Hello, backers and friends -
We’ve been in a whirlwind of activity, racing toward the
book finishing line. Our latest milestone was passing the publisher copyedit
phase. It just goes to show that the more eyes on a manuscript, the better.
Still counting on the May delivery date.
We’re also reviewing book cover designs and really love what the artists at Inkshares have proposed. We'll update you when we receive a final.
As we committed early on, here’s another excerpt (copyeditor
approved).
Book excerpt #3 from
chapter titled Mission to the Future (National Guard training exercise)
Around midnight, I heard something that sounded like a
big-ass mosquito. I looked around and thought, What in the world? I saw this black object in the air coming toward
us—maybe the size of a kid’s model airplane. It hung in the air momentarily,
then turned around. About an hour later,
I heard the Apache Longbow. I was getting ready, getting into position, and then got a
call saying we were dead. What? “Yeah, they killed you from four thousand
meters out.” I thought, Are you kidding me? That’s not even fair.
That was a couple of miles away, you know? But the mission was over… We were
going to repeat the exercise the next evening, and I got a great idea…
If you like what you’re reading, please pass it along
through your social networks!
Luke Murphy – www.LukeMurphy101.com
Julie Strauss Bettinger - www.JulieBettinger.com
Hi, again -
We just crossed a new milestone: passing the publisher edit stage of the book. That means we’re still on schedule to have it “in hand” around mid May. In other good news, quantity orders are coming in. AIG just ordered 575 books for their leadership!
In keeping with our commitment to you, our “backers," here’s another excerpt (freshly edited).
Book excerpt #2: My Heisman Moment
My platoon wasn’t back from the range, so I went to chow hall alone. I passed a drill sergeant marching a mixed bag of Army artillery guys and Marine artillery guys. “Left, left, left…” and then, “Halt!” I could feel him sizing me up, this little punk, alone, no patch on my arm. Just a dumb fish out there flopping, about to get eaten. He came right up to my face, "Where are you supposed to be?" I answered in one breath, "Drill Sergeant, I-shot-40-out-of-40-on-the-range-yesterday-and-they-gave-me the-day-off." He looked at me and laughed. "Well, hot damn, hawkeye. Carry on." I did an about face and decided, I am going back to my freaking room and I’m gonna wait. I’m not risking getting eaten again. At least I had answered the question right for a change.
Feel free to share with your social networks!
Luke Murphy – www.LukeMurphy101.com
Julie Strauss Bettinger - www.JulieBettinger.com
Hi, everyone -
We hit a major milestone on Blasted by Adversity: the Making of a Wounded Warrior: We sent the book manuscript to our publisher December 30th and are now working with the Inkshares editor. If all goes well, we’ll have a book by May 8th.
To once again thank you for making this book possible, we will begin sharing excerpts. These are “hot off the press,” so you’ll be the first to read them. Feel free to share with your friends on social media or email (and be sure to take credit for helping us write it!).
Book excerpt #1, Calling Home:
At Baghdad ER, the tents they took me to after the blast, they asked me if I wanted to call home and I told them no, I was doing fine. I wasn’t up to calling. The medics were kind of insistent, "Do it for your mom or whoever cares about you. You may not make it. We're not saying you're going to die, but people die from these kinds of wounds all the time." Well, when you put it that way…
Regards,
Luke Murphy - www.LukeMurphy101.com
Julie Strauss Bettinger - www.JulieBettinger.com
We hit the funding goal (again)! And this time it's solid, no unintended zeros by well-intended backers. Thank you to everyone who sent out messages on Veteran's Day on behalf of Luke's book. We're now back on track to have the book published next spring. We'll be sending some excerpts in the coming weeks, so you can get an idea of what to expect.
We appreciate you!
- Julie Strauss Bettinger, co-author (on behalf of Luke Murphy who is traveling to a speaking engagement today)
(From Julie, Luke's co-author) I just wanted to share an unsolicited message from the editor for Luke Murphy’s story: "…My post office wasclosed and I was doing errands in another town so I went to their post office,which was jammed with people and I had to wait in a long line and I was annoyedand then I realized why the line was so long—it’s because today is Veterans’Day and postal services are closed—so I thought of Luke and ceased to resentwaiting in line. And because I was fairly fresh from reading his account ofwhat it’s like, that time between losing your limb and all the brave-frontstuff that people back home see—we see them happily walking and running onprosthetic limbs, and we don’t have to “know” what goes on first, how long andpainful—I felt as though Luke had given me, as a citizen of a country, somenecessary knowledge about the scope and actuality of that injury-to-healingprocess. And it’s our obligation to be aware of these things, so that we do notconsent easily to wars and conflicts, so that we understand what the countryasks of these people, so that we take some responsibility as citizens of thistime and place when our leaders send them far away."
Friends, you believed in Luke Murphy's story when we launched the proposal on 9/11. But we're still way short on our fundraising goal! On this Veteran's Day, please consider sharing the link via email or Facebook, and help give a voice to this new generation of wounded service members. THANK YOU. - Julie Strauss Bettinger
https://www.inkshares.com/projects/blasted-by-adversity-the-making-of-a-wounded-warrior
Luke is returning from Texas this week after his 32nd surgery since the blast. He's doing well, but while he was away, we received some bad news that one of our major backers didn't mean to give quite as much as her credit card was charged. So we are re-launching the crowd-funding effort. We appreciate your past support and hope you will help spread the word. We've completed about 10 chapters and this story just keeps getting better and better. With funding, we can have this book out next spring. Thank you for helping Luke Murphy!
Our best,
Julie Strauss Bettinger, www.JulieBettinger.com
for
Luke Murphy, www.LukeMurphy101.com
Hello, everyone -