Did you have similar temptations when you grew up?

Cover Sketch Approved

I received the second sketch for the cover of Where Love Once Lived and approved it. It has all the elements I asked for and I think it will be eye catching when done. It has the bookmobile and school children from the first design, but now it doesn't look like a children's book. The designer said she thought it best not to add the church she had in the first sketch because it might interfere with the title. I like the cross in the clouds. Nice effect.

The next step is for the CreateSpace cover designer to prepare a black and white illustration. When approved by me, a full color illustration will be prepared. Finally, two cover concepts will be made for me to choose from. At each point along the way, I get one free redo. If more are needed, there is a charge of $100 per hour.

It is a slow process, but it is rewarding to be involved in all the parts of the book production.

Let me know what you think.

More on Christian Fiction

I'm still analyzing so-called Christian Fiction and remembered this review of Dee Henderson's The Witness which I wrote for Amazon.com in July 2006. I thought it would be useful to include it here because I want to talk more about this thing called Christian Fiction. I titled the review, The Middle Drags:

I must admit this is the first Dee Henderson book I've read so I didn't know what to expect. I bought it because it was said to be a Christian romance thriller. It begins with a bang and I couldn't put the book down for the first quarter or so. Then, it seems to go into slow motion for the next fifty percent or so. Then it kicks in again for the close. I was okay with the resolution of the story, unlike other reviewers. I didn't spot the lack of editing as some have reported, but I was distracted by the use of "couple" without "of" after it. I had never seen that before and it appeared a number of times.

I watched for the Christian view, and felt it was subtle. Not preachy at all. Just a few personal prayers, some discussion of one's belief in God. I noticed that there was no swearing or the use of alcohol or drugs. This I appreciated.

I plan to read more of her books.

I'm looking at other Christian Fiction to see how it is different from mainstream fiction because I want Where Love Once Lived to qualify for sale by members of the Christian Booksellers Association. However, I don't intend to make changes to it at this point in time, but I have made it fit the guidelines to the best of my understanding. I'll tell you more about this is a future article.

Have you read novels labeled Christian? If so, which ones? What did you think of them?

Bicycling Memories and Guilt

Today, I pedaled around Sun City in Georgetown, Texas for my health. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have gone quite so far the day after donating two pints of blood. Also, if I had it to do over again, I would have eaten breakfast first or at least had some orange juice. I thought about all this will parked on the side of the road trying to decide if I should call 911 or just throw up. After some deep breaths, staying close to the flower garden at the woodworking shop, I managed to get past the nausea. I had already thought of a way to hold on to the branch of a tree for support if needed. But soon, I felt better and was back on the bike heading for home.

Perhaps I was delirious, but as I rode the rest of the way (mostly downhill, by the way), I had vivid memories of bike riding as a kid. I remember sneaking off when I lived near Clarksville in Austin, so I couldn't have been more than nine years old. My friend, Bobby Bayer, went with me. We told our parents we were just going to see someone a few blocks away and we ended up in deep South Austin. I felt terribly guilty for lying to my mother. But not guilty enough to keep me from repeating the trip several more times.

Those memories and reminders of the guilt I felt, made me think about Brian, the male protagonist in Where Love Once Lived. Don't forget I said I may have been delirious at the time all this was going through my head.

In the novel, Brian had been brought up in a Christian family and attended church every Sunday. What's more, he loved to go to church and continued to go while he was away from his California home attending the University of Texas. Then, he commits a sin and, even though he knows better, guilt is such that he believes he is being punished by God. His punishment is to be in a loveless marriage.

He drops out of church for the next thirty years. This is all leading up to my wanting to tell you this is not a biographical story. It didn't happen to me. I was brought up in a Christian home and my life revolved around the church. I still have friends I met at church and we still get together frequently. I'll tell you more about the Combine as we go. I continued to be involved in church in college and while in the Marines. After marriage and kids there were times when I wasn't involved as much as I should have been, but that didn't last long. I may tell you about that period of my life someday, if I'm ever delirious again.

