Now that the Dahlgren project is winding down, I face the challenge of finding a publisher for the project.

I will finish my third editing pass at the manuscript no later than the middle of next week, and then I will put the revisions into the computer. Once I’ve done that, it’s ready to be circulated to a few chosen friends for review and comment. In other words, it’s getting close to completion.

Before anyone asks, I will answer the question. It’s not an appropriate book for Ironclad because we made a conscious business decision to devote all of our resources to publishing only volumes in our “The Discovering Civil War America Series” (with the exception of two other titles …

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My first book was published in 1998. It’s titled Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions, and was published by Thomas Publications of Gettysburg. The book won the Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award given each year by the Robert E. Lee Civil War Roundtable of New Jersey as 1998’s best new work interpreting the Battle of Gettysburg.

The book covers Farnsworth’s Charge, Merritt’s fight on South Cavalry Field, and the Battle of Fairfield. It’s short, only about 150 pages, but it’s the first time that anyone ever really tackled these issues in depth. It features excellent maps by John Heiser and lots of photos, including a bunch of modern-day views. The book sells for the very reasonable price of $12.95, as it’s softcover.

Here’s …

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I’ve been plugging away at the third pass at the Dahlgren manuscript steadily for the past few days. I’ve been making good progress–I’ve gotten through six of the thirteen chapters. I’ve been trying to do two chapters per night when I work on it, meaning I’ve worked at it the last three nights solid.

I decided to take tonight off. Once in a while, I just need an evening off. I’ve had an extremely intense last week or so, and I just don’t feel like it tonight. So, I’m just going to spend the evening hanging out.

On another note altogether….

Today, I met a friend for lunch at a nearby upscale Italian restaurant. It’s a very busy place, and …

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I was going to bore you with my thoughts about how Skippy Bush has so horribly mismanaged things since 9/11, but then I found Keith Olbermann’s rant. Olbermann said it much better than I could ever hope to have done myself, so here are his words, which I wholeheartedly endorse:

Half a lifetime ago, I worked in this now-empty space. And for 40 days after the attacks, I worked here again, trying to make sense of what happened, and was yet to happen, as a reporter.

All the time, I knew that the very air I breathed contained the remains of thousands of people, including four of my friends, two in the planes and — as I discovered from those …

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Mark Grimsley posted the lyrics to “The Rising,” Bruce Springsteen’s brilliant tribute to the firefighters who died at the World Trade Center, on his blog today, with an image of a grieving firefighter sitting by the rubble of collapsed Twin Towers, being comforted by two angels. It was a simple but incredibly eloquent and moving way to remember those who gave their lives in the hope of that others might live. They don’t call New York’s firefighters “The Bravest” for no reason.

We should not–no, cannot–ever forget what happened on September 11, 2001. The world as we know it changed forever that day. And thousands of normal people who were just going about their daily routines lost their lives as …

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Having grown up in the Philadelphia suburbs, I am a life-long, die-hard, long-suffering Philadelphia Eagles fan. The Eagles won their last NFL championship in 1960, about 90 days before I was born. They have not won one in my lifetime, although they have lost in the Super Bowl twice, 1981 and 2005.

I’m wearing my Donovan McNabb jersey as I write this. I’m always really excited at the beginning of the season, and I pay for the NFL Sunday ticket package on DirecTV so that I can watch every game. I spent the afternoon watching the Eagles beat the Houston Texans 24-10 today. McNabb is healthy again, and their new wideout, Donte Stallworth, made a large and immediate impact today. …

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This afternoon, JD and I got an e-mail from Ted Savas letting us know that the first printing of our book is completely sold out, one week after the books shipped from the printer. What’s more is that Ted told me that he has a very substantial lot of backorders pending, too. He’s going to be ordering a second printing of the book next week.

JD and I both had a pretty good idea that this book was going to sell well, but it’s done better than either of us could possibly have hoped.

There will be a difference between the first printing and all subsequent ones. For some reason, the same photograph of Alfred Pleasonton appears twice in the …

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I continue to plug away at editing/revising the working draft of the Dahlgren biography. I have now completed two full passes at the manuscript. I have one pass left to go before finishing this phase of the editing/rewrite process. I have added a couple of paragraphs so far, and I’ve cleaned up nearly all of the unwanted and excessive use of the passive voice.

I’ve also continued to tweak and modify the discussion of what Lincoln may or may not have known about the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid. I added a whole paragraph to it tonight. Reader Pete Vermilyea made an excellent point in an e-mail to me about this topic that makes a lot of sense. So much sense, in fact, …

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If you will indulge me in a little shameless self-promotion for a moment….

I’m pleased to announce the release of Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart’s Controversial Ride to Gettysburg, published by Savas-Beatie Publishing, and written by J. D. Petruzzi and me. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s out. When I got home from work tonight, there were sufficient boxes on my side porch for a couple of hundred copies. If I’ve got them, that means that the orders received by Amazon, Savas-Beatie, etc., are ready to be filled.

J. D. and I are also proud to announce the launch of our new web site, devoted to this book. Please visit.

It’s still a …

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A number of months ago, I told all of you that Susan and I had broken ground on a new house, at least in part because we have nowhere else to go with books in our present house. The new house is nearly finished, and should be finished within four weeks. They’re doing the trim work now.

Two major problems have arisen. First, Susan’s hours were cut in half for a number of months earlier this year, which made financing the new house an issue. Second is my new job. Had I stayed at the old firm, I would have had about a 20 mile drive to work each day, give or take. However, the new firm is a lot …

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