My Mom's Book

I'd like to introduce everyone to a new author - my mom!

How I Spent Part of 2008

This past year I spent much time helping my mom write her memoir. Then I learned Adobe InDesign in order to format the book for self-publishing. After all, no publisher is going to be interested in a memoir unless it's someone who is a household name. Don't get me wrong. My mom's memoir of her childhood in the rural South during the Great Depression is entertaining and educational, but I'm savvy enough to know it's a no-sell to perhaps all but regional or university presses.

I edited the manuscript, filled in some gaps, interpreted some uniquely southern things about which she wrote. Then I recruited my daughter the artist to do the layout, cover, and all the other myriad aesthetic tasks associated with publishing a book.

Published Finally

The result is Memory Lane: My Sentimental Journey by Lucille Dickinson Ainsworth and me (of course). I self-published the book through CreateSpace where it will remain for sale. It's also available from Amazon.

Who Will Enjoy This Book

I think the audience for my mom’s book is actually greater than one might suppose. Of course, those of my mother’s generation who lived through the Great Depression will want to read it for the shared nostalgia. So if you’re looking for a gift for an older American, perhaps grandparents, it’ll be perfect.

For anyone interested in early twentieth-century life, especially as lived by ordinary people in small towns and rural America, Memory Lane will be a resource to treasure. If you’re a teacher or a writer, this book will help you understand life during that long ago era.

My mother was born to parents who themselves were born in the 1880’s so she has a unique perspective which she brings to her writing with stories about outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the Long political dynasty, life without electricity and running water, butchering and curing your own meat, home remedies for people and animals, and celebrating holidays when times were hard.

The book describes a woman’s lot in life when washday involved building a fire outside and hanging a big black iron pot over it. From the Roaring Twenties, to the New Millennium, my mom Lucille Dickinson Ainsworth, has experienced it all and tells about it in Memory Lane: My Sentimental Journey.

The process of self-publishing was an educational experience. I started a series on my Joan Slings Words, my other blog about it including my opinion on why it really is a valid choice for some projects.

In case you'd like to bring a smile to my mom's face, buy her book! I'll keep the book cover as a clickable link in the sidebar of this blog so you can always find it. I'm proud of my mom and incredibly impressed with the result of our family's labor of love on her behalf.

Takeaway Truth

Everyone has a story and an identity apart from their familial relationship with you. Take the opportunity to discover the person behind the label of mom, dad, or grandparent before it's too late.