Hole in my Heart on its way

Lorraine and Jane, 1983

After more than five years, several rewrites, many tears, rejections from publishers, more tears, picking myself up, dusting myself off....a Lifetime movie that was in the works but died, more rewrites, a book contract I couldn't sign, cutting 20,000 words (!), a story that kept changing as time marched on, encouragement and love from my ever-supportive husband and good friends, et cetera, my memoir, Hole in my Heart, is going to be available in March or April. I'm a publishing it myself. Enough with the waiting.

To make that happen, I put Hole in my Heart up on Kickstarter, a crowd-funding platform, last week and asked for just enough to pay for copy editing (by a first mother who does this in real life), and someone who will format it for publication.

As I write tonight, I want to thank those who helped so generously and quickly to make this happen: Darlene Gerow
(first contributor); Frank Ligtvoet, Lois B. Morris, Robert and Hilary Loomis, Roger Cooper, Ina and Robert Caro, Kathryn Levy, Mary Spitzer, Bridget Morgan, Joy L. Pantelis, Carol Chandler, Katherine Ryden, Cathy Kleinsmith, Jane Edwards, Connie Gray, Eileen Skahill, Richard Hill, Nancy Horgan, Cathie Creely, Ceryl Gribskov, Leslie GMN, Suzy Wiliams, Autumn 01113, Jim Thelen, Anne from Adoption Reconnect (South Africa), Belinda Tilley Landridge (Wales), Suz Bednarz, Eileen Mertens, Pricilla Stone Sharp, Lynn Franklin, Martha Spector, Lisa Roberts--who so generously gave so I could meet my goal this morning--and Casey Porter, Glenn O'Kray, Pam Hasegawa and Sandy Musser. Others did not want to be publicly named. Some did not ask for gifts and wanted to buy the book when it came out. I will post updates as we go along.

To read more about the project, to see the cover art that I have had in my mind's eye for more than a year, go to the Kickstarter page:

hole in my heart

I had no idea this would happen so quickly, and any extra money will be used for marketing to get out the message of the book far and wide. If possible, I would hire a publicist who does internet publicity. Kickstarter will stay open until March 15.--lorraine 

I've had this title in mind for years, but this morning I googled it and discovered that it is a song title with three different sets of lyrics. Those by Jewel fit my own hole in my heart:

There's a hole in my heart 
And I carry it wherever I go
Like a treasure that travels with me down every road
There's this longing lonesome and deep
Kind of bitter, kind of sweet
There's a hole in my heart in the shape of you
___________________________

PS: Ahh...Downton Abbey. I want Edith to get her child, thumb her nose at her life, and go to London and raise Marigold, her daughter. I could probably find out what happens, but I'm not going to until it plays out on American PBS. How about you?