In addition to the non-fiction articles I mentioned in the previous post, I’ve also thought of and plan to work on some non-fiction book projects during 2012. One for sure, and three probable, are what I’m thinking of. I suppose, if I could become really, really productive, I might be able to write a fourth one as well. For all of these, I plan on self-publish.

1. The Candy Store Generation is my first project, already started, but not very much done. This will be a political book. The Candy Store Generation is the Baby Boomers, and I’m convinced they (we) are ruining America. We are now in charge of business and industry, are the majority of teachers in the schools and universities, are in charge of the Congress, States, and local governments. And the USA is in decline. Could it be that the Boomers are at fault? I think so, and this book will show it. Status: I have written only about 4000 or so words on the way to 40,000 words. I have some research to do on the makeup of Congress, which I have started but am only 10 percent done with. Since this is an election year, I’d like to have this done and available by about May, but that is perhaps too ambitious.
2. I have done much research into my wife’s paternal immigrant ancestor, John Cheney of Newbury, Massachusetts. He came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635. I have an eleven page document of facts and figures that I would like to flesh out into about a 40-50 page biography. I have in my hands three or four histories of Newbury, which I can use to fill in something about his times. I also can take the bare facts and turn them into narrative. In fact, I started this at one time, and should be able to find it on a computer some where. Why do this? John Cheney has many descendants, many of whom are studying their genealogy. I encounter them on message boards all the time. Much misinformation has been posted on-line about John Cheney, and it would be nice to correct it. Also genealogy books sell for a good premium compared to books as a whole. A 50 page e-book would sell for at least $4.00, in print for $10.00. The cover wouldn’t be important. I have no schedule for this, as I’d like to see how other projects, already scheduled, go first.
3. I have a number of articles written about floodplain engineering that would form the basis of a decent book. But the key thing I would put in this book is Federal floodplain regulations, and format and annotate them in a way to make them more useful than as they are published by the Feds and commented on by FEMA. I think it would be a 60-80 page book. I don’t know what I’ll do with this. It seems like a good idea, and would sell for a good price relative to its length. I just don’t know if I would have the time for this, or if the good price will offset the relatively small audience for this subject.
4. A fourth work that has come to mind is a second book in the Documenting America series. I’ve already done some of the research for this. I would probably make it more time-limited, probably to the Civil War years: before, during, and after. I’ve already gathered some material for this, and may have written part of a chapter. You might wonder why I would write a second Documenting America book when the first has sold a grand total of 27 copies in eight months. I would answer: because I can and want to. It is a way for me to study history and get paid for it. How sweet is that! If I do this, it would most likely be at the expense of some other project.

Well, those are my plans, or a combination of plans and hopes/dreams. We’ll see how many of these non-fiction book projects actually come to pass.