After publishing five books in three days, I am literally exhausted. In the past week, I compiled three of the books from scratch, but the other two books, I had already been working on for a few months. Three of the five books were bilingual, with one of those actually being trilingual in Spanish, English and Arabic, but they would not put the Arabic on the cover, as the computer wouldn't recognize the font.
Three of the books were about Gettysburg, and those were the three I started from scratch this past week when traveling to Gettysburg for a family reunion. It's not like I planned those three, as I didn't even really have plans upon arriving in Pennsylvania, other than to try to see my family from across the country who had agreed upon the spot, feeling it was central for traveling and an educational destination. Education I love, but the idea of hunting for ghosts was even more appealing to me, so as much as I loved learning about the battlefield and getting a lay for the land, I loved the connecting with spirits there, too.
The first book I published on what day is it today? Saturday now? So, I published it Thursday.
Thursday's book was Dead Soldier Nuts, which was about ghost hunting in Gettysburg, complete with not only a few tales of my experiences, but my questionable photos for people to judge for themselves. Starting out at the Museum of Haunted Objects, which I learned was at Jenny Wade's childhood home, I wound up going on a bus tour to Sachs Covered Bridge and the Gettysburg College, then went on a midnight hunt over at the orphanage and the house where Jenny Wade was killed. Not done yet, my best experiences were on Cemetery Hill, but my dad and I went on a walking tour of the Dobbin House and other haunted locations, with the cemeteries being visited on my own little solo mission so to speak.
Of course, I take way too many pictures. That's why one book became three. I did one just on the ghost stuff, one on the battlefield experiences driving around with mom called Graves of Gettysburg, and one photo book on my solo cemetery saunter called Gettysburg Cemetery Gates.
The last book was just a photo book. I wanted to let the graves do the speaking. Silence for respect.
So, on Friday, I published both Graves of Gettysburg and Gettysburg Cemetery Gates. That was yesterday, and honestly, I was sick as a dog. I had tried to convince myself that I was going to work on all these projects at my house, but when I was turning hot and cold, running back and forth to the bathroom, congested as could be, I thought maybe I'll just sit and the computer and knock out stuff.
One book turned into two books yesterday. So, why two more today? I'm just crazy.
It's my week off from work, so I was just trying to cross projects off the list. Since I had been working on a couple other books for the past few months in conjunction with work, I decided to bite the bullet. Time to simply get one done, then it turned into just get both of them done and move onward and upward to the next project, as there's always more stuff that has to be finished and worked on.
First one I did today out of request from someone, sort of an off the radar project request. Someone had come to me and request that I try to teach foreign men how to treat American women while in the United States, as some countries treat women a tad differently than here to say the least. It's a fine line to walk, as I didn't want to simply state that men can only date women, as I wanted it to be gender neutral, so instead of saying boyfriend or girlfriend, I just tried to say partner, and not American either.
The idea really comes down to respect. Don't leave bruises. Be nice.
I tried to give my perspective, though I am not saying I am any sort of relationship expert by any means, and I'm not always the best at taking my own advice, especially when it comes to oversharing. Of course, running my mouth too much has gotten me in trouble, so I wrote about that and other stuff. Learn from my experiences with that book, which is called Sexual Respect Guide.
So, that's the book written in three languages: Arabic, Spanish and English. The computer wouldn't recognize Arabic to put on the cover, so that part sucks. The rest is pretty cool I think though.
The final one is in large print for those who don't like to wear their reading glasses. That one is in Spanish and English, as is Graves of Gettysburg. However, the final book I had been working on for months in conjunction with work, as I have been teaching, so it's an ESL book about baseball.
I mean, if you are trying to learn English, why not learn about baseball, too? It's better than Jack ran up the hill, and Jill ran after. Maybe I am simply biased to my own creation though.
Braving Baseball English covers not only a little bit about baseball, but also what people would want to know when transitioning to live in America, such as phrases about cooking and shopping. It's not your typical grammar book. It's more like translational phrases with some suggested activities.
Check any of my five latest out on Amazon, Kindle and www.lulu.com/spotlight/thorisaz. Since I am the author of more than 100 books, there's plenty of other ones to choose from as well. As I am exhausted, feeling as if part of my spirit has been ripped out of my body through my temple, resulting in a pounding headache, I will leave you with a couple silly videos I made the other day talking about another project I am working on, which is finishing up the trilogy that is pretty much done...
For more by Marisa, visit www.outlandishwriter.com, www.lulu.com/spotlight/thorisaz, follow on Twitter @Booksnbling, or on Instagram @Thorisaz
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