A Book Report

I haven’t blogged in almost a month because I have been busy working on my nonfiction book. I recently completed Chapters 8 and 9, and this past weekend I had the pleasure and privilege of attending another writing retreat in Wisconsin led by author/editor/person extraordinaire Kate Hopper.

I hired Kate to edit the draft chapters of my book after I received a grant last spring from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC). The book combines memoir and history and is about the musical legacy of my great-grandfather, G. Oliver Riggs. Its working title is: Finding My Musical Family: A Tale of Crackerjack Bands, Hometown Boosters, and the Exploits of a Real-Life Music Man.

The book is all outlined and I have completed drafts of the prologue, Chapters 1–9, Chapter 14, and the last chapter, 25. I met with Kate during the retreat to discuss my progress, and we decided that my goal is now to complete the rest of the book chapters by mid-May (a few weeks before Sebastian graduates from high school). Then, I will get to work revising all the chapters over the summer. Once the revisions are completed by the target date of Oct. 1, 2016, I can start sending the manuscript to potential publishers.

I have been writing so much, I have been wearing out letters on my keyboard (especially A, S, D and N).

So last week I went to the Apple store and bought a new version of my MacBook Air.

There are days when I have felt discouraged—because I feel like I should be writing more quickly, or because it seems crazy to think I can write a book; it’s so much work!—but most days I feel encouraged by my progress and am enjoying where the writing is taking me.

Over the weekend, I looked back at the accountability calendar I made for myself a year ago, and it was fun to see how far I have come. I finished the prologue on Oct. 1, 2014, and I completed Chapter 1 on Nov. 3 (I had starting writing it at last year’s Kate-led October retreat). Now that I am this far into the book, I feel like the structure I have established is working (it alternates between “me” chapters and “G. Oliver” chapters). So, as Kate says, I just need to finish writing it! It sounds so easy when you put it like that.

One of the requirements of receiving the SEMAC grant is that I organize a public capstone event showcasing my work. I will write another blog post about that soon, but here are the basics in case you are already planning your November outings:

I am giving two presentations on Monday, Nov. 23 (the week of Thanksgiving). They will both be about an hour in length. The first one will be at 3:15 p.m. at the Northfield Retirement Center Chapel. The second one will be at 7 p.m. at the Northfield Senior Center.

I will be reading excerpts from my book in progress, and I will also explain my book project and show some pictures. Since it will be G. Oliver’s 145th birthday on Nov. 26, I am thinking of ordering a birthday cake for the evening talk.

The talks are co-sponsored by the Vintage Band Festival. Because they serve as my capstone presentation for the grant, I need to mention that: This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.