For the third time, my family and I celebrated Thanksgiving with the Mouse. This time was different though, as we journeyed out onto the high seas of the Caribbean on a Disney Cruise. It was very relaxing and in some ways, a fitting end to my Dis-History project. Or, maybe it was the start of a Dis-Historic sequel, as my children tried to make an argument for a follow up book that looks exclusively at the cruise line!
No sooner did we get back to Indiana though, than I received word that my 5th book had been released in time for me to take part in the Indiana Historical Society's annual Holiday Authors Fair! Longtime readers of this blog know that this book looks at the Davidson family of Indiana and Virginia, how they were divided by war, and what that meant for a once prominent family in two states. After picking up my author's copies of Rebel Bulldog, I was asked by one of Butler's honors students what it was like to complete a book (he's working on his thesis). I told him that professionally, there were few things better than holding a work you've poured years of your life into in your hands.
It was, perhaps, appropriate to have my first conversation about writing with a member of the Butler University Honors Program--both of these books owe so much to the UHP. They've helped create two Honors seminars (Disney and American Culture, Butler and the Civil War), and their arguments have been shaped in constant conversations with students and colleagues over the past five years.
I don't know if I'll ever have two books released in the same year again or not. But for now, I'm just enjoying the process that got me here.
No comments:
Post a Comment