In Praise of Sewn Bindings

Are cookbooks a thing of the past?
This I don’t know.

But recently I pulled my mother’s 1963 edition of Joy of Cooking off the shelf as I do whenever I want to plan a traditional meal. The robin’s-egg blue cover is always easy to see. I grabbed it and the book careened out of my hand to the floor.

Rrrrrrrrip. Binding broke through.

There lay 830 pages still held together by a string. By the strings of the loyal sewn binding.

If the cookbook was opened an average of 3 days a week for its first 20 years, that’s 3,120 openings of the book. And then averaging once a week for the next 40 years, that’s 2,080 openings. In its lifetime of 5,200 openings, I reckon it held up beautifully.

It has lasted 60 years! And that’s a book with very heavy traffic. Can we say the same for our paperback books, textbooks, hardcover books, or even eBooks, with their ever-changing digital platforms? Unlikely.

If you have a book project and are contemplating the variety of bindings, spend the extra cash on a sewn binding. Your children or grandchildren (or great-grandchildren) will thank you some day.

My late mother’s handwritten recipes for Apple Crisp and Meat Loaf, c. 1965

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How a Soul Becomes a Flower

Art can offer a powerful means of helping us honor monumental events like Veterans Day or Armistice Day so that history remains alive in our hearts and minds. One such art installation appeared in London, England in 2014. I didn’t actually see this grand-scale installation, mind you. I only saw photos, but it continues to inhabit me, rattling and haunting my soul as if I’d been there in person. I revisit the photos every year:

Picture the Tower of London, surrounded by a dry moat of grass. The massive stone structure, comprising 19 towers built from the 11th to the 14th centuries, spans about 18 acres.

Now imagine waves of blood pouring from the tower into a river of red in the moat. Yes, blood is cascading from the windows, over the walls, and down into the moat. 

But as you approach this monstrosity, you notice that it isn’t blood at all. It is, in fact, a flood of red poppies. How can this be?

Ceramic poppies.

Artists Paul Cummins and Tom Piper created the installation to honor fallen British soldiers of WWI—888,246 to be exact. The vision was to create one clay poppy for each lost soul. Volunteer teams hand-made, glazed, and fired 888,246 ceramic poppies at a studio in Derby. Each poppy stood about knee-high on a metal rod. These were “planted,” one by one, in and around the Tower of London moat between July and November of 2014. Every day at sunset, the names of Commonwealth troops killed during the war were read aloud at the site. By the time the installation was finished, it appeared as a flowing sea of red. And when it was dismantled, the poppies were sold and the proceeds donated to military charities.

Incidentally, if you haven’t been exposed to the significance of red poppies on Armistice Day, read the poem “In Flanders Field” penned by John McCrae in 1915. (See below.) It is a poem that inspired the name of Modern Memoirs’ imprint, White Poppy Press.

I could go on about what all of this means to me, but I want you to have your own experience of the installation, since that is the purpose of art. (See links below.*)

When I look at these photos, I mostly think of the millions of men and women who have served throughout history and sacrificed their lives for the greater good. And when I feel small and hopeless and unable to change the world, I think of one poppy standing in the Tower of London moat, then two poppies, then three poppies, then more… and how the power of the collective good can make a difference.

And how a poppy can hold a soul. 

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*To view the art installation at Tower of London:
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/11/blood-swept-lands-and-seas-of-red/100851/

*To see the making of the ceramic poppies:
https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/ceramics-monthly/ceramics-monthly-article/Clay-Culture-Blood-Swept-Lands-136481#

IN FLANDERS FIELD
by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

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Reflections from Modern Memoirs Client Michael Van Ness

Michael M. Van Ness, M.D. published the first softcover edition of his book entitled To the Front: Grandfathers’ Stories in the Cause of Freedom with Modern Memoirs in 2022. This Assisted Memoir took twelve months from the day he first contacted us to the day books arrived on his doorstep. While he is selling this edition of his book (see purchasing details below*), he also engaged our services to publish an expanded hardcover version with an extensive genealogy section for his family and friends. In anticipation of Veterans Day, we asked Van Ness to reflect on what the publication process was like for him, and what it has meant to share his book with others.

