New website, new book

This has been a crazy time. Together with a talented designer, Adrienne Weiss, I have finished a lot of work on a redone website, now online at www.stanleyely.com. It prominently features and has links to my new book, "Ten Ways to Your Cat's Happiness: A Novel," from iUniverse Publishers, designated an Editor's Choice book.
The book is also now out. It runs a little over 200 pages, which seems short considering the time for writing (about two years), editing, proofreading that went into it. I've received a sample of the paperback and hardcover versions, and save a little printing issue on the paperback, they look fine. The cover is wonderful, designed by Anita Merk of Flyleaf, and it contains five really cute line drawings (of cats) done by Aleks Gryczon. It's for sale at Amazon.
Marketing--the hard part--begins. I've written to dozens of people, enlarged my presence on Facebook, hired a designer to do a promotional post card, and committed to doing a book video/press release with iUniverse. That hasn't started yet, should soon--and I hope will generate enough notice to justify a significant expenditure.
The whole project, in fact, is proving expensive, but I think all worthwhile investments. It's the best book I've done--and for sure the last novel!!--so I want to give it its best shot. We'll see.........

Uncle's Day, I say

Today is June 20, Father's Day in the U.S.A., and a worthy institution. I'd like to put in a bid for an Uncle's Day too, especially for those of us who aren't fathers.

I'm uncle to several guys and girls and, to many of their friends too, to whom I'm forever known as "Uncle Stanley" (last name unmentioned). Uncle's Day doesn't need to be cause for gifts or contributions to some swell charity, just an acknowledgment that uncles too can have a positive impact on a niece or nephew.

Lacking a good relationship with my father, while he was alive, I now have a good relationship with my Uncle Morris, age 100, nearly 101. He will be the last of his generation in my family, and I've come to sit in awe of his longevity and clarity of mind. He's become a sort-of-fill-in-Father.

Come to think of it, I should have called to wish him a Happy Uncle's Day today.

Barbers and Shavuot

Recently I've been going to a Russian/Israeli barber, Russell, who got pinned with an American name. He works near the high school on the West Side of Manhattan where I go to volunteer. He's funny and likeable.
Yesterday two bearded young Orthodox Jews were in the shop when I arrived, come to lay tefillin on Russell and his partner in advance of Shavuot, which celebrates Moses' receiving the ten commandments at Sinai, and which began last night.
Russell is no more a devout Jew than I, maybe even less, since he asks me questions to which I have no sure answer. But there he and his partner were, being wrapped in the straps that are attached to two leather boxes that contain Torah passages--performing a hallowed act of faith and devotion.
What a town this is, I thought! Just needing a haircut, I find two bearded Hasidim helping two young Russian/Israeli guys celebrate a serious old Jewish tradition--in a Manhattan barbershop!

Writing moving on

An online literary magazine, "Perigee," to which I submitted an article, published it last week in an April issue. It's, of all things, an Army story, called "I Grew Up With Running Water." If interested, please go to the site of perigee-art.com., then to Non-Fiction. Take a look; I think you'll enjoy the piece.

My novel, "Ten Ways to Your Cat's Happiness," is moving along. I've received really complimentary feedback of a revised manuscript from iUniverse, with, however, the suggestion for line editing. So I've agreed to pay the publisher for that, and it's underway now. That may move the book to classification as Editor's Choice which may or may not be significant.

The cover design is almost done, and illustrations for the book also. I like both very much. The website designer out West didn't work out, so I've started again, with a local designer (which I feel better about). With luck, the site will be done before long and the book out by early summer. This will be my fifth book, and the best I've done. Can't wait to find it between covers.

Springtime here

It's already mid-April, and Manhattan glows with tulips, daffodils, and lots of trees in welcome bloom.
I received the manuscript of my book back from iUniverse with compliments and lots of suggestions, and after some discussion with one of their reps chose to do correcting on my own. Now that version has gone back for another editorial evaluation (this one I pay for). I've worked so much on that book, more than any other, and I'm satisfied with where it is. I hope they are too, and that they don't ask for further editing, at my expense (though that's sort of doubtful).
At the same time, a book cover design is underway, and I should see ideas soon. Likewise designs for a build-up of my website, being done by a designer in Minneapolis. (Strange as it seems, I struck out on finding someone in New York.)
Awhile ago I developed a lot of pain in one leg, result of spinal stenosis. I got a cortisone injection a couple of weeks ago, which had very good results. While the pain was going on, I decided to cancel a trip to the Galapagos, which would have ended just now. I regret missing that amazing part of the world, but I didn't want to undertake walking on rocks and marshy lands if walking wasn't good. Being home these weeks has been productive.
I'm hoping the new (or just updated) website will help me make better use of this blog, its links, and the internet altogether.
Meanwhile, happy springtime.

New book

This blog has gone unattended lately--bad business. I've worked feverishly to finish writing a novel and get it to a publisher. The novel is called "Ten Ways to Your Cat's Happiness," and it is a novel, not a cat book (though of course there are a couple sample cats who get star turns).
This will be my fifth book, and finding a publisher remains highly elusive. I'm going back, with no great regret, to iUniverse, the self-publishing company that did the "Living Alone Creatively" book written about in this blog. They've done a good job on putting the book out, and again this time I will furnish the cover design which should make it better.
So now, the manuscript, around three years in the making, is in their hands, and I feel an enormous relief.
The issue of living alone, or not, is still on my mind, as it is on the mind of the protagonist of the new book, Evan McGorkle. Evan totters between being with a partner or not, and the partner is a handsome, successful physician, not a hard guy to imagine being with. But Evan has some fear of losing privacy and independence, so, yes, he totters back and forth. I won't spill the beans about how it turns out, but I will say that the book is the most complex I've written, with some interesting characters, from a beautiful upcoming opera singer to a wise Israeli coffee bar owner to a sight-impaired musician.
The book ought to be out in the next five, six months (I think). And I need to update my website in anticipation.
More later.
Thanks for tuning in.

New decade

We embark on a new year, new decade. Last night I went to the gorgeous production of "Der Rosenkavalier" at the Metropolitan Opera, one of the perks of living in Manhattan (note that the seat cost less than $30). It's an opera with music sublime and the overarching theme of the inevitable passing of time--and the wisdom to accept it. The Marschallin (princess) has an affair with a young count (always a soprano dressed like a boy), and she correctly warns him that sooner or later he will leave her for a younger woman. Which he does quickly. But the princess accepts that this is part of life, and at the end says she loves him for the love he has for the young girl. It's a sad, beautiful moment, filled with acceptance. (Strauss wrote that the affair with the young count was not the princess's first nor her last.)

All this touches on the matter of living with or without partner. A new novel I've written deals with the subject, as it did in "Living Alone Creatively." In the new book the protagonist has an on again, off again romance with a successful, altogether desirable physician who is the pursuer. The protagonist is filled with ambivalence, saying that his two cats provide him with the affection he needs. At least most of the time. I guess that, living alone as I do, it's a theme high in my mind. Ambivalence about partnering is usually hanging around.

My friend Michael Lowenthal, an excellent writer and person, has been in a gay relationship most of his life. He lives in Boston and wrote me recently that he finds the relationship a grounding point that allows greater freedom rather than a cause for restriction. I'm not sure how many people have achieved that--I know several for whom I'm sure it's not true--but Michael is a smart guy and I loved reading what he wrote. He's achieved an admirable goal.

Happy 2010 to those of you nice enough to read these words.