It's a book giveaway weekend
I spend too much time thinking about the things she didn't get to enjoy, starting with her grandchildren. She would have showered them with love while pushing them harder than they've ever been pushed.
She always pushed me to try to do more, and to try to do it better. Even if I've allowed my work-life balance to become entirely out of whack, she helped instill a desire to never slow down, to never coast, to never be satisfied.
I also spend too much time thinking about what she'd think about the decisions I've made over the years. When I told her I wanted to go to law school, she voiced her displeasure. Loudly. When I gave up my law practice to write and talk about football on a full-time basis 14 years, she would have been very pissed about that, too.
Starting nearly five years ago, I started devoting any free minute I could find to writing fiction. (Not to be confused with the fiction I'm often accused of writing here.) She would have read every word of it. If she thought any of it sucked, she would have said so. Plainly, clearly, directly.
No one really knows what happens after our time here ends. It's nice to think maybe she has the ability to read the stuff I've written. It would be even nicer if she had a way to tell me what sucks, and what doesn't.
You can make your own assessment. Three of the 10 or so I've cobbled together (Father of Mine, Son of Mine, On Our Way Home) can be had in ebook form for a mere 99 cents on Amazon. I'll give away two or three signed and personalized copies of the newest one, Son of Mine, based on the submissions I receive this weekend.
You know the drill. Send an email to florio@profootballtalk.com with this subject line: 4/19/25 Book Giveaway. I'll pick two or three at random and send out the books in a few days.
Son of Mine is the sequel to Father of Mine. They're mob books set in the town where I grew up, and where my dad worked as a bookie for the crew that ran the place. The next book in the series has been written and edited/revised once. I need to make another pass through it.
I should start today. I don't really feel like it. And I know exactly what my mother would say about that: 'Quit your bitching and do it.'
I guess I will.
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