The Inspiration

I've been lost in the quagmire of the publishing industry. No bites yet. Over the past few months I've been sending out queries to agents, and all returned have been polite, but with no luck for wanting to read the full manuscript. Alas, I don't give up hope, not until an unreasonable amount of time has passed and a hundred rejection letter. Then, then, I will rethink my ploy. I'm eying a few local/regional publishing houses to query them directly, and I'm debating the merits of retooling my project to a younger, teen, audience, as there are more readers, and so there is higher likelihood of getting my work into print. Yet, I'll save that debate for another day.

I've been watching Ken Burn's new PBS documentary on the National Parks, and man, it is fantastic. Even the region I so love and adore, and think of myself as a novice expert (if there is such a thing), I learned a few things about the Yellowstone region, at least in respect the country and other Parks in the country, very cool. As posted before, Truman Everts' story is a hefty part of the first episode, and since airing of the documentary, there has been an uptick in the amount of National Park postings, hits, and specifically, people discussing Truman Everts. His story, the original Scribners Monthly publication, is now available as an ebook download, click here. Of course there is the new version, with historical facts and photographs by Lee Whittlesey, which is worth it's weight if you really want to know this story, I suggest it as the way to go, because though, you do read the original story by Truman himself, there is much that is assumed in the time period, and Whittlesey does an excellent job of back-filling that information. Click here for that version. Of course, there is the Google book version, which is at the top of the page. This world of instant information is fantastic for opening up multiple portal the world, and here, the natural world. Truman's story to me is one that if full of wonder, just like the original advertising of the park, as a wonderland, and even though is story if full of adventure, terror, and unbelievable happenings, the reader is left with this overwhelming awe of the natural world and human's place within it. That's what I love about this story. It's a great read, I hope you all read it and enjoy!

Oh, there's also your public library, and if they don't have it, I guarantee they can inter-library loan it for free. Go librarians!