This past Thursday evening saw Gene Morris, the former publisher of the McCook Gazette, launch his new company, Morris Media, along with the other principals in his organization that include his wife Barbara, Vice-President of Operations, and Gloria Masoner, Design Director. The gala took place at the Bieroc Café in McCook to a full house of invited guests.

 

Gene's company will serve a middle-man role in helping area authors become published. He and his staff will take the raw material that authors produce, decide on the sequencing and flow of the material, develop front cover and back cover lay-outs and determine the optimum print size and style for the submitted work. After the mechanics of the book have been determined, Morris Media will then submit the manuscript to a publishing company to produce the finished product.

 

It was my pleasure and privilege to have been selected by Morris Media as one of the four initial authors the company will represent. I will be publishing my first book, titled "Mike at Night's Best: Thoughts About Love; You Take My Breath Away." The book is due for release in late November.

 Other authors being represented by Morris Media are:

William K. Vogler, the author of "Vanishing Dreams" a view of what life has been like in the Lisco, Nebraska area since the days when the American Indians roamed the plains.

 

Walt Sehnert, owner of Sehnert's Bakery in McCook until his retirement, who has already written two books, "Growing up in Plain View and "Ray Search Remembers McCook." His third book, currently untitled, will be represented and produced by Morris Media.

 

Tom Manker from Indianola is also writing his first book, "Bachelor's Guide for the New Millennium" and it is scheduled for release in the fall of 2008. Tom owns a carpentry business and also serves as a personal guide for tourists traveling through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama.

 

It was really a very special night. There's nothing quite like getting together with old friends and meeting new ones, especially when a new company in McCook is opening its doors. We hear so much about the out-migration of our young people because "there's nothing to do around here" so whenever a new company springs into life, it's a reason to celebrate. The one thing guests heard over and over throughout the presentation part of the program was the "magic of McCook" and everyone that talked about it talked about it from their heart.

 

When I accepted the job to teach Sociology and Criminal Justice at McCook Community College thirteen years ago, I had no idea McCook would become my home. In fact, I was sure it wouldn't. I saw it as a stepping stone on the way to someplace else. But it turned out to not be that at all. I fell in love, almost immediately, with the town, the area, and the people and I knew very soon after I moved here that this would be my home forever.

And so it is and it will continue to be. It's almost like I never lived anywhere else. I am a McCookite for now and evermore. The spirit, the camaraderie, and the support shown to Gene, Barbara, Gloria and the authors Thursday night was a gentle yet constant reminder of why we love where we live and why McCook is magical to so many of us.

 

One of the great things about writing a book is the ability to include stories and unwritten columns that were perhaps not appropriate for the general reading audience of the newspaper. Even though my book will be a collection of the "best" columns I have written about love and relationships, we will also include a few new columns that no one has read before but, we're hoping, many will want to. Even though we probably shouldn't, most people love gossip but I've always found they love the truth even more. When someone writes or talks about love and relationships, they almost always write about them from their own experiences. The remarkable thing is that even though we're all unique and different, we all share more commonalities than differences. One of the most enlightening experiences I've had is to write about something from a personal perspective only to find out many other people have had very similar experiences in their own lives. That's the magic of the written word. We find out very quickly that we're all in this thing together and whatever we've experienced personally, others have experienced too.

 

I've been involved in a lot of exciting projects throughout my lifetime but this one is right up at the top of the list. My thanks to Morris Media for making it happen.

 

If you or someone you know has a finished manuscript or are working on one, I recommend you contact Morris Media. Gene and his staff would love to help you make your dream of becoming a published author a reality.

 

If you have questions or inquiries about my book, feel free to contact me at mikeatnight7@yahoo.com or mike atnight1009@gmail. com