Leaving Home Going Home Returning Home
Hi,
It has been 9 years since I returned to the USA and 6 years since I wrote my non - fiction novel / memoir "Leaving Home, Going Home , Returning Home : A Hebrew American's Sojourn in the Land of Israel."
Since then, I have watched Israel from afar and from close in that my two daughters and grandson are living happy lives in Israel.
So I was thinking anew about the relevancy of my book, what messages it has for all readers. I was also thinking about writing an updated version of the book from a perspective of 10 years later.
Well , yesterday , as an author and board member of CAPA - Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association I went to a lecture on author branding. The most important thing that the speaker had to say was be clear about your message. Well , I know that seems simple , but many authors actually are not clear on that. How do I know? Well , I run a book marketing network meeting; have a TV show for authors " Meet The Author " out of WCTV14 in Wethersfield, Connecticut; and I offer video book trailer services. What I have come to be surprised about if how much an author's message is not always clear.
So, looking at the recent news about the violence and knife stabbings in Jerusalem especially and in Israel in general I came across a news article about how the terrorism is not only about attacking Jews , but actually more about being a "TV hero" or being seen as a "martyr". The innocent person being attacked is just a prop for a social media show. Notice I did not say Hollywood show. I said social media show as a terrorist can have his video about the killings placed on Facebook - even by a friend filming from the sidelines as they themselves will most likely be killed or arrested.
Well , looking back at my book on a chapter written about the 9/11 attacks and my own experience of living in Israel during Intifada one and two and actually knowing people killed or wounded I wrote a chapter named " The Business of Terrorism" . In that chapter , just as in the recent article , I talked about how the whole terrorism thing is about either being a star or making money from a terrorism enterprise. It had nothing to do with destroying Israel and everything to do about business and legacy.
So, that bring me back to the clear message about my book . It was clear to me that I did not write it as if I needed to write a memoir for some therapeutic reason or need some authors write their memoirs for. Rather, I wrote the book for the sole purpose in that others might get to really understand what Israel is about in a special way. I felt that I had that unique perspective at the time because I was both an American and a Jew who lived in Israel. So , I felt I had a unique perspective in that I could write about Israel, but using my special life there as a camera and showcase. In that regard , I wrote the "memoir" as a Non- fiction novel so that it would also be entertaining as life in Israel was for me and the vast majority of Israelis. Now you might ask, " How can that be if there is so much strife there? Exactly, that was a purpose of the book, and this was even corroborated by a recent research study which showed that Israelis are among the happier or content people of the world.
So the basic message of " Leaving Home, Going Home, Returning Home" is to understand what Israel is really about from a first person accounting and sift that from the surrounding noise. I also wanted people to have an entertaining , exciting , and education read.
