How I Arrived at This Writing Forum

[mikebooth]

At last year’s FITUR travel-trade fair in Madrid I fell into a casual conversation with the representative attending the New York City stand. We talked about N.Y., tourism, Spain, the usual. As I was leaving he said to me, “I heard you talking with the guy on the next stand. Why do you speak such good Spanish?” I told him I’d lived here for almost 40 years. “Wow,” he said, “how did that happen?” I told him the truth: “I just got bored and discouraged with where the U.S. was heading back in 1968, and I went looking for a better place. I discovered Spain, fell for it in a big way, and eventually renounced my American citizenship in order to take Spanish nationality.”

The New Yorker nearly fell over, said he’d never heard anything like it, wondered why anyone would ever swap an American passport for a Spanish one. “It’s a long story,” I said. On the four-hour drive home to Granada I started thinking about that encounter. If just mentioning my story could make a normal American swoon, maybe I should write it up and try to get it published.

That was just over a year ago. Now the book is written and I'm seeking some advice on finding a publisher. Shouldn't I have thought about that before I started writing? Well, probably I should have, but I was so fired by enthusiasm and the issues at hand that I just dived into it.

You are all invited to visit my Wordpress blog (Mike Booth) where I have tried to give a fair impression of myself and my book (though "book" is a bit pretentious at this point, when it's actually just a finished manuscript).

Short bio:

Born Jackson, MI, 1943
Graduated MSU: 1965
Discharged from Army: Apr. 1968
Arrived in Spain: Dec. 1968
Married last proper English girl: Oct. 1969
Installed ourselves in an inland Spanish village: Oct. 1969
Had some children, grandchildren
Discovered what life on this planet was about
Never left

The good news is that, at the age of 64 I've discovered what I want to do when I grow up. I want to write books.

[Otto Ray Sing]

One of the reasons that I live in Alaska is that it's almost like leaving the U.S. Even the weather channel ignores us. Welcome to the board.

[Nickie]

Hello to you, Mike, and welcome to the forum!


Nickie

[terrib]

How interesting Mike...I would love to read this book when it is published.

[Shinn]

Hello there Mike and welcome to the forum

[mikebooth]

I really appreciate your welcomes, which came as a surprise.

You'll have to be patient with me as I find my feet in this forum. "Thread tools" sounds to me like something my grandmother used to keep in a basket beside her rocking chair!

For Otto: "Even the weather channel ignores us..." I'm currently reading a fascinating book called "Six Degrees," which monitors future global warming degree by degree. According to the author, Alaska will soon have balmy Carribean temperatures. Quite soon. You'll only have to wait about 10,000 years.

For Nickie: 5,000 posts! When do you sleep?

For terrib: Thanks for the compliment. I would like to read it when it's published, too!

For Shinn: I see I'm going to have to get myself a flashy avatar...