Exciting news! Open Borders will be available for purchase one month from today: Oct. 16th.
Hard to believe this long process of getting a book published is coming to a climax. Birthing Open Borders has been far more challenging than producing four daughters. The father of those daughters hasn’t been physically available to support the gestation of the story in which he is a central figure. He might have remembered a few aspects of the 1980s anti-war activities differently. But this is my story about him and me, our team efforts and our struggles. In the end, Don Bell dies and I am left with a huge question about many things. What of all we did together in our thirty five years was mine? Who was I in the process of building a legacy of political activism.
Getting the story line right depended on two things simultaneously: the world stage events that gave rise to Target Seattle and Citizen Diplomacy, and the personal events that shape-shifted our marriage from a traditional fifties relationship to a partnership of equals.
As I moved toward publication, I missed Don’s partnership. He was the one who picked up the phone and made the calls to people and to venues. He came up with program topics by working in committee. My second husband, Chuck Finney, also brainstormed ideas, reached out to people and supported me as I stepped out in leadership roles. Without these two men (Chuck died ten years ago), I found myself unsure, tentative, awkward (true confessions).
Who would host a book launch and signing party? Where would my friends come to hear me? What would I say about the book?
Epicenter Press in Kenmore is, of course, my team. Why I didn’t recognize that sooner, I can’t tell you. The publisher and staff met with me and went over the Author’s Flight Plan. I am now in full-on planning mode, making calls, lining up venues and asking possible reviewers for their pre-launch comments.
This process has given me one more opportunity to “with or without him, … stand strong.”
from the last line in my story.
Betsy
To order Open Borders, go to Amazon, Barnes and Nobel or Indiebound.org and ask for ISBN-10: 1941890210, Price: $16.95
Please share with others who are concerned about the nuclear threat we face today, which is far worse than we faced in 1980, the time period of the OpenBorders story.
