Writing with Newt and starting the book launch

First, to Randy, and a couple of other friends who have written back so far.   Thank you!   Hope you are well and appreciate your thoughts. I like the feedback and questions so keep them coming!

I wanted share a few thoughts about the writing of this book, and just things in general when it comes to a book launch, especially one co-authored with Newt.

Sure, I could drone on for boring pages about the fact that it was a heck of a lot of hard work.   What isn’t if you want to do something right?   But on the other side, it was also a lot of fun.   It’s hard to explain working with Newt.   A lot of people ask me about it, my usual answer with a grin is “like drinking from a fire hose.”   I’m an author in my own right with something like thirty five titles out there, and now this will be the sixth with Newt.    But the ones with Newt are special.   I think I’ve mentioned before that there is an old adage in the business, co-authoring a book is twice the work for half the pay.    Well, in these cases with Newt, not so, sure we might divide up the finances a bit, but that is well worth it for the fun of it, and what is learned along the way, I hope for both of us.    It is a remarkable education.   A fascinating sort of synergy builds between us.   It starts with that initial meeting, the “well what about this idea,” or “I’ve always wanted to write about that,’ and then suddenly, like in the old cartoons, a light bulb goes off over his head or mine, or sometimes both of us at the same time. “This Is It!”    We’ve got the idea, and start to run with it.

The fun part for me has always been the debates, the arguing about differing views, the research, the experiential stuff that I go out and do and have written about in previous blogs.    But all of it then leads up to this moment, the final count down.    No matter how hard you work, and Newt and I really busted ourselves hard writing this one, there is that bit of a nervous catch.

The reviewer with the New York Times. . .well, LOL, that’s a foregone conclusion.   We joke that if ever we get a rave review with the NYT’s book reviewers. . .it’s time to quit! (Maybe a game within a game here!   This will cause the NYT to write a good review hoping we do quit!!!)    But what counts most for Newt and me is your comments.    We actually do keep an eye on Amazon, various websites, the opportunity this web site now offers, and what people are saying.   So many times Newt will drop me an email with a comment sent up by a fan, a note saying “thought you’d like to read this one.”   What you folks say really does count       The ones that really hit us, when someone writes and says “I was there,” or “my father was there, I gave him the book and he told me. . .”

So if you do decide to pick up the book and read it, post what you think.   Good, and yes bad as well if something bothers you.    We’ll readily admit we’ve made some mistakes in the past, it’s important to learn from those and we don’t realize it unless someone tells us.   On the other side, we both get a kick out of it when someone says we did get it right, or that they found our book to be a darn good tale.

Granted there is always a “sub-text” to anything a writer writes.   (Remember all those incredibly boring lectures about what a book “really means” in Lit 201?)    Newt and I believe you can learn from the past, otherwise, why even bother to study history, except for the fact that it is indeed packed with “rousing good tales.”    What happened to the Greeks when they collapsed into the Peloponnesian Wars has profound lessons for the state of political discourse in America today.   The failed attempts of the Gracchi, the Roman slide from Republic to Empire, profound lessons all (and yet again why this writer wishes Congress and the Executive Branch had a few dozen more historians in their ranks), so yes, we have packed into our novels both obvious and at times subtle indicators which we hope provokes thought and debate.    When next I post an entry, most likely while on the road on the book signing circuit, I’ll try to include some observations and either then or later, write more about our idea of “Active History,” and how we feel history should be taught.    For now though, if you do get the book, both Newt and I hope it meets expectations. . .and please let us know what you think of it.   Newt always speaks about the profound truth that but one person can make a difference for our country, and our own thesis about history is that one person can change the entire course of history.    Your opinions regarding all things matter and we are eager to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Bill Forstchen

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Comments

By Anonymous @ Saturday, May 10, 2008 11:56 AM

Bill,

I have read all of you and Newt's books as well as many of your sci-fi books. I like you books very much and I love alternate history.

Just finished Days of Infamy and would like to point out a hiccup for your next update on page 67 where Halsey is musing about the Bismark sinking. Its Dec 41 and the Bismark was sunk in May 1942.

Dave Kyle

By Anonymous @ Thursday, May 01, 2008 1:38 PM

I just finihed "Pearl Harbor" and enjoyed the book very much and can't wait to have "Days of Infamy" I also loved the Gettysburg series. It is fun and thought provoking to speculate how the world can be changed by a single decision.

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