Sir Writes-a-lot
The cat’s out of the bag now. Or maybe I should say the dragon is out of its lair? Yep. My latest title is up at Red Blood Cell Books. I’ve been pretty vague about it over the last couple of months, just telling people that it’s a sequel to Taming the Tiger.
But now that pre-publication orders are being accepted—hey, at half off, no less—and now that the cover art and a brief description of the title are online (and I’m doing the dutiful modern author thing by “tweeting” it and “facebooking” the news), I might as well talk about it here too.
The new book is called:
Wait a sec, knights in shining armor follow tigers, how exactly? Sorry. I’ve upscaled diabetes to a 90 foot long dragon that breathes fire, has 14-inch spike-like fangs and claws stronger than titanium. Well, diabetes is a progressive disease, after all.
New information, new analogy, that’s all. No tigers this time. It’s only a Tiger book in that it has the same small pocketable format and is fun and fast to read. Well…. actually, that’s a lie. Oh, not about it be fun and fast to read, about it’s being completely devoid of tigers. If you look very closely, you may catch a glimpse of the tiger, but that’s just a special treat for sharp-eyed observers.
So back when I wrote the original Tiger, I really kept the information simple and narrowly focused, just teaching new members of the tribe the basic survival skills they needed to get them started on the right foot. I figured there was a ton of books out there that they could read later to learn more. You know, when they were feeling better.
But I’ve paying attention to how people read nowadays. Attention spans are getting shorter. People don’t want to read 100,000 words about diabetes. Not when they live it day in and day out, anyway. Clearly, another Tiger book was needed. Just a bite-sized morsel that would satisfy the hunger for knowledge, without taking too much time out of the day.
So, what, logically, do you need to know after surviving the first year of diabetes? Well, now you need to know all the stuff that allows you to thrive. And a lot of that stuff can be… ummm… you know… rather dry. I needed a creative tool. To me, the best antidote for dry is humor. If the subject is boring, at least make it fun to read about, that’s what I always say.
So yes. The new book is about diabetes. And yes. It deals with serious shit. And yes. It deals with potentially boring stuff like standards of care. But no, I didn’t take myself too seriously this time, to say the least. This little book is a hoot to read. And why not? If we can’t have fun with our diabetes, what can we have fun with? So from Fruits of the Vine to Sundials, I’ve taken diabetes back into the Dark Ages. Trust me. You’ll like it.
Now, I always get a bit uncomfortable bragging on myself, but…… well, I think this is the best book I’ve written yet. Of course, Debbie says I always say that when I finish a book. But she ACUTALLY read this one, and she tell me she likes it.
And, speaking of Dark Ages, this book had its genesis waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2009. You can re-read the story here:
http://lifeafterdx.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-tin-soldier.html
When I re-read this post today, I was surprised to see I had threatened to turn this whole concept into a book back then.
It’ll be available as a Kindle book too, of course, but won’t be as much fun. The Kindle will be text only. The paper version has some great artwork. I’m not going to spoil the fun by talking about it; but let’s just say the cover art is only the beginning.
Oddly though, even though I was really happy with the book, a feeling of the blues settled over me once I finished it. Probably just the creative spooling down at the end of the project, but I was moping around shortly after finishing it because I’d come up with a couple of other “Tigerable” diabetes subjects.
And I wasn’t sure I wanted to write more miniature books. I was feeling like I wasn’t a REAL AUTHOR, writing these little things. Deb asked what was wrong. I don’t want to be known as the guy who only writes miniature books, I told her.
God bless her, she laughed at me. “What’s wrong with being known for writing little books that help people? Not a week goes by where one of our patients doesn’t tell me how much they loved Tiger and how much it helped them!”
“You are sooooo fucked up,” she said.
And then she kissed me.
But now that pre-publication orders are being accepted—hey, at half off, no less—and now that the cover art and a brief description of the title are online (and I’m doing the dutiful modern author thing by “tweeting” it and “facebooking” the news), I might as well talk about it here too.
The new book is called:
Wait a sec, knights in shining armor follow tigers, how exactly? Sorry. I’ve upscaled diabetes to a 90 foot long dragon that breathes fire, has 14-inch spike-like fangs and claws stronger than titanium. Well, diabetes is a progressive disease, after all.
New information, new analogy, that’s all. No tigers this time. It’s only a Tiger book in that it has the same small pocketable format and is fun and fast to read. Well…. actually, that’s a lie. Oh, not about it be fun and fast to read, about it’s being completely devoid of tigers. If you look very closely, you may catch a glimpse of the tiger, but that’s just a special treat for sharp-eyed observers.
So back when I wrote the original Tiger, I really kept the information simple and narrowly focused, just teaching new members of the tribe the basic survival skills they needed to get them started on the right foot. I figured there was a ton of books out there that they could read later to learn more. You know, when they were feeling better.
But I’ve paying attention to how people read nowadays. Attention spans are getting shorter. People don’t want to read 100,000 words about diabetes. Not when they live it day in and day out, anyway. Clearly, another Tiger book was needed. Just a bite-sized morsel that would satisfy the hunger for knowledge, without taking too much time out of the day.
So, what, logically, do you need to know after surviving the first year of diabetes? Well, now you need to know all the stuff that allows you to thrive. And a lot of that stuff can be… ummm… you know… rather dry. I needed a creative tool. To me, the best antidote for dry is humor. If the subject is boring, at least make it fun to read about, that’s what I always say.
So yes. The new book is about diabetes. And yes. It deals with serious shit. And yes. It deals with potentially boring stuff like standards of care. But no, I didn’t take myself too seriously this time, to say the least. This little book is a hoot to read. And why not? If we can’t have fun with our diabetes, what can we have fun with? So from Fruits of the Vine to Sundials, I’ve taken diabetes back into the Dark Ages. Trust me. You’ll like it.
Now, I always get a bit uncomfortable bragging on myself, but…… well, I think this is the best book I’ve written yet. Of course, Debbie says I always say that when I finish a book. But she ACUTALLY read this one, and she tell me she likes it.
And, speaking of Dark Ages, this book had its genesis waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2009. You can re-read the story here:
http://lifeafterdx.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-tin-soldier.html
When I re-read this post today, I was surprised to see I had threatened to turn this whole concept into a book back then.
It’ll be available as a Kindle book too, of course, but won’t be as much fun. The Kindle will be text only. The paper version has some great artwork. I’m not going to spoil the fun by talking about it; but let’s just say the cover art is only the beginning.
Oddly though, even though I was really happy with the book, a feeling of the blues settled over me once I finished it. Probably just the creative spooling down at the end of the project, but I was moping around shortly after finishing it because I’d come up with a couple of other “Tigerable” diabetes subjects.
And I wasn’t sure I wanted to write more miniature books. I was feeling like I wasn’t a REAL AUTHOR, writing these little things. Deb asked what was wrong. I don’t want to be known as the guy who only writes miniature books, I told her.
God bless her, she laughed at me. “What’s wrong with being known for writing little books that help people? Not a week goes by where one of our patients doesn’t tell me how much they loved Tiger and how much it helped them!”
“You are sooooo fucked up,” she said.
And then she kissed me.
posted by Wil | 12:12 PM
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