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1. Before this book, you published General in Command: The Life of Major General John B. Anderson in 2019, telling the story of your maternal grandfather and his leadership of the largest combat corps in Europe in World War II. What inspired you to write the recent, second book that is also in large part about Anderson? How did you want to make it different from your first?

Michael Van Ness: As I wrote General in Command, I realized I had grown up amongst heroes, but I didn’t know it. My home of Washington, D.C. in the 1960s was a hotbed of retired officers who had served with distinction in the Second World War. They got together to drink at the Army-Navy Club, but grandchildren like me were rarely privy to their tales of love and loss, triumph and despair. So I used diaries and letters for source material for General in Command. Friends reading that first book responded with their own family stories, stories of both desperation and redemption. I thought there was lots there for another book. I also reflected upon my own career and the many men I attended during my own service as a physician at Bethesda Naval Hospital. To the Front expands beyond the story of Anderson in General in Command to stories of other men of high rank and low—soldiers, sailors, and aviators—and their families, locked in desperate battles for survival in both war and peace.

2. In To the Front, some of the narrative is recreated dialogue between characters in the book and you. Why did you choose this literary device, as opposed to writing the stories in the third-person point of view?

Michael Van Ness: Recreating dialogue brings the characters to life. I wanted to use my imagination and memory of events to help the reader experience the moment, to be with me whilst I spoke with heroes large and small.

3. What drew you to the Modern Memoirs editorial and design process?

Michael Van Ness: After my first book, I knew I needed a publisher who cared deeply, who could be a partner in writing and publishing To the Front. Ali de Groot and Megan St. Marie proved to be those partners. Megan challenged me to dig deeper, to find the truth of the stories, to reveal the power and significance of the subject. Her questions were akin to those posed by the best psychologists—open-ended questions like, “Why is that important?” Or more pointedly, “Who cares? What is the significance here?” The text evolved from a list of random incidents to a coherent narrative of discovery, highlighted by carefully selected photographs and maps that were integrated into the layout by Nicole Miller. Nicole’s cover design, adapted from art in a 1943 magazine, captures the spirit of the times, a fierce determination to win the war, an unshakable confidence in our fighting men.

4. You engaged Modern Memoirs to research your genealogy and to summarize the findings in a family history section of the expanded edition that will be distributed privately to family and friends. How did this genealogy work enhance your book project?

Michael Van Ness: Liz Sonnenberg’s genealogy uncovered veins of rich family history that were long lost and deeply buried. For example, I had always known the stories of my maternal grandmother’s Confederate soldier relatives. Who knew there were Union soldiers on my father’s side? Not me. I came to discover aspects of family life that were more complicated and more nuanced than expected. Thus, I am now determined to delve deeper still into the unknown territory of my father’s family, previously hidden by distance and time, a valuable addition for future generations and an ennobling process for me.

5. What outcome surprised you most in the publication process? What did you learn along the way—about yourself, your family, or our country?

Michael Van Ness: I was surprised by the rigor of the publication process. Since my partners at Modern Memoirs kept every deadline they set for themselves, I felt duty bound to keep every deadline they set for me. Thus, the project never languished but moved forward steadily from beginning to end. Having said that, when I needed a little more time, Ali and Megan reminded me that I must take all the time I needed. So the partnership was one of give and take. In the end, I realized the stories I was telling were the sermons these men and women preached with their lives, doing the best they could under circumstances that none of us ever want to know. To honor them, I resolved to make the text as good as it could be. Modern Memoirs helped me to achieve that goal.

1947 illustration used for the endsheets of the expanded edition of To the Front: Grandfathers’ Stories in the Cause of Freedom by Michael M. Van Ness, M.D.

