A Special Message from Your Feisty Founder

[Guest guest]

Dear Feisty Friends, This post is a reply to a specific post from Andy -- but it is ALSO another urgent plea to the hundreds of Feisty members who have not responded to any of my previous requests for your support. Won't you please take a few minutes to read this post, since the future of the Feisty Forum needs to be resolved fairly soon? Many thanks! Hi again, Andy (I take it you prefer this to "Andra"?) -- Congratulations on your publishing success! You were so humble iand modest in your earlier post that I got the wrong idea re your progress along the road to publication. I would think you could leverage your upcoming book credit into any number of future books or articles. Interestingly, I could swear I saw your book title somewhere just today

-- are you aware of any advance reviews you may have received? I was in & Noble for an hour or so and was browsing through so many books and magazines, I can no longer recall where I saw the book referenced -- but I am almost sure the title had to do with "Pilates" and "fragile backs." How kind of you to acknowledge my writer's tips, but It sounds as if you are in a good position to advise ME on parlaying my experience and credentials into a book contract! I would be fascinated to know how you pitched your idea, whether you used an agent, etc., if you would care to write to me privately about any of this (feistyfounder@...). ***************************************************************************************** NOW FOR A VERY IMPORTANT DIGRESSION -- PLEASE READ, FEISTY FRIENDS! As you may know, I am still at

the stage of trying to find TIME to write for publication. This group consumes most of the time I am able to sit at a PC, so I continue to "hit on" all you beloved and patient Feisty folks for donations. I hope that if enough people who are ABLE to contribute ($25 or even $10 annually) DO contribute, I will at least be able to finance a private, ad-free, premium-content website for the group and perhaps to package several of my longer manuscripts into books for adults with scoliosis or other disabling conditions. Best of all, at least from my own perspective, I will be able to continue as list owner and moderator! (I am now very close to a possible major transition myself in this regard. To keep on with this group, I really need a clear vote of confidence in sustaining fiscal form, crude as that may sound. I will probably send out one final fund-raising letter to the entire membership -- a last chance, as it were, for members to show where they stand on the future

of the Feisty Forum -- before making a final decision. Several more Feisty members have recently sent generous contributions, and although I have thanked them privately, I want to say again how deeply grateful I am for their support. (Any member who has not yet contributed can do so by snail-mailing me a check or money order -- see my "signature," below, for the mailing address -- or can click the button on our home page for donations. This will take you to Paypal, where you can debit your credit card or bank account electronically, sending an instant donation to poetryperson.@... Donations of any size are TREMENDOUSLY WELCOME! ************************************************************************************************ My "raw books" comprise (1) a

kind of "Feisty Handbook," drawing on more notable posts and essays I have done in connection with this group since founding Feisty six years ago; (2) an inspirational guide for adults facing sudden disability or unexpected chronic illness, including adults with histories of previous scoliosis surgery; working title, *But My Doctor Said I Was Cured.* Much as I would like to write for flatbackers per se, we are a relatively minuscule group demographically, so no mass-market title targeted specifically to US is likely to be economically feasible or viable. I think you must have given your book just the right "hook" by targeting it to the large back-surgery population. I will be interested to learn what kinds of patients you are addressing, i.e., the general disk-surgery group or an even larger and more diverse group. People send me review copies of their books from time to time, and I have also endeavored to keep up with "back" titles in general.

To date, as far as I know, there is no exercise book that offers much help to people with histories of complex revision surgeries such as those Dr. Boachie performs. I will be fascinated and delighted to learn that he may have endorsed a program suitable to US, specifically -- the ever-cautious revised flatbackers with their lengthy fusions and amazing internal hardware collections! It sounds as if you, as the author of the program in published form, may have scored a real coup here, Andy -- accolades and applause are surely in order! I hope you got a decent advance for all the work the book must have entailed, and I wish you bigtime royalties! Thanks again for both of your posts. And thank you especially for catalyzing -- perhaps I should say GALVANIZING -- my own thinking with respect to my career, such as it is. I am truly at yet another crossroads in my life -- although it is all too easy, most

days, to go on as I have been: living a spare, frugal, indebted life, paying off my arrearage to the landlord in installments, etc., while working overtime for essentially no compensation. But I am 57, and I still aspire to somethng more -- not to any kind of material luxury, I hasten to stress, but at least to some semblance of the life I once led -- at least to doing a little better than barely getting by. This group has actually BEEN my life in many ways for the past six years. I love and care for each and every one of you. It will be hard and painful to make the break -- to admit, at last, that my energies are not limitless, and I need to decide on some new priorities. I am 57 years old. If not now, when? Who said, "Life is short and the world is wide"? My thanks to

everyone who has posted, these past couple days or so, on the subject of leaving work or changing careers. In all innocence -- without meaning or intending to -- you have given me a much-needed nudge, and I grateful. As ever,

Rasche , JD

Medical/Legal Writing & Editorial Services

6541 N. Francisco Avenue, #2

Chicago, IL 60645-4301

Harrington rod? Concerns arising from previous scoliosis surgery? For information, group support, ongoing discussion with others: /