A memoir query letter.

[Jim Williams]

In tireless self-promotion, and after a years work of refining at the Absolute Write website, here's my latest query letter I'm sending to obtain a agent to sell my book.

Any comments, (good or bad, for or against) are welcome:

BTW - while I include Bessler's Wheel in the book, I use no one's name. I also plan to show Scott the actual writing about this website before it is ever published.
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On my way to my camp in Golden Gate Park, unknown assailants bludgeoned me into a coma and left me to die. Two years later, as I was being diagnosed by my physician for schizophrenia, my friend offered to remain silent while the doctor examined me. My case for reality would have been stronger if my friend had existed.

I slept inside discarded rolls of carpet to get out of the rain. Professional caregivers openly mocked my failings. Security guards ousted me from benches at three in the morning, and I sobbed alone in the darkness. I held dialogues with illusory voices, and we formed a World Government. Amidst day-to-day street functioning, my unreal friends and I anticipated the day our telepathic leaders would end warfare and run the planet.

Finally, with detox and therapy, real voices began to replace my auditory hallucinations. Friendships developed while I realized people do still care about people. Reuniting with my brother, I started this book, detailing my 15 homeless years and my struggles with hearing voices and psychosis.

FRIENDS AND FOES is a memoir complete at 45,000 words. I have two small grants for the sole purpose of writing this book. My story shatters stigmas and provides hope.

[rasselasss]

I wish you well Jim,and will certainly buy a copy when you go to print,for any man who has entered the depths and abyss of his own being and came out the other side and can write a book of the experience is a wonderful achievement and gives hope to others facing the same dilemma...Good Luck.

[Jim Williams]

Thank you very much for your encouragement. Every day I can write about something that is no longer true for me, is a reward on to itself. Although I wouldn't choose to do it again, perhaps that I have done it will provide hope for someone other than me.

[rasselasss]

Jim,this may interest you,Irv Thomas has a good style of writing and draws the interest,he paints the picture in words...in this link near the bottom of the page he visits Kassel investigating "Bessler"wood engravings for his friend ...".innocence abroad",the title of the book,i thought it an interesting read.....Good Luck with your endeavours..

[rasselasss]

http://www.irvthomas.com/Innocence%20Ab ... nce15.html

[rlortie]

rass,

Thank you!

You bring up a lot of memories past with your above link to Irv's book; "Innocence Abroad". Their is a number of old timers here that can relate to it and what it has led to. I know Ed, Bill and John, as I, will reminisce reading this again.

Did you know that Glenn Rouse holds a patent on MT 137 and that he credited this forum on his application. It is he who brought William Kenrick's disquisitions to my attention. Which led me to the path I now pursue, "Trans-location of molecular mass"

Ralph

[rasselasss]

Ralph (riortie),there is no doubt,you would be good company in the long winter evenings ahead,strongly opinionated as we both are. our disagreements would mellow with a glass or two (or 3 or 4 )of Bushmills Whisky,that is if you could see through the billowing smog of smoke from my pipe ....we have a saying over here.."Good people are scarce..interesting people,even harder to find".....Good Luck with your project...apologies to Jim for disrupting your thread..

[Jim Williams]

I can hope as I continue to write, I will reach a point I express myself with the same color and ease as Mr. Thomas. I fear it's not until then will I be finding myself in print, regardless of the unusual nature of my experiences.

Thank you for the selection. I got to put aside mundane daily issues for a while in order to make the read.

[Stewart]

You bring up a lot of memories past with your above link to Irv's book; "Innocence Abroad". Their is a number of old timers here that can relate to it and what it has led to. I know Ed, Bill and John, as I, will reminisce reading this again.

Yes, this jogged my memory and I've posted some further information about Irv in a new topic. Irv must have passed away while I was absent from the forum otherwise I would have posted it then.

Jim - Have you thought of self-publishing? It's quite easy to do online these days and costs you nothing...

Ed and I have used LuLu in the past and have found them to be quite good and easy to use: https://www.lulu.com

Lately though I've been planning to use Amazon's self-publishing site, CreateSpace, to publish my Bessler related books...
https://www.createspace.com

Good luck, and I look forward to reading your book.

