Ready to be seen

A stone-hearted peddler of false hope, with the corpses to show for it. A slick hotel operator with underworld connections. A global fashion icon and animal lover. A Nazi sympathizer and his seven-story Jesus. Willie Nelson’s favorite pot dealer. An anarchist hippie biker mayor.

Those stories are among the twenty short chapters I’ll soon send to beta readers for my upcoming book, Welcome to Eureka Springs: The I-Sh*t-You-Not History of America’s Quirkiest Town.

Beta readers get early access to near-final drafts. They’re not afraid to tell me what works, and what doesn’t. Their honest reactions help sharpen the book.

After incorporating their feedback, I’ll send the text to a copy editor, the last step before it’s done done. Then only ten chapters, out of a total sixty, remain for me to wrap up.

It has been a much longer journey than I naively expected when I started more than three years ago. But the work has been fun and satisfying. Especially gratifying, many of these stories have never appeared in any earlier Eureka Springs history.

Fingers crossed, I hope to launch the book this summer. I have no idea what the world will look like by then, but it’s a safe bet it will be in need of some cheering up. I hope that the book provides a brief escape for anyone who needs one.