Children’s book takes a shine to lighthouses
April 18, 08 by TheFleetIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
By Hugh Gallagher | OBSERVER
“For Christmas one year, I got a book, Past Lighthouses, and inside the book is a picture on a lighthouse with a crack at its base. Somebody snapped a picture of it as it was half fallen over and then in the water,” Foley said. “Looking at that inspired the first two paragraphs and from there I’d write a little here and write a little there.”
The book opens: On a cold November morning/My fate came to be;/To stumble toward the shore line,/And fall into the sea.”
Writing the book was the easy part. It was getting published that proved difficult. He sent his creation to eight publishers. Three offered encouragement but all eight rejected his book. The editor of Lighthouse Digest suggested he find an illustrator.
… Foley said he wanted to show how lighthouses have been neglected as ships have moved to global navigation that makes lighthouses obsolete.
After his frustration with waiting and being rejected, Foley decided to self-publish. He created several copies of his book at Kinko’s and distributed them to family and friends.
“I got nothing but positive results,” he said.
He arranged with Xlibris to print his book. The book is available at xlibris.com for $21.99 hardcover but Foley is trying to find other ways to get his book and its message out.
