Next Project On The List...

This will be a bit of a departure from what you’re used to reading here. Since we found out we were pregnant with our first son, this blog has been almost entirely devoted to the boys. It wasn’t actually supposed to be that way. No, it was supposed to be about all of us, hence the title – Harper Times. But naturally, Jackman became the focus of the blog for a while, then Brolin came along and there was barely a free moment to fool with it. Well, things are a little different now.

Since Jackman was born I’ve been taking courses, but now I have completed my B.S. in Religion. I have recently found that I even have some “free time,” though not much. I’m going to tell you what I have planned, and hopefully you’ll stick around and help me see it through.

I started this blog in May of 2009, which was nearly 4 years ago. The blog really took off because of Jackman’s time spent in the NICU at Children’s Hospital, and our struggles and victories that followed – including the mad-dash birth of our second boy, Brolin. The blog has grown all along. And all along readers have complimented me saying, “You should write a book.”

Well, I always shrugged that off as something that people say, but I heard it a lot, it was in the blog comments, Facebook comments, Twitter replies, et cetera. It got me thinking… That really is something I would like to do. I’ve really gotten to like my wife and the boys, and it is actually kind of fun to just spend time thinking of them. I like to remember them, and more especially the things that God has done in our little family. It has been truly amazing, and I am still amazed.

So here’s the plan. I’m going to use all the material I can gets my hands on. The blog posts, the comments, stuff from Jackman’s Facebook page, my sporadic journaling attempts though the years, you name it, and put that into a short memoir of sorts. I’m also going to write a lot of new content to tie it all together into something smooth and cohesive. And then I plan to tease the heck out of you with bits and pieces of it until there’s a finished product.

Make no mistake – I DO suffer from delusions of grandeur… so it’s a good thing that I am, as strange as it may seem, also a realist who is being perpetually humbled by the Lord. So, I’m going to try and figure out some practical way to get this into your hands if you want it.

Last but not least, I dread putting in writing what I plan to do, especially when it’s and undertaking of this magnitude. I know that the probability of tiring of a project like this and dropping it is high. I’m doing this in part to keep me honest – so some of you will periodically ask, “Hey Greg, how’s that book coming along?” I’m also doing this in part for help and encouragement. I plan to ask a few of you who read this for help, and that has always been an embarrassing thing for me to do. I’m a loner and do-it-your-self-er, but I know when I need help. I’ll need encouragement too. I get bored with long projects and want to move onto new ones, that’s why this one scares me a little bit. Encouragement will help. One way you can help out right now is to join the blog as a follower if you aren’t one already. Just go to the left sidebar and do it real quick… Yeah, it takes a minute but hey, I’m writing a whole book.

Stay tuned for further developments…