How about you? When did God become a major part of your life? Have you ever dropped out? What brought you back?

CreateSpace Publicity Services

I purchased CreateSpace's Publicity Kit for Where Love Once Lived. The kit includes 500 postcards, 500 bookmarks, and 500 business cards, all full-color, for $499. The book cover is a prominent part of the design, so I won't expect to see any of these items until the cover design is finalized.

You can see an example here: https://www.createspace.com/Special/Img/services/examples/publicitykit_sample_04.jpg

CreateSpace also provides Sell Sheets for $199. You get 100 full-color, single-sided 11" x 8.5" sheets featuring book description, author information, cover art, and buying information.

Here is an example: https://www.createspace.com/Special/Img/services/examples/sellsheet_sample_04.jpg

I decided not to buy this one since I have all the required information and can easily create my own. Unlike postcards, bookmarks, and business cards, the sell sheet is a standard size.

I'll show you samples when I get them.

Book Cover Sketch No. 1

I received the sketch for the book cover for Where Love Once Lived yesterday. In an earlier posting, I told you how I had answered the questionnaire about the cover:

Q: Describe your own ideas that you would like to see captured on your cover. Are there any particular color(s) or types of imagery that you would like to see on your cover?

A: A potential reader should know by looking at the book that it is Christian in nature. That can be as subtle as a cross or a partial view of a church. Not too flashy. Solid looking. Peaceful. There could be an interior or exterior view of a bookmobile since it plays a big part in the story. The main characters are in their mid-fifties, but they first fell in love thirty years earlier while in college. The male lead character has a neatly trimmed beard and light brown hair. The title is Where Love Once Lived. Brian thinks he will find love by returning to the city and the job where he last felt love, but instead, he finds happiness when God's love returns to his heart, where it once resided.

Then, last Wednesday, I talked to the CreateSpace account manager about the cover and I reported this in a recent blog:

I told her I see a man and woman looking at each other with a bookmobile in the background with children near it. I said I would like a symbol to show it is a Christian novel, but I wasn't sure what. She said the artist would read everything they have about the book and then come up with a sketch.

Now, take a look at the sketch I received yesterday.

Here is my response:

I love the bookmobile, the children running, and the trees and church in the background. However, without more, the book could be mistaken for a book about children or a book for children. The main characters are in their mid fifties and the book is about them getting back together again after thirty years. The man has a well-trimmed beard.

Perhaps the sketch could be reduced in size by at least 50 percent and moved to the background. In the foreground could be a man and woman looking at each other, maybe touching, but not a full hug or kiss.

I'm also concerned about the size. I know the sketch doesn't have to be to scale, but the perspective is off as is. The book size is 5 1/4 x 8.

Bookmobile is one word.

Let me know what you think. I started to ask for comments before responding, but the cover sketch needed to be changed so much I thought it best to get started on it.

Some of my friends with books published by standard publishers are amazed at how much input I have in designing the cover, so I can at least be happy about that.

The Bookmobile Librarian

Liz Siedo, the librarian assigned to the bookmobile in Where Love Once Lived, and who rides with Brian everyday is a memorable character. She's always jolly, a bit nosey and opinionated, but everyone loves her anyway, except the head librarian who is a grump and who assigned Liz to the bookmobile to get her out of the library.

But, what most people don't know is that Liz's outlook is due to a strong belief in God. In reality, Liz has lived a difficult life. In this excerpt, Brian and Liz are alone on the bookmobile and he has admitted to her that he hasn't been in a church in more than thirty years and that he bought the bookmobile to impress Karen and try to win her back.

“It all makes sense now.” She paced in the narrow hallway of the bookmobile. “My husband, back in Holly Springs, North Carolina, was an alcoholic. I got counseling and begged him to get help, too, but he just kept drinking until it killed him. I took the insurance money and used it to fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a librarian.”

