Birthing a book isn't easy

I wrote a column almost two months ago announcing the launch party for Morris Media, a new book production firm in McCook. Gene Morris, former publisher of the McCook Gazette, is the president of the firm, Barbara Morris is the vice president of operations and Gloria Masoner is the design director.

I was honored to be one of the four authors they selected to initially represent. The others are Bill Vogler from Lisco, Nebraska, Walt Sehnert from McCook, and Tom Manker from Indianola.

Gene has been a regular reader and supporter of my newspaper column and first approached me over a year ago with the idea of bundling my best columns on love and relationships into a book. I had been flirting with that idea myself for a couple of years and, in fact, had been in negotiations with another company when Gene made me a firm offer to get the project done.

It has been hard work and a labor of love but we're almost finished. We're in the final stages of pre-production and are still on target to have the book on the shelves before Christmas. It has been exciting to be an active participant in the process. The Morris Media team have years of experience with the technical side of publishing and their assistance and expertise has been invaluable.

I have spent hours and hours working with the team, selecting font size, font style, margins, cover design, layout, etc. But the hardest part has been the part we just finished this past week. I submitted 87 columns on love and relationships to Morris Media and we had to cull many of those out in order to have a book that was concise and readable. Gene wanted me to do the eliminations because I wrote the columns to begin with and the finished book, in his words, will be my book and not theirs.

 I wrestled and wrestled for a couple of weeks with this chore and simply couldn't get it done. I was able to eliminate a few but not nearly enough and I finally had to call on Gene for help, telling him I needed someone with some objectivity to aid in the elimination process. Choosing columns and eliminating others would be like saying you like some of your children better than the others. I would never be able to pick one child over another and I found I couldn't do it with my columns either. They were created by me. They came from my heart and my soul. They weren't the result of objective research and the words weren't someone else's words. Every column I've written on love and relationships came directly from my own personal experiences, combined with a certain amount of knowledge gleaned from studying the family during my Ph.D. program at Oklahoma State University and teaching about love, marriage, and family for over 25 years. Consequently, I've written more columns about love and relationships than any other topic in the eight plus years I've been writing for the McCook Gazette.

I've done that for two reasons. The first is probably obvious to those of you who are regular readers. I am and always have been a hopeless romantic. I believe in soulmates and I believe in marrying your best friend. I believe the chemistry that exists between a man and woman who are truly and passionately in love with each other is like no other experience on the planet. I believe that when two hearts merge into one, there's nothing on earth that can't be accomplished or done. And I believe that everyone deserves that chance. The second reason came to me from other people after I first started writing about love and relationships. I found that although my experiences were unique to me, they certainly weren't unique in the universe. So many people would tell me that they had had similar relationships and similar experiences. Several people told me, as they would read a particular column, that it seemed as if I was writing directly to them or directly about them. Many said they had cut out a column and put it in their favorite book or on their refrigerator door. Others told me that a particular column allowed them to make changes in their lives that were long overdue.

Love really does make the world go around and we all share more commonalities than differences.

Receiving these comments from readers is what first sparked the idea of putting my best columns into a book and now, years later, it's about to become a reality. A reality that may have never happened at all without the Morris Media team to whom I'll always be grateful.

The plan all along was to have the book out before Christmas so it could be given as a Christmas gift to those people in your life that you love and it appears we'll be able to meet that objective. If you would like to reserve an autographed copy of the book, tentatively titled "Thoughts About Love; You Take My Breath Away," just send me an e-mail at mikeatnight7@yahoo.com and we'll add your name to the list. The book will be divided into four sections of columns: The Magic of Love; Questions About Life and Love; Broken Hearts, Broken Dreams; and Do You Believe in Magic. It will retail for $20.

We'll also have a local book-signing party when it's released.

Finally, although I wrote the columns and Morris Media turned the columns into a book, it's you, my loyal readers, along with the loves of my life, who ultimately made this possible and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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Go Bison. Win State!