When Josie was first in the hospital, I kept a journal. It helped me remember everything that was happening, everything we had to do. It helped me release some of the stress. When she died I continued to write. I wrote and I wrote and I wrote. I had to get my sadness, my anger out. It was one of the things that really helped me.
As I ventured into the health care industry, I continued to write off and on. One day I realized that I had what looked to be a book in the making and so I showed it to a few people. They told me to find a book agent, so I did. My agent told me I could get a book deal, and I did. Two years ago I signed with Grove/Atlantic, a publisher in New York. Since then I have been working on the book pretty much full time.
The book is called Josie’s Story. It is about how our family once was. It is about Josie’s death and how we struggled to survive. It is about making the decision to either let the grief and anger destroy me or do something positive, something for Josie. It is about the search for religion, the search for understanding what it means to forgive and the search for the reason why. The book is about my journey into a world I knew nothing about, the health care industry. It is about the wonderful doctors, nurses and other health care providers I have met along the way and the amazing hospitals that have invited me – in my small way – to help them become safer. But most importantly the book is about all of the wonderful things that have come from Josie’s death. Josie’s Story will be in bookstores in September 2009.
I continue to accept speaking invitations. Starting in early September, we will be able to have book signings after the speeches. If you are interested in learning more about speeches and book signings, click here. Of course, you can always email any questions about speaking requests to speaking@josieking.org. We will get right back to you.
As we get closer to our publishing date we will have more details to share.
One final note- a portion of the proceeds from the book will go to support the Josie King Foundation.
Thanks- as always- for your interest and support.