Editing the Book

O.K. I made mistake #1 by sending out my first completed draft. The idea was to get comments from close family and friends and do one major edit!  Guess I was more than a little naive?

After my Israeli cousin's edit, I did my first major rewrite of the entire book and wondered if my work was worthy to go forward?

Mistake #2, I revised the entire book quickly and immediately sent the next version to family members who kindly replied, they would keep editing the first draft! Not only was I adding to their reading load, I was filling up their email program with my short book, yet too long a file for daily correspondence.

The same cousin that reviewed the heck out of the book, was the most encouraging as she had gone through the same process. She had written a book about our family, her inspiration being a long letter that my father and his brother wrote to her mother, their first cousin.

Yes, her book is in a foreign language with a few captions in English. My book includes both my parents, not just my father. My book is in English with the hope for translations.

My advice is to keep encouraging persons and other writers around you, as you continue to write, rewrite and edit your book.

If you wish, include a hook at the end of your book for the sequel!

I am getting advice from my college adviser of 40+ years to publish a few hard copies in addition to the ebook.

-- Yes, one of the best kept secrets is to never lose connection with your college adviser. 
He just emailed me to consider CreateSpace and Blurb for hard copies. I had read about both but no time yet to compare!

If your adviser is as incredible as mine, he or she will continue to be at least one step ahead of you,  like in days gone by when you were the student.

I love mine, hope you at least keep in contact with yours!

Keep on writing.