Alspaugh Chooses Honesty For Book
August 24, 2016 at 6:33 p.m.
Alspaugh Chooses Honesty For Book
By David [email protected]
“That was my publisher’s idea. That was their insistence. They told me that if I was going to be as honest as I was in my book, with people in situations, even though I don’t really use names, they said people could come back later and say I defamed them. Even though most of them are dead. They said if I used a pen name, they would allow me to publish the book exactly as it is,” he explained in an interview Aug. 16.
The other alternative for his book, titled “My God My Father My Personal Odyssey,” was to take out certain situations he wrote about.
“I said if I take those situations out, it won’t be an honest book,” Alspaugh said.
When he first wrote the story, he hadn’t planned to publish it. He was writing it for his own enlightenment.
“I wanted to learn more about myself by sitting down and writing my thoughts, my past exactly as I remembered them and not as I would have liked them to have been. I wanted to be as honest with myself as I could because at that time I was just writing it for myself,” he said.
The book was born out of a fluke. Alspaugh was doing a lot of writing through social media, and many people commented about how much they loved to read what he wrote and they looked forward to reading his thoughts, he said.
He decided to sit down and write his thoughts from the beginning. It took him four years – on and off – to write it, and he did five rewrites. Because it was autobiographical, he didn’t want it to sound like he was in love with himself, he said.
“I wanted to make sure I was as careful as possible. I wanted to write it as if somebody else looked at my life from the outside looking in and they wrote the story as if they were just kind of following me like my shadow. Because I like to be as honest with myself as I can all the time, and I don’t like to kid myself,” he said.
After barely graduating from high school, he left Warsaw and went to Hollywood. He knew there’d be a lot of guys he’d be competing with for work who were good looking, the right height and with “chins chiseled out of steel,” but he also knew he was never going to be one of those types of people. And he also didn’t want to be one of them.
“So I didn’t kid myself as to being somebody or wanting to be somebody that I wasn’t,” he said. “My whole thing was being the best at being me.”
Nothing ever satisfied him, however, and he had to keep trying new things and pushing himself to the limit.
The gist of his book is about him growing up without a father and having very little self confidence and never having reassurance from a father figure to know that he was OK and was as good as anybody else.
“I didn’t realize until I finished my book where my emptiness came from originally,” Alspaugh said.
Writing the book helped him realize where he came from, all the places he’d been and that he had a hole in himself he hadn’t realized was there that he was trying to fill – mostly with numerous girlfriends. The book made him remember all the things he’d done, saw and the people who were a part of his life.
“It was a great learning experience, and there was a lot of good, interesting stories,” he said.
The book publisher, iUniverse, liked the book but wanted Alspaugh to shorten it up to about a third of what it was. The finished book is 143 pages, and he said he has about two-thirds more of his story to tell.
Explaining the title of his book, “My God My Father My Personal Odyssey,” Alspaugh said, “What this means to me, is that because I didn’t have a father, I looked to God as my father.”
He said because he didn’t have a dad, he would go to his quiet space and talk to God in his head or verbally and look to Him for answers.
“I felt as though God was my father. Even that being said, I realized how important a flesh-and-blood father really is to all children, especially to a man in his maturity and his self-confidence. Now I look around me and see society is crumbling, and everyone traces it back for the most part to the fatherless children and the father being absent from the home. And I would have to agree with that 100 percent,” Alspaugh stated.
He had the book published last year but is still working on getting the word out about it. He’s had 12 reviewers look at the book, and gave out about a 100 copies. He said he’s received positive reviews about it, and his book has made people laugh and cry.
The book is available for $14.95 on Amazon.com; on barnesandnoble.com; and through Kindle. For an autographed copy of the book, Alspaugh can provide one for $10 by emailing him at [email protected]. Alspaugh said he can deliver it or a person can pick it up.
“That was my publisher’s idea. That was their insistence. They told me that if I was going to be as honest as I was in my book, with people in situations, even though I don’t really use names, they said people could come back later and say I defamed them. Even though most of them are dead. They said if I used a pen name, they would allow me to publish the book exactly as it is,” he explained in an interview Aug. 16.
The other alternative for his book, titled “My God My Father My Personal Odyssey,” was to take out certain situations he wrote about.
“I said if I take those situations out, it won’t be an honest book,” Alspaugh said.
When he first wrote the story, he hadn’t planned to publish it. He was writing it for his own enlightenment.
“I wanted to learn more about myself by sitting down and writing my thoughts, my past exactly as I remembered them and not as I would have liked them to have been. I wanted to be as honest with myself as I could because at that time I was just writing it for myself,” he said.
The book was born out of a fluke. Alspaugh was doing a lot of writing through social media, and many people commented about how much they loved to read what he wrote and they looked forward to reading his thoughts, he said.
He decided to sit down and write his thoughts from the beginning. It took him four years – on and off – to write it, and he did five rewrites. Because it was autobiographical, he didn’t want it to sound like he was in love with himself, he said.
“I wanted to make sure I was as careful as possible. I wanted to write it as if somebody else looked at my life from the outside looking in and they wrote the story as if they were just kind of following me like my shadow. Because I like to be as honest with myself as I can all the time, and I don’t like to kid myself,” he said.
After barely graduating from high school, he left Warsaw and went to Hollywood. He knew there’d be a lot of guys he’d be competing with for work who were good looking, the right height and with “chins chiseled out of steel,” but he also knew he was never going to be one of those types of people. And he also didn’t want to be one of them.
“So I didn’t kid myself as to being somebody or wanting to be somebody that I wasn’t,” he said. “My whole thing was being the best at being me.”
Nothing ever satisfied him, however, and he had to keep trying new things and pushing himself to the limit.
The gist of his book is about him growing up without a father and having very little self confidence and never having reassurance from a father figure to know that he was OK and was as good as anybody else.
“I didn’t realize until I finished my book where my emptiness came from originally,” Alspaugh said.
Writing the book helped him realize where he came from, all the places he’d been and that he had a hole in himself he hadn’t realized was there that he was trying to fill – mostly with numerous girlfriends. The book made him remember all the things he’d done, saw and the people who were a part of his life.
“It was a great learning experience, and there was a lot of good, interesting stories,” he said.
The book publisher, iUniverse, liked the book but wanted Alspaugh to shorten it up to about a third of what it was. The finished book is 143 pages, and he said he has about two-thirds more of his story to tell.
Explaining the title of his book, “My God My Father My Personal Odyssey,” Alspaugh said, “What this means to me, is that because I didn’t have a father, I looked to God as my father.”
He said because he didn’t have a dad, he would go to his quiet space and talk to God in his head or verbally and look to Him for answers.
“I felt as though God was my father. Even that being said, I realized how important a flesh-and-blood father really is to all children, especially to a man in his maturity and his self-confidence. Now I look around me and see society is crumbling, and everyone traces it back for the most part to the fatherless children and the father being absent from the home. And I would have to agree with that 100 percent,” Alspaugh stated.
He had the book published last year but is still working on getting the word out about it. He’s had 12 reviewers look at the book, and gave out about a 100 copies. He said he’s received positive reviews about it, and his book has made people laugh and cry.
The book is available for $14.95 on Amazon.com; on barnesandnoble.com; and through Kindle. For an autographed copy of the book, Alspaugh can provide one for $10 by emailing him at [email protected]. Alspaugh said he can deliver it or a person can pick it up.
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