All the best
Stewart

[Jim Williams]

Steward:

Thank you very much for the self publishing links. I'm saving the information as I very well could be heading in that direction.

So far, I'm not having bad experiences with the traditional approach of first obtaining a agent, then proceeding from there. It's also given me more time to better polish the manuscript. As a result, the book I have ready will be better than the book I have so far, regardless of how it's published.

I believe my book will help people in my own situation, and I will find some way to have it published. I hope you find it worth your effort when I do.

Jim W.

[Jim Williams]

Well, I was surprised when I looked up the particulars of a website recommended by Steward. All to say, I've fallen for it.

So, for anyone so inclined, a free version is at:
http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/frie ... r/15474424

t will soon become available on other markets.

I haven't given up on traditional publishing, so my ebook version will be for free. I'm primarily looking for critiques. (Ill gladly reimburse the person from the UK that bought it for $4.99)

Jim W.

[Jim Williams]

To the person in the UK who bought my book:

Go ahead and download the free version, if you desire. It has better photos.

Your comments are welcome.

http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/frie ... r/15474424

(To add) I ran a grammar checker program on it, to find over 400 errors. I've corrected all those errors I want corrected, as of 3:00AM Monday, San Francisco time. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Jim W.

[Jim Williams]

Scott:

FYI: here's what I had to say about Bessler's wheel in my memoir.
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Bessler’s Wheel
Then there is the Bessler Wheel discussion board. One of the first items to be dispensed with was I had discovered perpetual motion. I posted the patent www.google.com/patents/us3412482 to prove my case. It didn’t take long for someone to respond the patent I referenced didn’t work. It took me a great deal of time to accept, neither it nor anything else, patented did work. That laid bare the truth. No member of the discussion board had found any means in any form that perpetual motion exists.

What I found instead was a whole group of people who hadn’t yet found a single device that worked. But, they found each other instead. Perhaps united with that common knowledge, we all had believed it to be true at some point while refusing to accept it couldn’t still be true in the future.

I grew because of my therapy groups. But 55,000 posted words, and eight years later, I also grew, because of suggesting an impossible idea was real, to find people who were more interested in what they may not know, and listened.

[Jim Williams]

Steward:

I just wanted to say I couldn't be more pleased with your referral to Lulu.com. For example, I was reading that to publish on Lulu, I was required to have an ISBN. So I goggled ISBN to find the official site. They are willing to sell me a ISBN for $135, with discounts for volume orders. They also claimed to be the only official spot with ISBNs available.

So, I started to calculate when I was going to be able to pony up $135 to publish. That is until I looked a Lulu's website further, to discover Lulu supplies it for free. That's a hint of my experience. I have other examples. Thank you.

Jim W.

[Jim Williams]

I didn't like how I described Bessler's Wheel in my book. So, I changed it.
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Bessler’s Wheel
Then there is the Bessler Wheel discussion board. www.besslerwheel.com

One of the first items members of the board dispensed with was I had discovered perpetual motion. I posted the patent www.google.com/patents/us3412482 to prove my case. It didn’t take long for someone to respond the patent I referenced didn’t work. It took me a great deal of time to accept, neither it nor anything else, patented did work. That laid bare the truth; no member of the discussion board knew of any means in any form that perpetual motion worked either.

What I found instead in this whole group of people who had found a common interest in Bessler’s wheel from the early 1700s. (See website above for more information) Perhaps united in the common knowledge that a perpetual motion machine resembling a wheel did work back then, the members refuse to accept it couldn’t still be true now.

Although I grew in therapy groups, I also grew because, after posting 55,000 words, and eight years, I continue to be able to revel in the freedom of suggesting such an outlandish idea as perpetual motion is real. Although Bessler’s Wheel is not related to being a therapy, for me it has been more therapeutic that some therapy groups I've been in, and I’ve grown here as much as anywhere. As best I can put it; I found people more interested in exploring the unknown, than sunning themselves in the glory of what is already known.