hour I found a good portion of what went in to the "Run/Stop-Restore" compilation.

For some unknown reason I also pulled a few files out of the cabinet that were Commodore related but not in the book and put them on the bed as well. Why? I didn't know yet. I closed the drawers in the file cabinet then turned to
face the mess that I created with the folders that were strewn on the bed. There was no rhyme or reason for what I was doing. Then a voice like a whispering echo resonated in my head that said the following:

"START OVER."

I looked at the mess again and immediately knew what I needed to do. I was to re-create "Run/Stop-Restore" and republish it using a brick and mortar publishing company instead of the copier in the Commodore computer room. That seemed impossible. Nobody in their right mind would buy a book about stories
of a bygone computer that was only a vapor in the whisps of time, but the thought still hounded me. Is it really possible?

I knew that if I wanted to get the book published at a real book publisher I would have to convert all the GeoWrite text into a format manageable by a PC. Enter The Big Blue Reader. The Fresno (California) Commodore User Group, of whom I was a long distance member, was nice enough to send me copies of the
Big Blue Reader program. The function of the program was to take selected
files froma Commodore word processing format and make those documents into something readable by a PC. With a stack of folders to guide me, I sat down
at my Commodore computer desk and started looking through what seemed like a myriad of 5.25" disks containing everything that I had written using both Speedscript as well as GeoWrite.

As I found the needed file on a Commodore disk I would transfer that file onto a single 5.25" disk so I could have everything in the same place. Then, using Big Blue Reader, I allowed the Commodore to transpose the contents of those files onto a 3.5" disk that was formatted to 720K, readable by a PC that
still used either the .TXT or .RTF format. I worked feverishly on the project. My mood improved as I went along. I had both my Commodore as well as my PC working as I began the chore of creating a real book suitable for publishing. During the morning I worked on finding a job via the Internet. In the
afternoon I would take a few hours to rest and play with the cats and decompress my mind. In the evening I would work on the book, sometimes going well into early next morning before I realized that I had to get some kind of sleep. My adrenaline was high. My cats, who were there as I went through the emotional crash of my wife leaving me for another man, were next to ignored when it came to maintenance for them like feeding, watering, and sanitation.

However, they were not going let me forget them in this whirlwind of
excitement that now gripped me. When the time came for eating, they would
jump on top of the Commodore computer stand and be sure to block my view of
the monitor by lying down in front of it. When the cats learned that this action got my attention, they started doing for everything like getting
petted or to get me to play with them. I didn't mean to start ignoring my little companions but I felt like I was onto something big and I didn't want
to stop in fear of losing momentum. For about two weeks I work this way until all the needed word processing files were converted to PC and uploaded to my laptop.

Next was organizing the stories into a readable and flowing format. This was hard for me because I had no sense of organization. I did my best, moving one story to another section of the book, and then back again. I was no good at this but I worked at it anyway. Before long I had compiled a sizeable book
that was clean cut and put in a proper order. To add some flair, I made my
own personal comments about each story that I called "facades." It was a short history of where the story idea came from and how I developed the idea into
the spiel that the reader was reading. Next came the chore of looking for a publisher.

Hitting the Internet again, I started looking for book publishers. Here is where naivete sadly kicked in. I read many blurbs about this publisher and
that publisher promising success and the moon. Everything sounded good on
about all of them. Now was the problem of choosing one of them. By the quirk
of a whim, I fell on Titanic Books out of Springfield, Illinois. I contacted the sales agent department via email and told them that I had written a book and was in the market for a publishing firm to take on the project. They were more than eager to see my work and give me their opinion if it was a fit in their style of books. I transposed my composition into a .PDF format and sent it on. It didn't take long for them to respond saying that they would be glad to take on the project. I was elated. On the first throw of the dart I hit
the bullseye. Later on I would learn that what I did was really hit the eye
of a bull which would later gourd me in the butt.

Between the contract department and myself we worked out deal where I would
pay them $3,000 and they would publish the book. Wait a minute! Even in my elation I knew that something didn't jive. Why should I have to pay them
$3,000 if they wanted to publish my book? I thought that when a publishing company made a contract with an author it was because the publisher believed
in the work and felt that it would make a good sales and profits for both parties. Maybe things have changed in the book publishing field that I once read about when I was younger? I didn't know. Nonetheless, I gave Titanic
Books my Discover Card number and they took their $3,000. I was on my way,
but to where?

Time passed. I finally found a job with Flash Delivery, a contract courier in Kansas City, Missouri, located in the East Bottoms near the Missouri River. They were happy to have me on board. I quickly showed enthusiasm, was always cheerful, and clients swifty took a liking to me. Some of the people I

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