Saturday, June 4, 2016

Question for readers: Cambridge Capers - would you read it?

I've been editing writing by other people for years. It's quick. To the point. Some say my editing is brutal, but I consider my edits as suggestions not prescriptions: if writers don't like them, I'm okay with that! My job is over and I'm not emotionally attached to the outcome.

I like to read what people are thinking. I love NetGalley, which offers free books to reviewers.

I've been thinking that it's probably time to write a self-ie (book). I have thousands of pages written over the decades. This morning, as I flip through, I'm stunned by the number of computer files. Before blogs were "a thing," I was sending a weekly email of experiences from Cambridge, UK to over a hundred people.

I roam through the lists for the emails I wrote from Cambridge. They were my start at travel writing for others. One file from June 2004 is 23 pages crammed with letters and notes to and from friends, family, and others. How did that happen?

  • I'd just returned from 5 months in Cambridge. Our daughter Kirsten had her knee replaced and I was the primary caregiver. (My husband and son spent another month in the UK.) 
  • I was unpacking, re-ordering the household, and readjusting to American culture and vocabulary. (Hint: one "English" is not like the other. The citizens don't think alike, either.)
  • I'd accepted a full-time job that started in a month.
WHAT? So many words? But that is the life of a writer. We write. We process life and observations on the page or screen.

I'm thinking of self-publishing that season of adventures along with a few letters, changing some names and details to protect the guilty, of course.

Would you read it?

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