It has been a while since I posted, although I’ve not been slacking. I’ve been working away at finishing my book. I’m currently on the third edit with my editor and have made a few decisions. The first is that I am going to publish this story of my hike in two books. After all, it was a long walk, so it was bound to be a long book. Second, the books are still going to be called My Appalachian Trial, but they will have different taglines to identify each one. My son was particularly inventive with the first volume and has given me “Creaking Geezer, Hidden Flagon.” This reflects my less-than-youthful status and my former predilection to excessive drinking and generally bad behavior.  I’m still thinking about the second one, so all ideas will be warmly received. With a bit of luck, it will share some of the themes of change, redemption, loneliness and a hopeful future.

The covers for these two books are currently being worked upon, so I hope that they similarly reflect those themes. I’ve had to give a lot of thought to marketing the book and have been overloaded with ideas through various courses and YouTube advice videos. I’m charting that course with an eye towards value for money but maximum penetration of my target audience. If I have your email address, I’m afraid you will get an initial email from me. Feel free to let me know if you want me to remove your address from my email list and I will make sure that you don’t get bothered again.

Editing has been a revelation. I never knew the differences between English and American English, yet I have swallowed my pride and gone along for the ride. I also didn’t realize how long my sentences were and how many times I wrote “indeed” and “rather.” When I was doing the digital version of scribbling away, I rarely stopped to correct myself and have found so many mistakes. At the moment, I’m hoping for publication in early April, with the book available on Kindle, Kobo, iBooks and Nook. There will also be a print version for those who prefer to hold a book in their hands. One of the exciting features of ebooks is the ability to enlarge pictures as they appear. This is especially good with the maps I have added and allows the reader to zoom into the maps and see the topography and follow the path along with the book.

Having said that I would never hike again after my little adventure, I have yielded to the temptation and will be tackling the John Muir Trail in July this year. I’m going with two of my hiking buddies, Lighterknot and Tee Bird, along with Tee Bird’s husband, Joe. The blog for that will be starting soon, once I can sort a few things out. I’ll be 64 in October this year, so I’m naming it “When I’m 64.” I’m also developing a new website that I hope will be up and running within the month.

I’ve been using some of the pictures and videos that I took on the Appalachian Trail to produce three short films that you may enjoy. Click on any of the links below, though they are sorted chronologically. You’ll see an improvement in my technique as I got used to using the software. I hope you enjoy them.

This has been a remarkable period of my life, for which I will always be grateful. Hiking the Appalachian Trail proved to be life-changing for me in so many ways. Depending upon the success or otherwise of my book(s), I hope to write more, with a John Muir Trail hike and a novel in the works.

Lastly, thanks for following my journey. I now know that there are more adventures to come, so I hope you are able to share my next steps, either through my blog or subsequent books. Thanks for being along with me on the ride.