A few months ago, a friend of mine who is doing well financially told me over a church potluck dinner that he would like to buy a "wow" effect for our family's juggling and illusion ministry. The moment I got home, I was on line poring over magic and juggling websites looking for that one effect that would kick the Supreme Court Jesters up a notch. The more I searched, though, the more I realized that most "wow" effects weren't really practical for our show. Most are big, which means hard to transport, and also not workable in many of our venues: nursing home rec rooms, prison libraries, little country churches, etc. So I approached my friend Alan with a different idea. Would he consider using approximately the same amount of money to help me self publish a book of my blogs. He quickly agreed, and I began to review my old blogs to see what should make the cut.
I went through a site called createspace.com which made the whole process very easy. It is free up to the point of actually purchasing the books, and they provide a template to work on. Then it was just a matter of copy and pasting my already existing blogs onto the template. Then, of course, I had to adjust basic page layouts and edit my less than stellar spelling and grammar. Since publishing the book, titled "A Piece,of Bosco" I have noticed a few more typos that I'll fix for any upcoming printings of the book.
I chose what I considered the most relevant blogs in five categories: an introduction to our ministry, tales from the road, poetry, commentary and some of my general favorites. There are some that I consider among my best that were not included for various reasons. Some felt too personal, others were outdated. I will, however, include links to some of these here:
best friends:
http://www.supremecourtjesters.org/SCJBlogs/tabid/66/Post/246/Default.aspx
Journal of a time traveller
http://www.supremecourtjesters.org/SCJBlogs/tabid/66/Post/308/Default.aspx
It's time to divorce pat robertson
http://www.supremecourtjesters.org/SCJBlogs/tabid/66/Post/366/Default.aspx
The magic flute:
http://www.supremecourtjesters.org/SCJBlogs/tabid/66/Post/403/Default.aspx
Antlers:
http://www.supremecourtjesters.org/SCJBlogs/tabid/66/Post/470/Default.aspx
17 th Birthday
http://www.supremecourtjesters.org/SCJBlogs/tabid/66/Post/323/Default.aspx
so far about 18 copies of the book have sold, and another. 10 or so have been given away. Hardly Harry Potter, but our local library and our church library have accepted copies, and a local independently owned bookstore is carrying some on consignment. Christian Jugglers Association is now carrying it,and of course they are available on Amazon and after our church shows. The Fellowship of Christian Magicians declined, feeling it got too political in the later entries. That was never my intent, but it's all good.
Ive enjoyed the process of publishing this book, and I really appreciate Alan's assistance In making it happen. Already more people are reading these blogs than ever saw them on this web site. If you have read it and like it, let others know as well.