Image attribution: Created by T/Sgt. Walter H. Croft, T/4 Elwood P. Engel and Travers E. Dowling, and T/5 Russell H. Hadden of the XVI Corps Historical Association and the Infantry Journal Press, Washington, D.C. (1947)

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*Interested in reading more? Purchase Van Ness’ recent book at the link below:

Reflections from Modern Memoirs Client Marian Leibold

Marian Leibold published her book entitled Forever Now: The Interconnectedness of All Things with Modern Memoirs in 2020. This collection of poetry took four months from the day she first contacted us to the day books arrived on her doorstep. We asked Leibold to reflect on what the publication process was like for her, and what it has meant to share her book with others.

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1. You say that the poems in your book were written from 1980 to 2019, spanning many stages of your life. What inspired you to collect them for publication when you did? Who were your intended readers?

Marian Leibold: I have been writing all of my life, and something deep inside said it was time to offer some of my work to the world. I listened to this inner prompting. With the help of Modern Memoirs, I was able to bring together a collection of poems that speaks from my heart and my experiences. My intended readers are both those who know me (or think they do) and those who don’t. I have always found poetry a deeply personal and communicative experience. I hope those who pick up my book may find something that touches their hearts and souls and brings them into the human community all the more. I hope that my poems may serve as a two-way bridge: from the reader to their own interior, and from the reader to the outside world. Poems can function as a secret code of the human heart in all of its raw and honest forms.

2. In addition to being a writer, you are also a pianist and a painter. How have these additional forms of creative expression influenced your poetry?

Marian Leibold: Writing, piano playing, and painting are all forms of expression that actually influence each other. Imagine a three-part harmony with one finger on a pen (or computer key), another on a paint brush, and a third on a piano key! Each one informs/relates to the other, and they all come from the same deep well of creative energy that lives within me (and in all of us). It’s enjoyable to play with all three and ask: What color is this sound? What sound is this word or phrase? What word or sound is this landscape? Choosing which modality to express comes from listening and trusting that energy which has not yet taken form and letting it guide me to its source. It can be tricky sometimes, as they all seem to vibrate on the same wavelength.

Marian Leibold and her equine friend, Stitch-in-Time

3. You placed your painting “Light through the Woodlands” on the cover of your book. In beautiful autumn colors, it pictures a path lined by trees. Can you share a bit about when and how you came to paint this picture? Why did you select it for your collection of poetry?

Marian Leibold: The cover painting, “Light through the Woodlands,” is one of my favorite horseback riding trails. My equine friend and I traveled that trail together many times through every season over the past twenty years. There is no happier place for me than being on horseback in the woods. I chose it for the cover because my horse gifted me simultaneously with a connection to the earth and to the sky/heights above my reach, just as I hope my poetry may be grounding and freeing for others. The painting reminds me of the natural world and the ephemeral/spiritual world and their inseparable communion with each other.

4. Tell us more about your equestrian life since several of your poems describe rides you have taken with your horse in fields and forests. In one poem, “An August Ride,” you write, “I am transported by his spirit and his body into a world / that would be devoid / Were I to be there without him.” What makes him such a critical companion on your journey?

Marian Leibold: My horse has been a very important companion and mirror on my journey because the connection between horse and rider creates a language all of its own. My horse has been my “anam cara” (loyal friend), and over the years, a mutual, unspoken trust built up such that each ride made manifest the value of this form of communication between living beings. I feel a profound joy, a clarity of thought, and a heart full of gratitude every time I ride. A writer’s muse is not unlike a trusted horse. They both carry us places we cannot find alone. Stitch-in-Time, my horse, sadly passed away last year. I will continue to find my way to horses, for they are comrades of spirit. They bring presence, honesty, and another dimension of feedback to our personal, human experience. Without a doubt, they also bring adventure!

5. What would you say to an aspiring writer who is inhibited by the idea that she or he might not have anything original to say? How might your advice find its roots in the theme of interconnectedness?

