. My new book took more than four and a half years to complete. I began it in March of 2008 and had the basic text written by September. Then disaster struck. My 486 computer died. A friend offered to help me diagnose the problem by e-mail, an offer I thought would be helpful. Once I had my computer all apart, she stopped writing to me. No amount of letters to her e-mail box coaxed her to reply. Though I bought a new video board, I couldn't get the old PC working.
I decided that placing an ad in local papers would be a good idea. Certainly somebody must have an old PC that they'd be glad to sell for a few bucks. Though I bought seven old computers and was given several junkers, none of them would run my Mastertouch screen reader software.
A blind friend came to my rescue by e-mailing me Vocal Eyes 3.0. This program was designed to work with a variety of speech synthesizers. After considerable fiddling, it cooperated with my Keynote Gold speech synthesizer hardware.
Research also took up much of my time. One example of this was the topic of the stigmata. Brother Herald (as I called him), the false prophet I once followed claimed to bear in his body the marks of Christ's crucifixion. Though the material I studied was fascinating, the sheer volume of documentation overwhelmed me. The same was true of the research I did on the Nahanni Valley, claimed by Brother Herald to be the location of the city of refuge for weak Christians during the end times tribulation.
Though I have two Bible programs, I needed to use them many times during the writing of How I Was Razed. First, I needed to find the scriptures that Brother Herald twisted. After that, I needed to show the scriptures in their proper context.
Since I used WordPerfect 5.1 for the manuscript, converting it into MS Word proved problematic. Because of that, I asked my editor and proof reader to put their corrections and comments between asterisks so I could find them easier. Then I made the corrections to the WP5.1 version of my manuscript.
I finally finished the book in June of 2012. Word Alive Publishers held a contest, the prize being publication of the winning manuscript. Mine lost but the judges gave me a great idea for the beginning of my story. Since that company's prices were rather high, I published through Virtual Bookworm Publishers.
I received my shipment of How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity early last month. For more about my testimony of God's graciousness, visit the Amazon and Barnes & Noble pages. My previous two paperbacks are available on this page.
My husband Bill had a knack for taking computers apart when they didn't work and putting them back together. In fact, for twenty years, he owned and operated a computer store in Fowler, Colorado, before he met me. Of course this was before he had his strokes. It's too bad he couldn't have helped you, but I'm glad you finally got it together, and your book is now available for purchase. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteAbbie Johnson Taylor, Author of
We Shall Overcome
and
How to Build a Better Mousetrap:
Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver
http://abbiescorner.wordpress.com