For the past few weeks I have been working hard on Valerie’s anthology. It finally went live on Kindle last week.
This is the most important thing that I have ever done. I’ve never stressed about my own work the way that I have about hers. I guess because it’s permanent. I can always edit my own stuff, but Val is gone. Her stories are in my hands now, and the responsibility of that is overwhelming. It has to be perfect. I won’t settle for anything less than perfect.
That’s not true. I’m sure that there are some problems with it that I haven’t seen. Knowing that they are out there kills me.
Valerie was a much more talented writer than me. She was a professor at Mercy College. When she died, she was entering a PhD program for Writing. I’d estimate that there are only a thousand of so Doctors’ of Writing out there. Literature, there are plenty. Specifically Writing, a scant few.
But telling people that she was a great writer isn’t enough. I feared that her stories would fall into obscurity. She deserved a better fate.
Right now the anthology is available for $1.99 on Amazon. Mercy College set up a merit award in her name, and all of the proceeds are going to it. Her stories deserve to be read. For two dollars, you’re getting something that will change you. She changed me.