Marian Leibold: I am now a Spiritual Director, which I practice in person and on Zoom. In this work, I have the opportunity to offer deep listening, spiritual insights, and a confidential space to anyone interested in contemplating how the mystical plays an important role in the unfolding of their life’s meaning/purpose. Before I begin each session, I pray that the person I am about to see will feel safe and free to share whatever wants to come forward, and that I will help them connect with their inner goodness. I would offer this same sentiment to writers who have yet to release their words and thoughts to others. Just as no two individuals are the same, no two written works are the same. The writings are all as unique as the hand that composes them. A writer “connects” every time a word goes onto a page. “Interconnectedness” becomes apparent over time as life’s meanderings wake us up to ourselves and to the world. I would ask an aspiring writer to be brave and to trust where their writing will take them. It will be a rich and fulfilling experience to let their light come into the world, and it is a gift that gives twice: to oneself, and to others.

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The Messenger: On Inscribing a Book

Note from the author: Inscriptions appearing at the end of this blogpost were loosely based on actual clients’ dedication pages. You know who you are! Thank you for the inspiration!

I am your memoir. I am your baby, your love, your best self. Or your worst fears. I am filled with bliss and regret, perhaps in equal measures, perhaps not. Accomplishments. Hurdles. Pitfalls. Miracles. Outer successes. And the veritable inner successes, like getting through each day with a little grace.

I stand alone now, before you. Your book. A mirror, smoky or clear, streaked with tears or reflecting a Buddha’s half-smile. Proud, anxious, wary, exhilarated. A fledgling ready to flee. I want to make my way into the world. Let me go!

But wait. Before you free me… take your hand and your pen, give me one more long, deep gaze. Write your heart one more time, there on my opening pages, inscribe your soul.

And then release me to the ones you cherish. The inscription shall be a clue to my provenance, to your essence.

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To my husband,
whose everlasting love
makes my life complete

To my wife,
You taught me to notice who’s not in the room

To my eldest brother,
you put the whole family on your shoulders
for over half a century

To my son, with hopes for all who seek rights and dignity
in a world of disability

To my grandchildren, and
all of the grandchildren of the world—
may you live life and enjoy it!

To my dear friend,
You give me vital, everyday nourishment
and dance with me in the creative realm. 

To my children,
Because there were some things I couldn’t say when you were growing up,
some things I didn’t know how to say—

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Bookplate inscription from a Modern Memoirs client to his grandson, 2020

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Reflections from Modern Memoirs Client Paul Jensen

Paul Jensen published his book entitled Higher Ground: Journals of a Jaguar Monk with Modern Memoirs this year. This specialty book of journal excerpts took eleven months from the day he first contacted us to the day books arrived on his doorstep. We asked Jensen to reflect on what the publication process was like for him, and what it has meant to share his book with others.

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1. What was your process for creating the book? How did you decide which journal excerpts you would include?

The author’s desk, and a book in the making

Paul Jensen: Some of this process can be explained, and some of it remains mystically inexplicable. But the first step is writing what you live, honestly, for life should be “grand enough.” I started journaling in the seventh grade when I had a creative writing teacher who really inspired me. I use small journals that fit easily into a daypack, and Ticonderoga #2 pencils. I do all my writing by hand. Then when I’m in the editing phase, I write over it again, retracing my handwriting and bolding it. It allows me to integrate with my work and to catch the juicy lines. I select the portions to “move on” with—approximately only two-thirds of the original document—and type them into a Word document. Over the years the different entries seemed to fall into categories based on events and places, and this book began to take shape. I’d say I carried it around with me for more than a dozen years before it was completed.

2. Who was the book intended for? What feedback have you gotten from readers?

Paul Jensen: I've never really had thoughts about the “end user” at the front of my mind. There is a purity to art that must transcend the thought of who the listener or reader will be. I would think that such thoughts would tend to influence the art’s outcome, and so far, my projects have stayed true to their “natural course.” The reaction from readers has been great; people really embrace it. There’s a spirituality to it that they appreciate. And they relate to my descriptions of the places I’ve traveled.

3. You have been a musician for over 40 years and put out at least four CDs of original acoustic guitar music and songs, with two more on the way. Yet even with such a large body of work, you say in your book that “the process of songwriting still perplexes me.” You also say, “Music discovers its players, the players don’t discover the music.” What is the best way an artist can open himself or herself to being found?

