I'M BLOGGING MY BOOK - MY GIFT TO YOU by Dede Ranahan

Three weeks from today, June 15, 2017, I'm going to begin blogging my book, Sooner Than Tomorrow - A Mother's Diary. I hope you'll subscribe to my new blog, Blog 2: My Diary.

There are several reasons I've decided to blog my book. As I state in the Introduction (on my website), I'm motivated by reach and I believe, through my blog, social media sharing, and word of mouth, my story may reach more readers than it would as a book sitting on a shelf. And I enjoy the interactive aspect: reading your comments and emails, and building a sense of community.

My original thought, when I began, was to leave a time-capsule for my children and grandchildren. When my son died, unexpectedly, a month after I finished my diary, I realized I'd recorded the last year of his life. My written words (and his) suddenly took on new meaning. I worked with two editors and a dozen early readers to make my book the best I could, to make it worthy of people's time. And the constant passing of time, my time, gave me a sense of urgency. I thought, if I'm going to share this story, I need to share it now.

When you subscribe to Blog 2: My Diary, you'll receive email notices of new book entries in your email inbox. To keep with the original rhythm and seasonal pacing of my diary, I'm going to release it in two-week segments every other week.  Please spread the word to family and friends, especially to those who have no experience with serious mental illness. 

Serious mental illness is just one aspect of my book. My diary's also about aging and family and ordinary people in this time and place. In 300 years, historians might say, "Look. What a find. A diary about everyday life in the distant past." I hope current readers will say, "Look. What a find. A diary about everyday life in 2013-2014."  

Thanks for your interest and participation. I really do mean Sooner Than Tomorrow - A Mother's Diary as a gift to those (whether that's 5 or 50 of you) who catch a resonating echo while wandering in my woods. And special thanks to my daughters, Megan, Marisa, and Kerry, who've read what I've written and given me permission to put it out there. I wouldn't do it without their blessing.

To subscribe, click on My Diary, in the navigation bar above, enter your email address in the box on the right, and hit the Subscribe button. 

 

Image by mkuess/iStock / Getty Images

Image by mkuess/iStock / Getty Images