Sooo I just experienced speed dating for Authors. To launch a book tour, all authors Zoom a 2-minute pitch about their book to about 240 organizations around the country… now I know why a lot of authors drink… Since the pecking order is based on the spelling of your last name, I was 1 of about 35 authors.. all that said, I watched the other brave authors give their 2-minute pitches and was in awe of the talent.. of a writer who translated Kafka’s private letters to English to an author who wrote a book on being Burlesque dancer in Coney Island.. the thread was the Jewish experience.. this event was put on by Jewish Book Council.
As promised here is Part 2. The reason they are only 1 minute long is because I post this on social media and Instagram only allows for 1 minute….That said I will make 2 versions the next time, and Part 3 will be longer…Let me know what you think…I am new to all this stuff and would appreciate your input ..
Part 2 from Leaving Cleveland
If you have read the book please take the time to write a short review or rate it on Amazon…and share the book with your family friends…
The cover may change again when I had it over to a professional designer:)
Fall is usually the month of transition and this blog is no exception. I will streamlining my blogs to focus on my book Leaving Cleveland, out in March or 2023.
I am in the research phase but know that I will be changing the link to this blog to just Leaving Cleveland. For those who are subscribing be on the look out for that change so that you do not miss out on updates for the book.
This is a short blog but I have been asked ” why is your publication date March 14th ( presale on January 14th) ? March 14th marks the birthday of my mother-in-law Ann Siegrist who passed away in 2014 at the age 89. She was a voracious reader, a kind person and made the best pies ever.
The joy of self-publishing is I get to call the shots and have control over the final publication. It also means I am responsible for everything. As a freelance for over 40 years you get use to that pressure. Finally I have been tweaking the cover and the last version is what you see here. That said once I hand off my book to the printer/designer…it may change again…but for now I like it….
Thanks for your time and please share and subscribe ….
I wanted to let you know that I have 2 weeks left to gain pledges for my Kickstarter Campaign Leaving Cleveland , if you have not signed up or pledged, please think about doing it now. Here is the link to sign up :
Now that I got that out the way, I wanted to tell you what fun I am having reediting the book. I have now read it from the last page to the first to check for any grammatical errors, typos, and just plain whoops!
As I read it again, for the 10th time, I can honestly say I still enjoy the story. If I were not the writer I would say it is a real page turner, even when reading from back to front. I am currently on page 215, it is 262 pages long and Sam, the protagonist is contemplating driving off the cliff with his irritating boss Izzy on highway 1 on their way to meet this new author by the name of Alice Walker, you may have heard of her.
Why? You ask? Well you will just have to read the book. If you pledge at least $105 dollars to the KS campaign you will be one of the lucky ones to receive a advance book before the general public. You do have to promise not to reveal the ending until the release date…in March of 2023…
Your next question is probably: Are there any celebrities in the book? The answer is yes, but remember it is fictional and the dialogs are mainly from my imagination but based on actually spending time with them. Who are they? I will reveal that in the next blogs and include more excerpts after the final edit….
Until then, pledge. If you have already, I am forever grateful and I can’t wait to send you your rewards. You can see the rewards for your support by going to :
In 2007 our family packed up our bags with two kids in diapers and drove cross country to a home we bought that my wife had never seen. Our reason for leaving Philadelphia, to be closer to my wife’s aging parents and to help them out in their ” golden years.” The other reason was a change in scenery after living in big cities for 20 years. That is another story.
It was in Missoula, Montana where I woke up in the middle of night, in a cold sweat, at 2 am in the morning I got the idea to write Leaving Cleveland. I was having a nightmare of running in the dense woods being chased by Nazi’s. That was not my life, it was my fathers, so why was I dreaming about the terrifying event. Then my mind started racing and I was awake. So I headed down the basement to where my office was , looking outside at the temperature was reading -15 degrees F. I turned on my computer and started to write and write and write. Before I knew it the time was 6 am and time to prepare lunches for the kids and send them off to school. This seemed to be my writing pattern for the next 4 years and 800 pages later.
It must be in the water. There are a lot of creative writers in Missoula, the University even has a great creative writing school. Even the famous writer, director David Lynch was born in Missoula and it it inspired him to write his popular TV show, Twin Peaks.
My specialty and true passion was photography not writing so why I chose to spend so much time writing this book is still a curiosity in my creative world. As I wrote the story it started to make more sense to me and I felt it was a great story to share. I do understand why there are so many writers in Missoula, the winters are long, there are very few sunny days, the access to mountains are sublime and there is no shortage of bars or places to drink coffee. It is enough to drive a sane person crazy, in a good way.
Back to the book, Leaving Cleveland is now a fast paced, emotionally moving page turner and now 293 page book…in other words a fun and adventurous read..Thank you Missoula and support your local artist!!!!
Leaving Cleveland 