Paul Jensen: If we can figure that out, we’ll have to bottle it! I think that people need to follow their dispositions, because then there’s more opportunity to connect with their true passion. I’ve been writing for a long time. My mom and I created poetry together, and my father instructed me on guitar. That was the birth of a songwriter. I’ve always had an overwhelming need to write; it’s an extension of myself. If it feels good, do it—and then you’ve got to listen to what the experience teaches you. You need to BE. The trigger to being found by the music is to live free. And the wilderness is the best place I know to experience that freedom, that simplicity. In nature we are free from confinement. It is a place for content meditation, where our senses are heightened.

4. One of your CDs is entitled John Otto: Man of the Canyon, and you talk about John Otto in several pages of your book. Who was he, and how did he influence your life?

The gravestone of John Otto (December 30, 1870–June 19, 1952). Inscription:
“Do your best for the West, the best for the world. The new day, get it going.”
John Otto, promoter and first custodian of Colorado National Monument. National Park Service photo

Paul Jensen: John Otto was the founder of Colorado National Monument. He was an eccentric, local guy who lived in the red rock canyons. He climbed the cliffs and developed the trails and advocated for the creation of a national park. Not only was that a Herculean physical effort, but the muse captured him as well, and he wrote newspaper editorials and letters to Washington, D.C. People thought he was half crazy, but he eventually persuaded President Taft to establish the park. I would hike and find the historic sites that he preserved. I read about him and became a real enthusiast of his. He lived nature; he was the Thoreau of the West. Otto said, “The truer you live, the freer you are.” When he died, he was very poor and there was no money to pay for a tombstone. So, twenty years ago, my dear friend Michael O’Boyle started a fundraising campaign to get him one, and I became very involved selling my John Otto CDs. We finally succeeded, and at the dedication ceremony they told me they had sealed a copy of the CD in the base of the stone. I couldn’t believe it. I was so honored.

5. You said that what you admire are the qualities of the “Joyful Monk.” How would you describe that person? What is the origin of the book title “Jaguar Monk”?

Paul Jensen: In my younger life, I was introduced to the monks at a Catholic monastery in Huntsville, Utah. That’s where I met Father Patrick, who spent his whole life there and embodies what I mean by the “Joyful Monk.” He had a loving heart, he bubbled over with love. He is still at his center, the peaceful monk attending to his moment. I asked him, “Why is it so easy for me to play guitar?” and he said, “It’s because you’re feeling God.” I call myself the Jaguar Monk because, after my divorce, I went through changes and was writing music and had enough income that I could buy an old Jaguar, a 1988 XK8 convertible. I could fit all of my needs into the trunk—bedroll, journals, food—and head out to sit underneath the stars. It would be my chariot for the next five years, my way of saying goodbye, and saying hello to a whole new, adventurous life. I’ll admit there is some materialism mixed in with my spirituality... It’s a narrow road to walk.

6. The cover of your book is an adaption of the cover of your forthcoming CD. It features an image of you standing beside a guitar that is burning in a fire. What is the meaning of that image to you?

Paul Jensen: First, I have to say that Modern Memoirs did such a great job with the book. There has been an overwhelming response to the cover (original design by John Malvey; photos by Mike Davenport) — not just the look, but the feel of it, too. Someone saw the image of the burning guitar and was offended by it. But it’s not meant to be an awful thing. It’s meant to symbolize a paradigm shift for me. I played guitar from the time I was fifteen years old until five years ago, when I became ill and had to give it up full-time. I can still play, but now I’m focused more on writing books. So, to me, the image is about change, about saying goodbye to the past and going forward from that moment. It’s about exploring the shift from musician to author. I’m the kind of person who refuses to give up. Instead, it’s more like, “OK, what can I do now?”

Smiling,
I write my lines.
Finish what I’ve started.
Now I have become the music I’ve written.
the verse spreads out like prayers on a spinning wheel, touching everything.
There is no time, just the illusion of it.

—Paul Jensen

Interested in reading more? Purchase this book at the link below:

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