My dear friends, I realize I've been all but insufferable recently. Thank you for putting up with me while I agonized over finding a format for the book about my mother, worked on it at a snail's pace, then decided to 'do it myself' with a well-known self-publishing site. All who know me must have laughed at the thought, given my lack of competence where a computer is concerned. And did I mention that I bought a new computer and tried to go from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 in the middle of all this?
A rational person would have hired someone to edit, format, design the cover, etc., but then, I'm not often accused of being rational. I've learned a lot, but didn't quite get it right after all. Should have ordered that second proof copy! But it is out there, errors, flaws and all. Since Mother was an English teacher for over 35 years I really didn't want it to be full of grammatical mistakes, but you may find a few. The other mishaps in it are somewhat minor, mostly due to my impatience at the end. In a strange way that almost fits. My father was a perfectionist, and would take forever getting something done to his standards. Mother did a good job on most things, but her attitude was more of a 'don't piddle, just get it done' attitude. As for as she was concerned, perfection was not always necessary when good enough would do. So, though not perfect, perhaps it is at least good enough.
I would be remiss if I did not express my gratitude to my family and friends who have encouraged me in this project. Even as a writer, I simply cannot put into words how much the support has meant to me. I have been surprised and delighted by the number of you who have 'liked' on Facebook, commented, or sent me messages. That so many of you would be interested in something I thought I was doing only for our family humbles me.
Last, but certainly not least, I am so grateful for the support and kind comments and reviews by my fellow writers. The writers that I've had the opportunity to meet are so generous in their support of fledgling writers like me.
I cannot thank all of you enough for sticking with me through the slogging through this project, and now my 15 minutes of, if not fame, at least celebration.
