The Healing Project Book as a Serial Endeavor

By Dennis Lantz

I’m writing again. A few different projects… as usual. That is how my mind works. It isn’t that I lose interest in the original task… it’s just that other ideas suddenly seem more important to my brain. 

A recent health struggle has made me take a closer look at all of the dreams I hope to accomplish. To be honest, the realization that we all have limited time causes me severe impatience. It makes me want to share everything immediately… even projects that aren’t finished. Especially writing projects. That isn’t my normal way of doing things. But I have an idea, a new approach that was inspired by great writers from the past.  Let me explain my serial endeavor.

Charles Dickens published all of his novels as serial stories before they were sold as completed books. Newspapers and literary magazines, some of which he edited and published, would print parts of his tales in sequence. Writing serials kept costs low for the readers… and motivated the writer to produce content. Dickens wasn’t alone in this method of writing. According to booksonthewall.com, many of the classic tales from the nineteenth and early twentieth century were offered in this format. Dumas, Stowe, Verne, Dostoevsky. Tolstoy, Hardy, Wells, Fitzgerald and many others wrote for periodicals. While the concept changed through the years, it didn’t entirely go away. Modern writers, like Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, and Tom Wolfe have published novels in a series of magazine entries or as periodicals.

It is likely that the internet and ebooks have facilitated serial writing. Anyone with a computer and a bit of free time can publish their stories. I’ve always been fascinated by the notion. If one publishes a chapter a week, a finished book is possible in as little as five or six months.

My first serial project is not going to be a novel. Instead, it will be a book about the Healing Project. I’ve been working on it (off and on) for six or seven months. Some of it is presentable. More of it is very rough draft or just an outline. Over the next few months, I will share this effort on my website, and specifically on My Handprint blog. I’ll post links on Facebook.

My email newsletter group will receive all of these chapters before they are posted here on My Handprint blog. At least a couple days before everyone else. It's easy to sign up. Go to my website here.  Scroll to the bottom of the page, enter your email address and click on Subscribe. It's free. Not only will you receive The Healing Project Book chapter by chapter, you will also get updates on The Return to Gentlewoods and my numerous other projects. 

Your feedback on this project will be extremely beneficial. I encourage you to message me with your thoughts. Your opinions matter. Tell me what should or shouldn’t be changed or expanded.  

The Healing Project book is not an autobiography… but it will be extremely personal. As you will read, I have to use my own accounts and lessons because I am not a professional therapist. I can't use client case studies to make my points. I don't have any clients.

I must admit that I don’t have a specific timeframe for this project. My hope is to post a new chapter each week… but I’d be happy to send it to you in a consistent manner. I know myself and I know my schedule. I have numerous projects and tend to jump back and forth between them. I’m currently writing a fiction thriller… but I promise to make the time to work on The Healing Project book. Don’t be alarmed if I miss a week here or there. Life is busy and there are no guarantees. That, in fact, is why I am starting this now. I want to share The Healing Project with you because it is important to me. I don’t want to spend years writing this book only to regret not releasing it in a timely manner. It’s not like I have a publisher or agent to push me. I have you… and my own ambition.

I am a fervent believer that everything happens in its right time. The time for The Healing Project is arriving. The subtitle of The Healing Project Book will be “Overcoming Fear, Stress, and Pain to Fulfill Dreams and Live the Best Possible Life.” This is the biggest reason that I want to share it now. We need to heal now. We need to make our lives better.

Before I post the Introduction to The Healing Project Book, I want to clarify that this book project is different from the journal entries that I offer each day on the The Healing Project Group Facebook page. Some of the topics in this book will be similar and some of the writing may seem redundant… but I will attempt to keep that at a minimum.

When I craft these separate chapters into a single, cohesive book, there will be further editing, reorganization, and additional material. It’s likely that the order of the posts will change when that happens. 

As you will see, The Healing Project is an adventure in healing, just as much as it is a guideline in our life’s journey. This book will present what the Healing Project is… and how it can benefit our lives. I picture this book, and even the Healing Project Journal on Facebook, like a pantry from which you can occasionally snack… or repeatedly get your daily meals. The idea is that we break bread together. We can share a meager, one-time lunch… or we can feast every day.

Let’s get started.

Tomorrow, I will post the Introduction to The Healing Project book.

Until next time,

Read, Learn, Live!

Dennis



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