April 20th, 2010

I’ve never been as excited about writing a book as I am the one Howard and I are working on now about Elizabeth Custer. Her story has been told before, but we have the advantage of using a number personal letters and photographs that no one has ever seen before. I have been dividing my days into thirds in order to complete all the work needed by August. I spend the morning reviewing a completed chapter, checking and rechecking the facts, and adding endnotes. At noon I rewrite a chapter I’ve finished writing and type it up. I write everything out by hand at first. It may seem old school, but it works for me. Usually around two I work on writing the next chapter of the book. I’m expecting a copy of the only film footage that exists of Elizabeth Custer to arrive this week. It’s a silent film of her at a pottery studio. Once I’ve had a chance to review the material I’m going to try and track down the children in the film with her. They would be in their 90s now. I think it would be a treat to interview them and find out what they remember about the first lady of the west. The book is due to be released in May 2011. The plan is to launch the book at Azusa Pacific University in the L.A. area, along with a showing of Elizabeth Custer’s personal belongings. There is a lot of work to do between now and the launch. I anticipate having to do a lot of rewriting as well. My deadline is three months away. I hope I make it.