Help Lorraine publish 2nd ed. of hole in my heart
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Hello Friends in Adoption--I've been working on an expanded and revised edition of hole in my heart for over a year now. Why bother? I hope to change the way people think about adoption. Too much of the world simply thinks of adoption as A Good Thing. They don't understand the complexity of what is lost behind every adoption story, the pain and heartache of both mother and child. hole in my heart, a story of love and loss in the fault lines of adoption, is my attempt to fix that, much as Uncle Tom's Cabin changed the way America viewed slavery. (That's a lofty goal, but Hey! you gotta reach for the stars to get halfway there.)
To do that, the book needs to reach beyond our community of like-minded people with a story that many outside of adoption circles can relate to, and that is what my aim with the revise. hole in my heart is a story about a woman who came of age in the Fifties and Sixties, a woman from a working-class background who fought glass-ceiling battles at home and at the office; who in the transitional era of the Sixties became pregnant with a man she would not marry; who went from a woman who kept the unwed birth secret to become a leading advocate for unsealing the birth records, and the first woman who came out of the closet of shame and secrecy regarding this. (I find it's easier to write about the character in the memoir in the third person.)
I'm at the finish line now, but to get the kind of attention that may effect change, the book needs to be full and complete. It need a professional index as well as a professional formatter.
Why an index? Because intertwined in the book are nine Facts & Commentary sections totaling 16,500 words, plus other cited material that puts the story into larger perspective. Again, this is more fully realized here than in the earlier 2015 edition. To be taken seriously for reviewing and library purposes, hole in my heart needs an index to all that data --not the author's personal life--and I am not capable of doing that. I expect the index to cost about half of the $3,000 I am asking.
The rest will go for a competent professional formatter. This edition has additional photos, which complicates the formatting for the printing, as does the endnotes, index, and bibliography. I will be printing proof copies. Fortunately, I have an art director brother, and with a designer friend, we came up with a new cover. He's given his time and expertise not only with the cover, but also dealing with the photographs, helping to keep costs down. I've already spent $1,400 on a copy editor, and found editorial help from generous friends in publishing who gave their time freely.
I am asking for your help to defray the cost of getting this over the finish line. Out in the larger world, I've been criticized or thought of as obsessed with adoption. So be it. Kind words from many of you have often come at just the right time and bolstered my sense of purpose in this battle to unseal the birth records of every single adoptee in America--and beyond. Today I am asking for your financial help to finish this battle. I can't put into words how appreciative I will be, but understand it will be deep. I do not ask for your help lightly.
To do that, the book needs to reach beyond our community of like-minded people with a story that many outside of adoption circles can relate to, and that is what my aim with the revise. hole in my heart is a story about a woman who came of age in the Fifties and Sixties, a woman from a working-class background who fought glass-ceiling battles at home and at the office; who in the transitional era of the Sixties became pregnant with a man she would not marry; who went from a woman who kept the unwed birth secret to become a leading advocate for unsealing the birth records, and the first woman who came out of the closet of shame and secrecy regarding this. (I find it's easier to write about the character in the memoir in the third person.)
I'm at the finish line now, but to get the kind of attention that may effect change, the book needs to be full and complete. It need a professional index as well as a professional formatter.
Why an index? Because intertwined in the book are nine Facts & Commentary sections totaling 16,500 words, plus other cited material that puts the story into larger perspective. Again, this is more fully realized here than in the earlier 2015 edition. To be taken seriously for reviewing and library purposes, hole in my heart needs an index to all that data --not the author's personal life--and I am not capable of doing that. I expect the index to cost about half of the $3,000 I am asking.
The rest will go for a competent professional formatter. This edition has additional photos, which complicates the formatting for the printing, as does the endnotes, index, and bibliography. I will be printing proof copies. Fortunately, I have an art director brother, and with a designer friend, we came up with a new cover. He's given his time and expertise not only with the cover, but also dealing with the photographs, helping to keep costs down. I've already spent $1,400 on a copy editor, and found editorial help from generous friends in publishing who gave their time freely.
I am asking for your help to defray the cost of getting this over the finish line. Out in the larger world, I've been criticized or thought of as obsessed with adoption. So be it. Kind words from many of you have often come at just the right time and bolstered my sense of purpose in this battle to unseal the birth records of every single adoptee in America--and beyond. Today I am asking for your financial help to finish this battle. I can't put into words how appreciative I will be, but understand it will be deep. I do not ask for your help lightly.
Organizer
Lorraine Dusky
Organizer
Sag Harbor, NY