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My cousin Doug, who is a year or two older than I am (obviously a very young man) lives in upstate New York and works at a golf course as a groundskeeper. Last October, he was mowing one of the fairways. Somehow, it's still unclear exactly what happened, the riding mower he was on went over a cliff, and he fell about 100 feet. He lived, but he had injuries too numerous to list here. He was air-lifted to Buffalo and underwent massive reconstruction. After pulling through that, he was transferred to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, which, apparently, is world-renowned for its work on spinal injuries. We were able to stop in and spend about an hour with him in his apartment at the center. He is doing remarkably well for someone who has been through an accident like his. Add to that, he's in his late 60s, and it’s nothing short of miraculous. He has a few more weeks there, then it’s back to his home on the Finger Lakes in New York. He is determined to walk again, and I absolutely believe that he will. He’s an amazing man. Get well soon, Doug.
Also today, we visited the home of Margaret Mitchell (author of "Gone with the Wind"). It’s a small apartment, with living room, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. She lived there for seven years, and finished writing "Gone with the Wind" while there. She apparently didn’t think it was very good—the manuscript was in pieces all over the apartment, some chapters shoring up the broken leg on the couch. She had to be tricked into letting an agent from McMillan Publishing read it.
How come publishers don’t come clamoring after me? I write good stuff. Don’t I? C’mon. Support me here. At least it’s free….
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Rich Bill: Glad to see the blog is back. It is a mystery to me why the home of an author should be a destination of sorts. Could be that Atlanta doesn't have all that much to see. Mitchner's home might be a destination perhaps if it were in Hawaii, but Mitchell? Ho hum. I didn't even like her novel that went on and on. She could have left out the chapter that held up the couch. I fell asleep in the movie. I'm strange and just dont give a damn. Now about publishers. As you know I have had some experience here, having published 4 novels myself. After sending stacks of inquiry letters to agents and publisher who ignored me, I gave up and went the self-publishing or "vanity" route. Actually, three of these novels have done midly well, in the 2-4 thousand copies range and paying for the publishing expense, but all these vanity publishers want is to sell you worthless marketing. However without the marketing, exposure and sales are slow. My fifth novel will avoid these publishers altogether and I will publish it myself. Found several printers that will do so for a reasonable cost. You might give this a try.