I finally finished my book, Learning to Say "Satoraljaujhely," in time to have it published before the International Jewish Genealogy Conference held in Los Angeles last July. I had submitted a proposal to offer a presentation from my "book in progress"--when the proposal was accepted, I was asked to be the keynote speaker at the Hungarian Special Interest Group luncheon. I realized that this was an opportunity to read before the most interested audience I would ever have, and that it was an important occasion to have the book finished to sell.

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I started by listing each piece I had for the book--poems, short stories, and memoir. Since this material deals with about 200 years of the history of my Hungarian Jewish family, I listed the date or dates covered by each piece and the narrator used for each selection. Once I had the list finished, I realized that I really did have enough work to complete the book--I had covered the entire time period and had included all the major characters in my story. I reviewed the list and a few selections with a friend and colleague who was familiar with the project I'd been working on. She also thought I had enough to consider the book finished.

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I put all the selections into chronological order, including the date and narrator's name as subtitles. I knew I would be including photographs--old family photographs and my own photographs from my 1997 and 2004 trips to Hungary, so I started to add them to the text. The first draft of the book was done sooner than I'd thought. Revisions and editing, with the help of several friends/editors and a lot of time with a Hungarian dictionary, took almost a month--a short time for a book. Finally the book went off to my publisher, the Tucson small press Jumping Cholla Press, which used a print-on-demand printer to get me 100 copies to take to Los Angeles. (I got the boxes of books a whole week before I had to leave for LA!)

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At the conference, I sold books at an opening-day sales table, gave my luncheon presentation, reading selections from the book while projecting slides of photographs from the book as well as more Hungarian photographs I have. The audience really appreciated the presentation, and I sold a large number of books. Later in the week, I presented a writing workshop on using family history in creative writing. It was one of the most exciting, involved workshops I've ever taught--and afterward I sold quite a few more books! (We've printed more since the original printing.)

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So, my advice is--don't let your "magnum opus" take forever! Just get it out in print and get it out into the world! There are lots of people who will appreciate your writing.

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Thanks for reading JWorld Café, the Poetica Magazine Blog

Lynn Saul, Guest Blogger

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Lynn Saul teaches writing and humanities at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona, and a creative writing workshop and other adult education classes at her synagogue, Congregation Bet Shalom in Tucson. She received an international travel award from the Tucson/Pima Arts Council to support her 2004 artist’s residency in Hungary with the Hungarian Multicultural Center. Her publications include poetry and prose in many literary magazines and anthologies, including Sarah’s Daughters Sing, the Jewish Women’s Literary Annual, SandScript, and on ShalomVeg.com. Her book, Learning to Say "Satoraljaujhely," was recently published, and she was the keynote speaker at the Hungarian Special Interest Group luncheon at the International Jewish Genealogy Conference in Los Angeles in July 2010. It is available for sale on Amazon as well as at several bookstores in Tucson; further distribution is planned as well as readings and presentations. Please contact the author at lynnsaul@cox.net  - Linda Pressman, Blog Editor