News, Musings, Events

01-15-17-Site make-over
11-11-15-The book trailer is done.

04-01-15-Written edits are completed. Now, we are adding the final visuals.

01-28-15-If I put my faith in people, I'd long ago have become an atheist...In other news, the book is in it's (finally!) final stage.

11-12-14-The end is the beginning is the end. My square self is crammed inside this perfect circle, wondering where all these leftover pieces fit.

10-29-14-Tending to a lot of what-if's lately: persons, places, and things.

10-15-14-Finished editing the entire book again, from the front matter to the end credits. It's hard to only read for grammar and not get sucked into these stories again and again. And it's even harder to edit properly when unable to see clearly through waterlogged eyes after perusing pages for more than just missing commas.

09-24-14-Edits - to the book, edits - to my life. Both so needed and necessary.

09-17-14-Professionally: ahhhhh, progress. Elsewhere: when communication breaks down, all the technology in the world isn't enough to reconnect.

09-03-14-Thanks to political quandaries and some not entirely forthright progress reports, I hired a new book designer. I am hopeful that I am now working with someone who can put this as a priority in his life, and that this is the start of a great creative and business partnership.

08-13-14-Still waiting and wading... I should receive the fifth book draft tomorrow, then begin again the challenge of authorially looking at familiar material with fresh eyes and a critical stance.

07-09-14-Life right now is delays and progress, progress and delays...trying to be patient...is really testing my patience...

07-02-14 -My present-only-during-high-intensity-periods-of-mind-frying-edits cat managed to contribute approximately 30,000 words to an already-completed letter today. His manifesto consisted entirely of x's, z's and sdf's, and he accomplished all this whilst sleeping. How is it that his output au repos was more more impressive than mine, despite my proofing the book's third revision for the last ten hours?

06-18-14 - You know you are deep in the editing process when you get an error message like this...

06-11-14 - Just a little final proofreading.....

04-16-14-We are continuing to fiddle with the book's formatting, typesetting, and layout. Thankfully, I have a very skilled and understanding designer who knows how important it is for this to be done and released in a professional way.

03-17-14- I have officially hired an editorial designer who is helping to assimilate the special edition of the book, so that the visual impact and the letters and the other written elements are successfully integrated together. It will take several more weeks of work, but then the book layout and corresponding artistic flourishes will be finished.

03-06-14-The front cover for the book is now complete!

01-22-14- I am in the final stages of selecting items for a potential special edition of the book, which is forthcoming! Additionally, the cover design has commenced, which is such a simultaneously nerve-wracking and exciting endeavor. This image will be the one that represents both the book and the letters of everyone involved, while still piquing the interest of casual readers. Thankfully, I am working with an experienced designer who certainly seems to be capturing the mood and spirit of the book!

Thanks so much to everyone at the Interfaith Exchange, in Providence, RI. It was great to see so many open-minded people with really thoughtful answers to a host of broad topics.

I sincerely appreciate everyone who came out and gave up a portion of their much-longed-for weekend. I wish everybody luck in their respective endeavors and thank you again for being such kind, warm people. A special point of recognition goes to Andrew Kim, for facilitating the event.

I am so excited to be have an upcoming teleconference discussion, on November 11th, with The Interfaith Exchange, (http://interfaithexchange.wordpress.com/), a Providence, RI group of thoughtful high schoolers, and Brown University Seniors, of the Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and other faiths! This is a fantastic occasion for a thought-provoking dialogue, and I thank Mr. Andrew Kim for this opportunity!

Thanks to Laury Larson, Associate Pastor at the Covenant who put together such a great panel, and to everyone who contributed such great insights, thoughts and observations: Kushal Baid, Megan Odell-Scott, Daniel Budd, Melinda Mersack, Julie Exline, and Donna Wilhelm!

I am honored to be moderating an interfaith discussion on Wednesday, August 22nd, from 1:30-3:00 p.m. ET, at The Church of the Covenant, Presbyterian Church, located at 11205 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106. Laury Larson, Associate Pastor at the Covenant, graciously volunteered to both house and facilitate this discussion, which features a fantastic panel: Kushal Baid, a leader in Cleveland’s Jain community; Dean Williams, a Zen Buddhist priest; Megan Odell-Scott, a Protestant who has interned with Harvard University’s Pluralism Project; Daniel Budd, a Unitarian-Universalist minister; Melinda Mersack, a rabbi in the Conservative Jewish tradition; Julie Exline, a Protestant and Professor of Psychology at Case Western Reserve University who does clinical research in the area of expressing anger toward God; and Donna Wilhelm, a Roman Catholic Sister. This is going to be a very engaging, thoughtful experience and I look forward to participating in it with everyone.

To everyone who kindly submitted a letter regarding my “Dear God: Letters Unsent” book:

First, I want to sincerely thank you for honest courage, your generosity in spirit, and your faith that I would do right with you in regards to your letters. I’ve read all of them thoroughly and have been personally touched by every single one of them; everyone is special and to have the chance to get know a piece of each of you has been incredibly inspiring. You have all trusted me with aspects of your lives – some things exuberant, other things that took had been long-secret—and without all of your help this book wouldn’t exist. Because of this I have felt an obligation to do right by all of you, in every aspect of this project. I realize that I am representing all of your histories and am compelled to be as honest with you, as you have been with me.

To this end, I have unfortunately run into an issue. Several weeks ago it was brought to my attention, by one of you writers (who received a special, continued thanks) that there is a gentleman who had been posting for a nearly identical “Dear God letters” project through Odesk. He started doing so months after I made my first requests and after my book’s website was constructed; remarkably he posted his first letter request just days after I ran my last one. This man has been contacted through oDesk about the potential copyright infringement issues, as has oDesk and the response has been very disappointing from both. Both have refused to take any positive steps to rectify this situation, and the last word from oDesk has been that unless I hire an attorney and get a court order that they won’t do anything about this.

I want to make it clear that this individual is not a representative of mine, that I do not know this person, that I am not affiliated with him in any manner, and that he is not affiliated with my book or website in any way.

I also want to make it known that this situation may well have jeopardized the project in a number of ways, in terms of pitching essentially the same book, to the same readership, at the same time. I will do my best to continue on with this, but the road ahead has become unexpectedly rough, and the pure nature of this book has taken a heartbreaking turn.

If anyone has any questions, you can feel free to direct them to me at info@deargodlettersunsent.com

Thanks everybody, and know that I am so sincerely sorry about this,

Alana