Sunday, June 29, 2014

A time to read

I found a rock to hide under. It wasn't pleasant but it kept me from facing life which has become unbearably complicated since the beginning of the New Year. The details of that which enticed me to seek refuge under the rock is not important nor what I sat out to write about tonight. What happened when I was hiding from the world is what I want to share with you.

I rediscovered a passion that dates back to my youth...reading. My book shelves are filled with books that I have read over the years. Most of them I have read once, some even twice before.The vary in genre, length and author. But theses books all have one thing in common, they are indeed books. Real books with pages, words written in ink, bindings and glue. They have an aroma to them that only a book reader would recognize. Pages dog-eared over the years mark past reading habits; I found they have changed very little.

In 1953 Ray Bradbury published the book "Fahrenheit 451", a futuristic tale about the burning of books, all books. As a side note, if you have never read "Fahrenheit 451" you should. From under my rock I considered that today we are burning books in a different way...we simply don't print them. The popularity of e-books has created a multimillion dollar industry. I have e-published my last few books without making them available in print; it is cheaper and easier.

I am guilty!

Books were meant to be held close when the words move you to tears. They were made to be tucked under your pillow when your eyes became to heavy to continue the adventure. Books were made to share and to pass down to our children and grandchildren. Books were made to line otherwise empty shelves.

You can't do that with your e-book.

So I had an idea, actually a number of ideas. I have decided that the book I am currently working on, the third and final story about the lives of the Goode family (due out late this year), will be available in both formats, the e-book and the hold it your hands and cherish it book. The second part of my idea, and the one that I am excited about (it is good to be excited about something again) is a website that I am building that will be dedicated exclusively to real, paper-bound books. There is still much work to do in the planning of the website, flippinpages. I hope to have the site up by weeks end.

The last idea was to solicit your help in promoting this idea. http://teespring.com/flippinpages features a t-shirt designed by me with help of my son, Joseph Tyler.

I hope this is just the beginning of an idea that will develop into something I can tell the world "I did". If you do nothing else, read a book...before they are all gone.

Random Thoughts

Hold My Hand

If you were to ask any of my children what colloquial truisms they recall their father uttering as they passed from toddler to young ad...