"Derailed" turns two. Looks to the future.

Today is “Derailed’s” second anniversary or blog-iversary as my daughter calls it.

Lately, people (i.e. my sisters) have been telling me that I should write a book. They think I should take my best essays, bind them together and send them off to a publisher in New York. With this in mind, I spent the past few days looking over the “Derailed” archives trying to select my best pieces. While I agree that some of my stories are worthy of publishing, I don’t believe I have enough quality work to fill a book. Maybe Someday???

The second problem is the title. There already is a book called “Derailed.” In fact, it was a best seller a few years back, and it was even turned into a popular movie by the same name.

David, my niece Erin's husband, once told me that he loved my blog, but he wasn’t crazy about the title. “How about Off Track,” he suggested. I told him that I thought that this sounded more like a racing form (as in OTB) and besides, I kind of liked the name “Derailed.” But the more I think about it, maybe David's right. After all, he does own his own marketing firm which specializes in “branding” for major corporations.

Here's my idea for the book cover:

Now that the book’s front cover is settled, I started thinking about the back. Maybe there could be a glossy black in white picture of me sitting crossed legged before a giant field stone fireplace. I'm sitting in a big overstuffed leather armchair, dressed in a tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows. The jacket is accesorized with an ascot (of course). I have a pipe in one hand and a martini in the other. At my feet sit two giant Irish Wolf Hounds.

Note to self: Contact Jake Gyllenhaal to star in “Off Track-The Movie.”