It’s a long way off, but I guess that’s how the publishing business works.
Big and Bright: Deep in the heart of Texas High School Football is scheduled to be released in September of 2015. I will submit the final edit this September and after that the publisher has time to get reviews and promotion before the book is widely released.
With little to do on the writing front between this September and next September I’m starting to consider other writing projects. I’ll be coaching football this fall and ski instructing during the winter, so I’m thinking of a spring project next year.
One- Football has taken off in Europe. There are teams in every country, ranging from amateur to semi-pro to minor league quality. In Germany and Austria they are getting crowds upwards of 30,000 for games. I’m thinking of finding a team to spend a few months with. I’d like to learn the motivations for the coaches (mostly American) and players. (a mix of Americans and local Europeans) The great part is that football is played during the spring in Europe. The great part is that, in Europe, football is played in the spring, meaning I could go over and continue coaching, skiing AND be back in time for any Big and Bright promotion.
Two- Minor League Baseball- I’ve always been curious about the way-station/ proving ground/ teaching/goofy entertainment environment around the minor-league game. The movie Bull Durham did a wonderful job portraying this. But I’ve never seen a non-fiction treatment of the topic. Conveniently, I live about 3 miles from a AAA team. If I could work something out with them, that would be an option.
Three- Texas again…My publisher wants me to cut around 20% from Big and Bright. This means there will be lots of extra material. Material I’m going to hate to lose. I don’t know what won’t make the cut yet, but maybe it could somehow be spun into a second book. Along those same lines several people I met during my time in Texas have spoken to me about helping them with other books. One spoke of a Texas HS football history. I found Texas itself an amazing and interesting place and wouldn’t rule out a different project there.
–It means absolutely nothing, but surfing through Maxprep (The national HS sports go-to website) last week, I saw that Cedar Hill High School is the pre-season number one ranked high school team in the country. Again, it’s all guesswork and doesn’t matter, but it’s cool to see the Longhorns on the national radar.