Saturday, April 28, 2018

Appreciation for the Questions!

I've gotten some word out, and a few advance copies of the book.  I REALLY APPRECIATE all the support and all the people who are purchasing this book to help the cause.   

Initial reaction from most people is that "this is a great honor for Jill" ... and I so enjoy hearing that! 

But I think we all also know that this book and this topic is for Me.  And hopefully for You too.   

The next thing I've gotten a little bit from people who have read the Kindle version or had an early copy are questions about specific Words in the book.   
  • "What do you mean by "Subway Smells?'" ask my California friends who don't travel...    
  • "I *think* I know what you mean by "Guard whats in their glass, but...?"
  • Does the Fish have a name? 
I hope that means people are Engaging in the book (I think it does).   And I'm really looking forward to those questions and discussions.

I've been getting my Social Media skills tuned up here a little bit and looking forward to more questions and discussion about The Question in the weeks to come.    

THANKS AGAIN to everyone who has Pre-Ordered the Book -- Just a couple weeks away! 

Saturday, April 21, 2018

And they're off!

The publisher sent me a big box this week with copies of the book (I do like the hardback version; feel's like a real "children's book"). I've sent a few copies out to friends and to folks who knew Jill well.   I can see the links  are working on Amazon and Barnes & Nobels (that's kind of exciting).

It's been just a couple of months since Jill's terrible accident and it was only the week after that when I decided to continue working on this project.   It has been a lot of late nights after work and long Sunday afternoons...but it's also been a good distraction or focus.

Now I am curious to see what the next days bring forth?   Opportunity?  Risk?    We can't always know exactly what's going to be poured into our glass; just have to be ready to deal with whatever comes (and to enjoy the drinking as best we can!).

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Hello World

Well, every story has a start -- and so, I suppose, does every Blog.

I'll be using this Blog to keep friends and followers updated on my progress (or not) with the GlassHalfQuestion project. 

I've really needed this first part of the project as a distraction and maybe some sense of purposed in the wake of the loss of my life partner a couple of months ago.    I am certainly not  "over this,"  but continuing to work on the  manuscript and art for  A Glass Half Empty? ...or Half Full?  A Children's Book for Grownups, has been a sort of 'therapeutic' activity for me. 

I say 'continue to work on' because indeed I was deep at work on this when Jill passed away.    At that time, I was compiling this for an audience of One (Jill herself) with a vague hope that she might have some ideas for me about how to share this out further.   

I'd been working on this in secret, with a plan to surprise Jill with a one-off copy for a Valentines Day gift  (if only I had been able to give this to her a week sooner).     I just kept up with that M.O. of working on this in secret for the past few weeks. 

Among the thousands of questions and painful thoughts that went by me in the day's following Jill's death; 'what am I going to do with that book?' was a fleeting thought.    But in the weeks following the funeral, as I've thought about how to make any sense of this most senseless tragedy; my want to 'do something' to help address the massive problem of Mental Health disorders in our society drove me to look again at this simple project.

It is my hope that the messages from this book may help us all address some aspects of our own Mental Health in finding a language to discuss balance in our lives and perceptions of the world.   It is also my hope that along the way I can raise a little awareness and even some donation funding toward Scientific Research related to treatment and management of Mental Health disorders.     This topic might still be a little taboo in our society; and it is time for that to change.

In the next few days, my secret project will not be secret anymore.   The book will be available for pre-sale on Amazon and Barnes and Nobles in the next few days...and I am looking forward to the next leg of this journey!       I can't wait to begin discussing this with more people -- both those I know well already and those I hope to meet though this project!     

Glass Refilled: Let's Drink!
-Dan