The stash of Father of Mine books to be donated is shrinking, slowly but surely

The stash of more than 600 copies of Father of Mine to be donated as I see fit, thanks to someone who bought $10,000 worth of them, is gradually shrinking.

As I mentioned last week, 500 are going to the West Virginia Division of Correction and Rehabilitation, for distribution at my home state's 24 correctional facilities. And I'm welcoming requests for the additional copies, case by case.

I sent some out today. I'll send some out every Friday. It's my only semi-normal day of the week during football season, and the only day of the week when I get behind the wheel of my car and drive it (obeying at all times the posted speed limits).

If you want to make a request ("I'd like to read it" won't clear the bar) for one or more copies, send an email to florio@profootballtalk.com. I've sent copies to a variety of high schools that don't mind the rampant profanity in the book (as Simms says, "Kid's gotta learn sometime" — and by high school they already have). I'll be sending a box next week to a youth correctional facility in Maine. I've sent some for fundraising efforts for folks with various illnesses and predicaments.

And once the stash is gone, I might go ahead and replenish it on my own.

I don't write for the money. I've learned that, even if a book is published by a traditional publisher (like Playmakers), the ultimate compensation after taxes works out to roughly the same hourly pay I earned during my high-school stint at Kentucky Fried Chicken. (I don't have the pay stubs, but I could walk into any KFC today and still whip up a batch of original recipe and/or extra crispy.) I enjoy writing stuff that doesn't become irrelevant by tomorrow. I enjoy creating something from nothing, turning an empty document into something that comes to life in the mind of whoever reads it.

I've been writing books for more than four years as a hobby. I'm working on number 10 and number 11 whenever I can squeeze out an hour or two, with the original goal of writing 20 which has been revised to 30 and which ultimately will be however many I can write before I can't write any more.

On that note, the eleventh book will be the third book in the Father of Mine series. It picks up exactly where Son of Mine ends. I'm about 100 pages into it, and I have no idea where it's going. Figuring it out one chapter at a time is the best part about the process.

If you haven't read Father of Mine and if you want to, the ebook is a measly $3.99. Son of Mine can be had for $4.99. The print edition for either book costs only $14.99.

They're all written to move quickly. To be unpredictable, full of twists and turns and surprises. There are no big words like "denouement" or "sanguine," unless there's a character who talks that way. (There aren't any who have used those words, yet.)

Check them out, if you want. If not, that's fine, too. If you like what you see here, chances are you'll like what you find in the books.