Well, this week has been pretty exciting, and its only Tuesday. My book is now available for preorder with Publish America, Amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble. I got my two author copies, and it looks great. I can't express to you what it felt like to hold it in my hands and seeing the words I've read on a computer screen a thousand times on a printed page. Exhilarating.
And, even more exciting, I'm getting married tomorrow night! The ceremony is at 7:00 pm at Springbrook Park. Everyone is welcome.
I just finished making the mix CD. I've got just under 80 minutes of music, and I really hope it all works out...
The Five People You Meet in Heaven is not what you might think as you pick it up off the shelf. It’s not an overly religious book; it doesn’t try to shove any kind belief down your throat. No, The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a wonderfully written book that shares with you the author’s idea of what heaven might be like.
While the writing of the story is not would I would call deep, the meaning behind the words is. If you have ever contemplated the meaning of life—not the generic “Why did God put us here?” but the specific: “Why am I here? Why do I exist?”—then you will find the book not only entertaining but thought-provoking.
The story opens with its main character, a man named Eddie who has spent his life working as the head of maintenance for a boardwalk carnival, on the day he dies. Once he reaches heaven, he is met by the first of his five people (everyone has their own set of five). Without going too deeply into the story, we learn that each of the people he will meet touched his life in some way. While he may never have met them, their lives affected his in some monumental way.
Mr. Albom did a splendid job of weaving the tale together, jumping back and forth between Eddie’s past and his encounters in heaven. The concept that the first thing that happens when you reach heaven is learn what purpose your life served is beautiful and somehow comforting. Countless people drift through their lives, wondering everyday what their purpose is and why they were born. While the book offers no real answers, it is still uplifting and gives us a glimmer of hope that, one day, it will all be explained to us.
I just broke 70,000 words on the sequel to Forgotten Prophecies, which I am tentatively titling "The Crystal Skull."
That's it. That's all the news I have right now. I was just thrilled by it and wanted to share. "Forgotten" was only 86,000 in final draft, and I'll probably be there in another couple of weeks. Although, I'm pretty sure it's going to take somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 more words to finish the first draft.
All I can say, and I know none of you have read the first one, but this one is so much better. There have been some really cool things happening, and most of them I didn't even plan. It's great when you're writing and all the sudden something happens that you never expected.
I don't know... I'm rambling now...
So I don't really have anything to write about, but I feel like posting something anyway. I'm still pretty excited about finally having a release date for my novel, but the initial surge of energy has passed, and now I simply have to wait... Such is life.
The wedding is coming up soon. I don't really know when exactly. All I know is it will be sometime this month. My friend Andrew was going to do it, but we found out that the state of Tennessee does not recognize you as an ordained minister unless you actually went through a religious ceremony. So, Drew can't do it. That also means that I can only perform such ceremonies if it's in another state. It's really screwed up my plans to establish a one-stop wedding and funeral mart. Now I'll just have to keep working in corporate america and hope my novel sales.
Oh well... like I said, this is a pretty pointless posting. Pretty pointless posting... got to love those extended illiterations...
God, OK, I have nothing else to say so I'll wrap this up.