LXXXII. A Paperback Is Born

August 12, 2012  — I have published my book Begins the Night Music in paperback. It has been a difficult birth suffering prolonged labor; but my offspring is out on the world market now.

You can buy it by clicking right here on my blog or through amazon.com. Begins the Night Music: A Dementia Caregiver’s Journal, Volume I, was published in paperback August 2 – a Leo, for those of you so inclined astrologically – and is available in paperback and Kindle e-book format. It is also available at Barnes & Noble.

Now I must get to work on Volume II: To What Green Altar.

I apologize for the long delay between posts here. You probably think I was on a cultural tour of Italy, gazing upon gondolas gliding along a canal from some Venetian loggia; visiting Dante Alighieri’s house in Florence; ingesting culinary lessons in Tuscany and Umbria; dining on olives, tomatoes, prosciutto and provolone garnished with sprigs of basil, while idly swirling red wine to coat the insides of my glass and watching white sails hobnobbing among sparkling blue Mediterranean swells; or had dropped by to visit George Clooney for a fortnight.

Alas, this has not been the scenario. Moriarty, the Phantom of My Blog, went out to water the geraniums hanging on our blog third-story balcony and the glass door slid shut behind him and locked. The keys were inside. He called me from his cell phone, which, fortunately, he carried in his pocket; but I couldn’t get in because I had given him my keys to go water the plants. He had his own set but he lost them, so if any plagiarism of my blog’s work appears elsewhere on the Internet, it is because someone picked up the Phantom’s keys – and that was the only other set.

Ultimately I had to call the fire company to come get him down, but not before the thunderstorm came and dumped buckets of water everywhere. I then had to show the authorities all kinds of ID to prove that I, in fact, wasn’t breaking into my own blog, so that they could let me in and I could rescue my keys. This took several days because I don’t have a passport and when they tried to identify me by matching me with the size of the clothes hanging in my closet, they didn’t believe me when I told them the clothes shrank right there on the hangers; and the fire fighters were elsewhere putting out fires. Anyway, I’ve had a second set of keys made.

Begins the Night Music tells the first part of Emma’s and my journey into the darkening of her mind. The book also includes a few recipes (not learned in Tuscany) and some humorous essays to lighten the atmosphere.

So, if you haven’t seen my baby, it has arrived. I humbly thank my dear friends and family for purchasing not only copies for themselves but also for friends, libraries and Alzheimer’s groups. I am truly heartened and touched by these gestures.

Thank you.

—Samantha Mozart