I've always known that it takes a team to get a book published. There is the obvious author or authors. Then the publisher, editor, graphic designers, copywriters, printers, web designers and optimizers, and Amazon account managers. It has taken a whole village to get my book across the finish line!
Yes, I have published 500 first edition copies. The second edition will be an even greater collaborative effort, and I'm really excited about getting from here... to there.
I want to thank you now, in anticipation of your contribution to the second edition. Please read, reflect, and help me to re-write the next version of LOVING MOTHER EARTH. Thank you for taking my invitation seriously, and for engaging me directly, or via a comment on a blog post. Thank you.
Now, let me thank some good people that have helped me to get this effort to this point.
Like so many authors, I have to begin by thanking my wife, Jan, for tolerating my pile of books, my constant typing, my grumbling discontent as I have faced the reality of our Global Environmental Emergency. I'm a tough guy to live with. Always one project or another, and this has been an especially challenging time with Covid. Reading, researching, writing, all the while yet working as a counselor and consultant three days a week, has been a challenge for Jan, too. Thank you Jan, for keeping me healthy and whole through these last two years, and for all the years.
And then I have to thank our daughter Emily and her husband Jeff. Emily has a degree in fiction writing from Columbia College in Chicago, and Jeff a degree in illustration, also from Columbia. Yes, they met there. Emily, you gave me some great copywriting and editing advice, and for "working on me" so that my energy stayed balanced along the way. Jeff, you are the dude! All the extra effort you put into formatting LOVING MOTHER EARTH really paid off. My vision was spurred by Kleon's book, Steal Like an Artist. You caught the vision and brought it to reality. And working with www.printninja.com was a joy. I wrote it, and you made it. Thank you Emily and Jeff.
Then I have to thank The Church of the Crooked Chalice, of which I am a card-carrying member. We are six strong and gentle, and we have gathered monthly for 30+ years. Honestly, we have lost track of how long we have been together to companion each other on the journey toward being Enlightened Lovers. Cindy Streekstra, Larry Terlouw, Rolina Vermeer, Peter Theune, Jim Rozeboom, and me - we are The Crooks! You good people read my earliest copies and chewed it up, challenged me around words and concepts. Rolina and Larry, you two in particular spent hours reading and reflecting and helping me to re-write. Thank you. We shall meet around Holy Communion again, and again....
Paul Jabaay. I want to thank you for your brief intervention into the process. You re-directed my work in an important way, a critical way. You helped me to focus on integrating environmentalism with spirituality. You helped me to focus on WHY we are failing at LOVING MOTHER EARTH. Thanks Paul.
Mark Clarke. We have been meeting every few weeks for a decade or more. Our conversations and your encouragement kept me focused and moving. Books. We have shared a lot of books. Grace, too. You have bestowed grace on my wandering thoughts and poked me on to wander even more. After Covid, when we get back to breakfast, I'll buy.
Tom Roe. You and Elise have been inspirations for years and years. Environmentalists when being an environmentalist was really fringy. Your hearts are so pure. Thanks Tom for reading an early version and encouraging me to clean up my angry language. That forced me to grow spiritually. I have really worked hard to get over my anger at what we all have done to Mother Earth. I'm glad we are friends. Soon we will be back into our routine of Beers and Bible in the Barn. That will be good.
Jaems Murphy. Thanks for coming up with the cover art and which also sits as a banner on every one of my web pages. You were easy to work with. In closing I'd like to share an image that you, Jaems, created of Jesus of Nazareth, my primary exemplar. We all need role models to follow in life, and non has been more influential in my life than Jesus. He is my savior, by which I mean that he is the one who has saved me from aspiring to something less. Jesus is not my only exemplar, but he is my primary one, and I am thankful for his precious saving presence in my life.
Love to all...
Andy
Yes, I have published 500 first edition copies. The second edition will be an even greater collaborative effort, and I'm really excited about getting from here... to there.
I want to thank you now, in anticipation of your contribution to the second edition. Please read, reflect, and help me to re-write the next version of LOVING MOTHER EARTH. Thank you for taking my invitation seriously, and for engaging me directly, or via a comment on a blog post. Thank you.
Now, let me thank some good people that have helped me to get this effort to this point.
Like so many authors, I have to begin by thanking my wife, Jan, for tolerating my pile of books, my constant typing, my grumbling discontent as I have faced the reality of our Global Environmental Emergency. I'm a tough guy to live with. Always one project or another, and this has been an especially challenging time with Covid. Reading, researching, writing, all the while yet working as a counselor and consultant three days a week, has been a challenge for Jan, too. Thank you Jan, for keeping me healthy and whole through these last two years, and for all the years.
And then I have to thank our daughter Emily and her husband Jeff. Emily has a degree in fiction writing from Columbia College in Chicago, and Jeff a degree in illustration, also from Columbia. Yes, they met there. Emily, you gave me some great copywriting and editing advice, and for "working on me" so that my energy stayed balanced along the way. Jeff, you are the dude! All the extra effort you put into formatting LOVING MOTHER EARTH really paid off. My vision was spurred by Kleon's book, Steal Like an Artist. You caught the vision and brought it to reality. And working with www.printninja.com was a joy. I wrote it, and you made it. Thank you Emily and Jeff.
Then I have to thank The Church of the Crooked Chalice, of which I am a card-carrying member. We are six strong and gentle, and we have gathered monthly for 30+ years. Honestly, we have lost track of how long we have been together to companion each other on the journey toward being Enlightened Lovers. Cindy Streekstra, Larry Terlouw, Rolina Vermeer, Peter Theune, Jim Rozeboom, and me - we are The Crooks! You good people read my earliest copies and chewed it up, challenged me around words and concepts. Rolina and Larry, you two in particular spent hours reading and reflecting and helping me to re-write. Thank you. We shall meet around Holy Communion again, and again....
Paul Jabaay. I want to thank you for your brief intervention into the process. You re-directed my work in an important way, a critical way. You helped me to focus on integrating environmentalism with spirituality. You helped me to focus on WHY we are failing at LOVING MOTHER EARTH. Thanks Paul.
Mark Clarke. We have been meeting every few weeks for a decade or more. Our conversations and your encouragement kept me focused and moving. Books. We have shared a lot of books. Grace, too. You have bestowed grace on my wandering thoughts and poked me on to wander even more. After Covid, when we get back to breakfast, I'll buy.
Tom Roe. You and Elise have been inspirations for years and years. Environmentalists when being an environmentalist was really fringy. Your hearts are so pure. Thanks Tom for reading an early version and encouraging me to clean up my angry language. That forced me to grow spiritually. I have really worked hard to get over my anger at what we all have done to Mother Earth. I'm glad we are friends. Soon we will be back into our routine of Beers and Bible in the Barn. That will be good.
Jaems Murphy. Thanks for coming up with the cover art and which also sits as a banner on every one of my web pages. You were easy to work with. In closing I'd like to share an image that you, Jaems, created of Jesus of Nazareth, my primary exemplar. We all need role models to follow in life, and non has been more influential in my life than Jesus. He is my savior, by which I mean that he is the one who has saved me from aspiring to something less. Jesus is not my only exemplar, but he is my primary one, and I am thankful for his precious saving presence in my life.
Love to all...
Andy