“Good for you,” Brian said. “But I don’t see what this has to do with the bookmobile.”

“I’m coming to that.” Liz sat on the bench in front of his desk. “I heard the University of Texas had a great library science program, so I moved here.”

Brian wished she’d get on with it. They still had to set up for tomorrow’s runs, and he wanted to get home. He was thinking about calling Karen to see if she’d talk to him on the phone.

“So, you graduated and went to work for Austin Public Library.”

“Right. I hadn’t planned to stay here in Austin, but by the time I graduated, I was too involved in my church to leave. Besides, Michael liked it here, too.

“Michael? Who’s Michael?” He wished he hadn’t asked. This was taking forever. He looked at his watch.

“I haven’t told you about my grandson. He was living with us back home, and when I moved here, he came with me.” She looked sad all of a sudden. “That may have been a mistake. He’s in prison now.”

“Your grandson’s in prison? For what?”

“Driving under the influence,” she said. “Well, five convictions, actually. At least he can’t drink while he’s there. But getting back to what I was telling you. You know, why I think God put me here.” She pointed at the floor.

Brian checked his watch again. He didn’t have to be anywhere at a particular time, but maybe she’d take the hint and wrap up her story so he could go home. “Why?”

“It’s simple,” she said. “I’m gonna help you find God again.” She had a self-satisfied look on her face that was frightening.

Have you had the privilege of knowing someone like Liz?

Book Publishing Status Report

CreateSpace Projects:

LCCN Assignment--Completed. LCCN stands for Library of Congress Control Number. I also have an ISBN, International Standard Book Number.

Total Design Freedom Custom Book Interior--I approved the interior design (again) Friday, May 14, 2010. CreateSpace is now preparing the interior proof. I will have the opportunity to make text changes prior to the creation of the final files. I've been making notes of changes I want to make and hope I can get it all done soon. To see the latest interior design, see Where Love Once Lived.

Comprehensive Copyediting--Completed

Promotional Text Creation--Completed

Press Release Creation--Being prepared. Next is reviewing, approval, and final verification

Press Release Distribution--Currently scheduling. Next is distributing.

Publicity Kit--Currently working on proof. Printing is next. However, since the cover is used in the publicity items, I don't believe much will be done until the cover is complete. I'll tell you more about this later.

Illustrated Book Cover--The account manager called last Wednesday, May 12, 2010 to talk about the cover design. I told her I see a man and woman looking at each other with a bookmobile in the background with children near it. I said I would like a symbol to show it is a Christian novel, but I wasn't sure what. She said the artist would read everything they have about the book and then come up with a sketch. If I like the sketch, the artist will prepare two cover designs for me to chose from. She said it will be about ten days before I get the sketch.

This is a slow process. I can see now why it takes so long to publish a book. In addition to what CreateSpace is doing, I am writing a daily (M-F) blog called the Christian Bookmobile to help publicize the book and build title and author name recognition. By mentioning the book each day since March 31, 2010, the search engines have already picked up the title and the blog.

In addition to the blog, I've made contact with other Christian Fiction blog writers and am planning a virtual book tour using blogs. As soon as I have a definite publication date, I'll finalize the tour schedule. I'm also working on a Facebook fan page which I'll activate shortly before the publication date.

I've identified book reviewers who I will send sample copies of the book to in hopes they will review it. I will ask for honest opinions only and will not pay anyone for a fake review. If any of you would like to review the book when it comes out, please let me know. I can also send pdf versions sooner, but not until I quit changing it. Soon, I hope.

Also, I have identified book stores in both Georgetown and the Austin area, and will be talking to them about book signings. I'll prepare press releases for area newspapers as well and I plan to write articles for the newsletters of two of the writers' organizations I belong to.

Meanwhile, I should be working on my second book, Vengeance Is Mine. I've been so busy with Where Love Once Lived, I haven't touched the new book in several months.