The Arizona Republic helped us get the word out that we are seeking letter submissions for our website and book. Here is a that story:
Spotlight on … Susan Geer
Susan Geer of Gilbert has embarked on an ambitious project: She is looking for “last goodbye letters” to develop an inspirational book.
She’s created a website, lastgoodbyeletters.com, and hopes she can attract contributions from around the world. She got the idea after writing her dying father a goodbye letter.
OPEN-MINDED
She’s keeping an open mind on the letters: “Maybe they turn out to be letters from children as they move out of the house or get married, or from spouses to each other after a divorce, from owners to their pets, or even from employees to their past employers. Maybe they’re poems, pictures and songs.”
BACKGROUND
Geer, who holds a business advertising degree from Arizona State University, worked for several ad agencies, produced a late-night talk show, and represented Best Western International before starting her own advertising/design business in Mesa, called Spiral Creative Services.
NO DEAL YET
She hasn’t tried to secure a publisher yet because “I believe I have to have a pretty good start on letter collecting and determining how they would flow together before I can go to a publisher with an idea. Since we are unproven in the publishing industry, I feel I should have all my ducks in a row so that publishers will take us seriously.”
GOAL
“I would love to get a thousand letters. I think if we get that many to sort through, we’ll be able to see patterns and groupings so that we can formulate chapters based on like subject matter. … I’m thinking that, depending upon length, we’ll need to have about 100 letters to compile in a book.”