Ta Da & WOO HOO!!!

After I announced last fall that I was planning on self-publishing, I was frequently asked, "So what's going on with the book?"  I would immediately launch into a more-than-you-ever-wanted-to-know commentary on editing, rereading, copy-editing, rereading, photos, cover design, rereading, yada, yada, yada, yawn. Slowly but surely the question stopped being asked. My little book appeared to be rapidly morphing into "The Never Ending Story, Part Deux".


Well folks, the story has ended and... Wait for it... THE BOOK IS DONE!!!!

Funny, now that it's finally done, I'm feeling a bit awkward about putting it "out there".  While I pushed and promoted the brownies at every conceivable opportunity, doing the same with the book leaves me feeling a little vulnerable. After all, this is/was my life, laid bare for all to see. But with a monumental milestone looming (the BIG 6-0 is next week...), I am pushing down the fear to take the leap one more time. 


So....... 


Now available on Amazon!! The PIG & ME, written by Lindsay Frucci, cover and logo design by the graphic artist who has been there from the very beginning: Lee Morrill, and amazingly good photo of yours truly by my talented nephew Christopher Loren Ewers.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_14?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+pig+and+me&sprefix=the+pig+and+me

One final thought... Word of mouth is the only way anyone is ever going to know this story of mine exists. If you should buy the book and like it, would you please tell family and friends? Thanks.  :-)


WOO HOO!!!!!

Street Queen

There is a homeless woman who lives on a park bench in Cadman Plaza. She is normally clothed in a long, black, down coat reinforced with black garbage bags.


One morning last week, Zoe and I were heading home from our morning walk, and, as we often do, passed by her bench. The image stopped me in my tracks and I had to share.

I had not seen her robed in this spectacular blanket before. Nor have I since.


Someone I showed this to, thought that I was wrong to have taken this picture. I couldn't NOT take it.

A sure sign...

Spring has Sprung!! And I have the picture to prove it.

Zoe and Lindsay's excellent early morning Easter walk

Yesterday morning - Easter morning - dawned beautifully clear and warm. When Zoe and I set out, the sidewalks were still wet from the rain the night before. By the time we returned, the clouds had too, but we set out on a fresh, clean Easter morning. Just exactly as it should be.


Our destination was Fort Greene Park for Zoe's daily morning romp.

This is a case where a photo can't begin to share the true experience. If I knew how to work the video on my camera (or in this case, my phone...), you'd have been in for a real treat. There was a smile-inducing symphony of people talking and dogs barking and kids yelling that still photos simply can't reproduce.


When we finally headed home, the clouds had rolled back in, but no rain, so our walk was leisurely. These photos are all from within a block of our apartment and on our daily route home.

This is a small Catholic church where the first service of the morning was just beginning. What I couldn't capture was the family (complete with stroller) that had just run up the stairs, the ringing bells or the beautiful spray of full-bloom forsythia right inside the front door. On the railings are sprays of pussy willows tied with rafia.

This is the main entrance to MetroTech Park where our apartment building resides. 

This is the tiny park that is at the end of our street - MetroTech Common. Around the park are office buildings that house (among others) JP Morgan Chase, Empire Blue Cross, the FDNY headquarters and the buildings of NYU Polytech.

 I think these weird signs served as both protection for the trees from the snow plows and artwork. 

I think she's saying: "Enough with the camera already! Can we please go home now?"


Hope you all had a wonderful Easter or Passover.  :-)

Stories not told

Recently my friend Pat and I attended an exhibit of quilts put on by the American Folk Art Museum. Over a cup of tea early that morning, I read that we would see 650 red and white quilts - part of a single woman's collection of over 1,000 red and white quilts. It was almost as hard to imagine looking at 650 quilts of the same colors as it was to imagine collecting them. 


It was breathtaking.

There's a wonderful story behind the exhibit. Joanna Semel Rose started buying quilts at flea markets in the 1950's. Over the years she bought red and white quilts wherever she went and carefully put them away. She had no idea how many quilts she had and hadn't ever seen many of them at the same time. For her 80th birthday, her husband arranged to exhibit her quilts and, as a gift to the city of New York, admission to this exhibit was free. 


Can you imagine how she must have felt when she walked into this huge armory to find herself surrounded by these prized possessions? What memories were stirred as she wandered among them, touching some, gazing up at others?

Sadly, the other six hundred and fifty stories of the exhibit were left untold. "If only they could talk," Pat and I kept saying to each other. "What stories they would tell."


Imagine.

A Moment

If you live in the Northeast, you celebrated the arrival of Spring only to watch in disbelief as the thermometer plunged and, in some places, snow fell. Hard not to feel disheartened. 


But on an early morning walk recently with Zoe, I noticed these two, quietly enjoying each others company and what warmth the sun offered. Enjoying the moment. A simple and beautiful example of one of those "Pay Attention!" moments the Universe tends to toss our way constantly - most of which we ignore as we storm through our busy lives.

Happy Spring.

So, what's going on with the book?

That's a question I keep hearing and I guess it's high time I brought you up to date. 


Last fall I decided to take back control of my book and self-publish. I researched a few self-publishing companies and settled on one called "Create Space", primarily because it's owned by Amazon. Working with them meant that my finished book would be available on Amazon both in printed and e-book format. The printed book would even qualify for their free shipping deal. And because of the Amazon connection, it was clear this was no fly-by-night company that was going to take my money and suddenly disappear. So I signed up, paid my registration fee and hit the first question: What is the title of your book? Uh... Ummm... The entire time I was writing the book, the title was leap. It never occurred to me the word "leap" might be popular with other authors. It is. Very. The word leap is the title, or an integral part of the title, of about a gazillion books. Ugh. Back to the drawing board.


I found choosing a title for my book tougher than choosing a name for each of our sons. A title must be catchy. And relevant. Enticing and interesting. As one person told me: "Your title should tell a prospective reader at a glance what your book is about. You have no more than three seconds to capture someone's interest." Great... For a couple of weeks I drove myself - and most of those around me - crazy. I'd come up with something that I thought worked and no one else would like it. Someone would make a suggestion and I'd hate it. At least three times I thought I'd settled - for good - on something, only to toss it in the trash after a couple of days. In the end it was really simple. What is the book about? My ten year journey with a skinny, pink pig. The title? The Pig and Me. With the tagline: Tired of hearing "you can't", one woman sets out with a pan of brownies and a skinny, pink pig to prove that she can.  Done. Huge relief.


Create Space makes a point of saying that what you send to them is exactly what will be printed. Not just words, but format as well. Terrifying! So I read through the entire manuscript one more time, tweaking here and there. Then I sent it to a copy editor. He went through it and made some changes, so I had to go through it again - deciding whether to accept his changes.  Then I signed on for the formatting service Create Space offers, so they could turn my words into a book. And now, staring up from the table next to my computer is the first printed copy of the formatted manuscript. Waiting not-so-patiently for me to pick it up - with pencil in hand - and read through it one more time. 


It's been three years - three years - this month since I set my first words down.  If I'm getting tired of this seemingly never-ending project, I can imagine what my family and close friends are feeling. But take heart one and all! The end is, indeed, in sight.