Art Fettig’s Monday Morning Memo
July 24th, 2017
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artfettig@aol.com
In this Issue
o My First Published Book
o Say Something Good
o Points To Ponder
o A Little Humor
o Quote
o To Subscribe
My First Published Book
In 1973 I had my first book published. I went to church one morning and they had a guest speaker who was endeavoring to sell us subscriptions to Liguorian Magazine. He was introduced by our pastor as the Editor of Liguorian Press. As I listened, the wheels in my head started spinning around and right after mass I walked back the adjoining pastor’s home and asked to meet the visitor.
I cut right to the quick, “Father, how would you like to publish a humor book about raising kids today? About being an usher, a Dad, and such.” I watched him closely and saw his eyes light up.
“How soon could you deliver it?” He asked. “I had another guy who was working on a similar theme and I’ve been waiting for three years and he hasn’t delivered it yet.”
“What time are you leaving?” I asked. He said “Three o’clock.” I said, “I’ll bring it to you by then.”
I rushed home. I didn’t have such a book but I had an idea where I could get one. I went up in our attic where I had my office. I pulled out a stack of articles I’d written and sold to other magazines and then I had a bigger stack of humor articles I’d written which had been rejected thus far, 29 articles in all. I headed for my office at the railroad depot where I worked. I arrived in my office and went straight to my typewriter. I typed out the title sheet for the book. It read “It Only Hurts When I Frown. A Funny, Happy, Loving Look at Life.” Art Fettig
Then I wrote the material for the back cover. That done, I took the whole mess into the Train Dispatcher’s Office where they had a big Xerox Machine I could use. Almost two hours later I had made two copies of nearly 200 typed pages of manuscript. I rushed back into my office, typed out a page with my address, phone numbers and such and then headed out to my car for a quick trip to the Pastor’s house. I believe it was twelve minutes to three when I delivered my finished manuscript to that Editor, Father Farrell. He looked at me and said, “I was just getting ready to leave.”
I handed him the box containing my book. He sat down patiently and read the title. He smiled. Then he read the first article and laughed twice. He flipped through a number of articles and he was smiling all the way. Then he got up, shook my hand and said, “I will contact you later in the week.”
He did, and said “I will send you a contract.” They published 3,000 copies and sold them all. Then I took over publishing the book myself and we went through three more editions.
When people ask me how long it took me to put together my first book I tell them, “Oh, once I got the idea I did it in about two hours.”
Say Something Good
Conversation. With cell phones, texting, and so many other tech possibilities for communication saturating our lives today it really is a treat for me to sit down with a live person and have a good two way conversation. I’ve had some really great laughing sessions these past few days just sitting down with an acquaintance for a while and then signing off live with a warm handshake. May God Bless America and keep our troops safe from harm.
Points To Ponder
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained. Marie Curie
A Little Humor
GOD’S SENSE OF HUMOR. While creating wives, God promised men that obedient wives would be found in all corners of the world. And then He made the earth round.
Quote
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. Voltaire
To Subscribe
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