The Importance of Knowing History

[If we] don’t know history [we’re] doomed to repeat it. ~Edmund Burke

It was only a few days after I picked up the large colored copies of Billy Joel performing in the barn, early January 1997, and after searching online for his mailing address and coming up with nothing, that I was speaking with my next door neighbor… the wife of the older couple who lived to my left and babysat my son on occasion. I was explaining to her that I wanted to send a copy of the amazing photograph to Billy Joel but was unable to locate his mailing address.

She asked if she could see the photo. “But of course,” I responded, fetching the image.

Upon viewing it, she announced that she used to live on Long Island in the same town as Billy Joel’s mother, and that I should simply mail the photograph and manuscript to her. She gave me several unique mailing instructions.

I decided that this was surely an uncanny coincidence, startling in fact, which I interpreted as a sign that sending Billy Joel the photo and my manuscript was the right thing to do.

What are the statistical odds that after explaining my detailed plans to a random neighbor, the only person beside Mr. Horton and the printer I’d divulged my secret to, that it would generate an immediate solution, especially one that was the equivalent of a needle in a haystack.

I drafted a letter to Billy Joel’s mother, packaged everything, feeling a bit dismayed by the eyesore that the misshapen parcel was… then headed to the post office to be done with it. This project was intimidating, mostly because I had no experience with how to ingratiate a star to endorse/write a cover quote for a novel. I wasn’t able to offer him millions; it was more a matter of finding a way to convince him that this was in his best interest, that this would benefit him as much as it would help me… in fact, it would be far more advantageous for him (😎).

Once completed, I felt like an enormous burden had been lifted off my shoulders. I’d done my part. I’d followed through with what Roger had recommended, what the signs seemed to be hinting at, and what my instinct suggested. The ball was no longer in my court; I couldn’t do anything more.

It was now time to immerse myself in creating a new reading series that would take my budding small press to the next level…

STEP 1 – Find several work-for-hire authors and illustrators.
STRP 2 – Find Investors.

My grand vision of providing an avenue of opportunity to previously unpublished authors was extremely idealistic, I admit, but was a commitment I nobly undertook in my desire to encourage and support the pursuit of the “American Dream.”

I’d been unable to fathom why it was that writers needed agents, why the vast majority of publishers wouldn’t waste a minute assessing the strength of an unsolicited manuscript.

I’m getting ahead of myself…

Initially, my search for authors and illustrators was word of mouth, a personal referral process. I trusted friends and associates who were making the recommendations; I had no problems (with one exception). These authors and illustrators knew they were giving up their rights.

(But please note, I went on to learn the hard way that idealism, ignorance, and naïveté are all vices… guaranteed to undermine the foundation of any business. And of course I now know exactly why publishers will only deal with agented authors, and why publishers will never consider opening an unsolicited manuscript. More about all this pain and anguish down the road.)

***

QUICKSAND WARNING: What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you’re standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are. ~C.S. Lewis (the inkblot test thing again). It’s only fair to warn that the quicksand surrounding this story has already sunk quite a few people… the safest approach is to patiently wait to learn the full story.

***

It should be abundantly clear by now that I have enemies (those who view me as their enemy). My ex-husband for one, his family of course, the various people my ex-husband conspired with to kill me (across several states), to name just a few… as well as a small army of enemies that arrived in 1999 and wreaked endless suffering and torment on my life and ultimately the world (interestingly, the army leader conspired with my ex-husband a few years later to combine forces and annihilate me, but I somehow prevailed).

This story isn’t about bringing my enemies to account though, (for surely God will take care of that…although, to be honest, God can be quite severe in administering justice so perhaps it’s best for them to do some soul-searching and find a way to right the wrongs); but I have no intention of divulging their identities. (It’s important to note, that not all the authors and illustrators were enemies, there were some who handled everything quite admirably and were excellent in doing what’s right.)

The purpose of sharing this seemingly endless story, which will take years to reveal (with every tiny detail representing an essential thread in the story garment and thus can’t be skipped to speed up time, “the devil is in the details” as the say, and God too for that matter)… is to communicate the details from a historical perspective for the purpose of not repeating the past.

***

There’s one giant benefit that can be gleaned from this experience though, the silver lining if you will… the positive from the negative as we look to the future. The full story serves as a powerful allegory.

During the 2014 election season, when it became clear that we’re all dissatisfied with our political representatives, that we can’t help but wonder why our politicians keep failing us… perhaps this story will help us see that the problem isn’t our politicians, it’s us.

***

Essentially everything can be explained by the Butterfly Effect, by the smallest detail. A butterfly flaps it’s wings in Idaho and it causes a typhoon in Malaysia.

To be continued…

©Copyright 2014. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.