the ofit goes to japan.....

Several months ago I received an e-mail from a gentleman named Dan Waldhoff. Dan is a professor at a Japanese college in (believe it or not) Japan and he teaches English to college students. He asked for permission to use one of my blog entries in a book he was writing. Uh huh. Yeah. Right. I e-mailed him back a couple of times and found this to be a legitimate request.

Dan had the idea to create a book that featured a compilation of blog entries, then use the book to teach his students everyday American English. Sounded like a good idea to me, but what did I know about writing? And why would an author want to use my writing? There's nothing special to it, just thoughts that I put down on paper. Dan said that the entry he chose (I can't remember which one he's using) had to do with the girls and me. He said that Japanese students would find it interesting that a father would be so involved in the lives of his daughters because most fathers in Japan have very little interaction with their children.

On May 12 I received the following e-mail:

Aloha,
Just got the galley sheets from the printer. You are in and they are go to print next week. I'll let you know when I see it.
Best to you!
Dan

He posted the following entry about the book to his blog on June 28:

Work began in September last year - finished in March this year. It goes on sale tomorrow in Japan. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. Plenty of both. The best parts are that I met a handful of really good writers and working with my friend/boss, Nino-san at ICCNC, was/is a pleasure.

Dan sent me this e-mail last week:

Aloha,
The books were mailed from the publisher on June 20. You should have your copy soon and I hope that you will be happy with the contents! It looked good to me, though I have to admit I let it sit for a few days before paging through it.
The publisher would like to do a special listing on Amazon Japan. It would allow partial page views, etc. The intention, of course, is to sell more copies. However, they feel that they should get the permission of contributors. If you approve please respond to this message with "Yes, list with Amazon!"

Thank you,
Dan

So not only is a blog entry of mine going to be published in a book, the book is actually going to be listed on Japan's Amazon site. It's hard for me to believe. I started blogging 3 years ago for two reasons - first, as a creative release, and second, to do a little journaling. Certainly not to have anything published.

My compensation for the project? Well, my people have been talking to his people, and after weeks, nay, months of negotiations, we've settled on me getting a copy of the book.

Now all I have to do is learn how to read Japanese.....