How do you write a book in reverse order?

Follow along as I sketch out what's been happening for this memoir of mine since early 2021.

The first thing I did was to recreate the Powerhouse Radio website that was using older technology.

Read why we were forced to shutdown the website in 2016 and take it out of service  when Live365 stopped their streaming service.

After five months of work in 2021 the website was ready to resurface in September, with several new features, including an aircheck section. Then the serious writing began in the fall. Here are the 15 chapters in the book:

Preface

College Radio Craft: WNYU and More

Orange County Giant: WALL

From Trailer to Motel: WUSS

The Rhythm of South Jersey: WAYV

On the Road Again: WKQV and WSSJ

Drama in the Big City: WIFI

Passion for the Public: WHYY

Commercial Radio Fast Lane: WSNI, WZGO, WUSL

Creating My Own Space: Powerhouse Radio Online

Satellite Radio and NPR, Washington, DC

NPR Berlin, Germany

Battle of the Radio Conferences

New Horizons and Radio Today

The Power in the Powerhouse

Dirty Deeds and Risky Business

A Hard Habit to Break

How Is Radio Doing?

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Bring On the Noise

What It Takes to Move Ahead

Recommended Reading and Acknowledgments

Booked and Hooked on 5-Star Artists

Notes

Index

 

Yes, I worked for all of those radio stations and network. The book cover you see is for the audiobook and e-Book and shares the same style as the paperback cover.

Digital versions will come first, the paperback last. My hope is that the digital versions will be available by late summer 2023. Early January, 2024 is the target date for the paperback book.

Obviously, it's the same book regardless of the media framework, so the complete book must be finished first!

I'm not really writing the book backwards, but I thought to tell the story efficiently, a solid digital foundation was needed first to represent various elements in the book. This website work helped craft an effective book outline.

Note I did not want the website added as a last minute after thought.

So how am I doing? Sixteen thousand words have been written to date. That's not a lot. Much work is ahead. My target word count is forty thousand words.

About 80 percent of the book has been written at home, 20 percent in my local regional public library using a laptop and headphones (no music) to block out noisy people.

Everyone has a favorite place to write. I know one author who wrote her book sitting on a park bench close to her home using a laptop.

Follow the updates as I occasionally keep you posted on book writing progress heading toward the goal of completing the manuscript on time!

August 22, 2023 Update

KingsleyHSmith.com has more info about the book including some of the retailers you can preorder it from: Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, Books-A-Million, Walmart, and BookBaby. Note that the eBook and paperback are available right now from BookBaby. Audiobook date to be announced.

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