Around a week ago, I made a half-serious list of things I wanted to accomplish before I turn 30 next November. I’m proud to say I’ve already all but done one of them. No, I haven’t sky-dived, finished “Grand Theft Auto”, or learned how to salsa.
I have, however, completed the second “Wading in the Velvet Sea” book, entitled "Headful of Lightning".
I need to slap together a cover of some sort, but other than that, it’s pretty much good to go. I learned a lot during the production of last year’s book: I learned that I overthought the darn thing and created a lot more work than I had to for the project.
Luckily, I learned my lesson and did it all this week. It clocks in at 262 pages, roughly 75 articles, and around 113,000 of the best words I wrote during the past calendar year. It will have the same look and feel of last year’s book, an 8.5x11’’ spiral bound coffee-table type book. It will have the same price tag as last year: $20 if I physically hand you a copy, $25 if I have to mail you one.
“But Ryan,” you say, “I have read everything, or can just go back and read it for free. Why would I buy your book?” Glad you asked. Well, not really, I’d rather you fork over the cash for a dozen copies, but since you’ve brought it up, here’s a few reasons why:
See? Lots of reasons. But in addition to those reasons, there’s another: even more writing goodness not found anywhere else. Think of them as the DVD extras, without the annoying DVD itself getting in the way. I provide some back story, fill in the gaps, and occasionally make fun of Europeans. It’s a hoot, I tell ye verily.
If you’d like a copy, drop me a line at “ryanmcgee AT gmail dot com”, and put “Blog Book II” in the title of your email. In the body of your email, put down your mailing address and number of copies you want. I’ll provide more specific instructions on how to pay me (and how I'll ship) once I get your email.
In addition, I’d love to double the number of books I sold from last year, so I will flat out ask and beg for some help on this one. Tell a friend, tell two, hell, tell ten, about this blog, what I’m about, and what I’m trying to do. Send them on over. If you’ve got a blog, I’d love a plug. If I get enough early response, I can put my order into the printer as soon as possible. And I’d love to be able to get these to people before Christmas if I can.
Usually, I’m too proud to beg, but not in this case. I was very proud of last year’s collection, and having waded (pun intended) through the past 12 months of writing, I can honestly say I like this collection more. For one thing, there are no arbitrary sections in this book: I chose the best stuff, period, placed in chronological order. I think the back stories will help show why certain things were discussed on certain days. And, on top of that, the first year’s writing helped shape how I wrote and what I wrote about, and 2004 saw me just steamroll on. Hopefully, next year’s book will show the same improvement.
In the meantime, as I prep this book for press, and work starts to hit an all-time high, posting around here might go quiet for a bit. I’ll pop in now and again, but those two things have to take some priority for now. I’m proud of the essays collected in this book, and if you enjoy coming to this site on a semi-regular basis, I think you’ll enjoy this collection. (Want a preview of the material? Check this out. )
There. Shameless plug over. That wasn’t too painful, now was it?
Posted by Ryan McGee at November 25, 2004 10:00 PM