I have a folder on my computer called “Ideas for Books” that contains… well, ideas for books in it. Some of the books are fiction and some are non-fiction. Some of the files contain little more than a couple of sentences with a general idea about a book; some of the others have complete outlines, and a few have entire chapters written. I jump back and forth between the various books until one really grabs my interest. Then I write as much and as fast as I can on it before something else grabs my attention and drags me away.

A year ago in that folder I created a text file called “the Lapband family,” and in it I wrote, “document our experience with lapband surgery.” That file containing six words has sat on my computer for over a year. I mentioned the idea to Susan this year on September 1st. Two weeks later, between the two of us we had written 40,000 words.

I renamed the book Gastric Steps (He Said/She Said). “Gastric Steps” is obviously a play on the phrase “drastic steps,” which weight loss surgery certain is. The “He Said/She Said” aspect of the book is pretty interesting. Normally when I write a book the first thing I do is create a list of chapters and then fill them with stories. With this book, both Susan and I each wrote a chapter about each topic. She wrote a chapter about growing up overweight and so did I. Each of us wrote a chapter about gaining weight while working at fast food restaurants. Both of us wrote about our experiences with gastric band surgery — the before, during, and after. And as hard as it was, each of us wrote a chapter called “Why am I still fat?” where we discuss the obvious question many people are thinking.

I self-published both of my previous books, Commodork: Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie (2006) and Invading Spaces: A Beginner’s Guide to Arcade Games (2008), a decision I stand behind today. The target audience for those books was too narrow for traditional publishing venues. Both books continue to sell modestly, the paperback editions less so than the electronic versions.

Gastric Steps, however, has a much larger audience. There are currently 127 million overweight adult Americans. 60 million of those people are classified as obese, and 9 million of those are morbidly obese. Millions of overweight Americans consider bariatric surgery, whether it’s gastric bypass, gastric band (Lap-Band), or another type. Because of that, I am currently sending query letters and proposals to agents. Ultimately if it doesn’t work out then I will consider self-publishing this book too, but I really feel like the message contained within this book needs to get out.

Without going into all the details, I believe that there are three distinct audiences for this book: people who are considering bariatric/weight loss surgery, those who have already had the surgery, and medical professionals associated with the surgery. I believe each of these groups would benefit from reading this book.

I know most of you come to RobOHara.com to read about technology and video games and old computers and my family, not about weight loss surgery. Because of that, here’s what I have done. I have set up another blog at GastricSteps.com, where Susan and I will be talking about weight loss, diet, exercise, and the book. I’ll be posting updates over there at least twice a week (on Tuesdays and Thursdays) and maybe more. If anything exciting updates happen in regards to the book being published then of course I’ll share that information here, but I’m not going to turn this website into a weight loss site.

If you want to find out more about the book and follow both our journey to getting it published and our journey toward health, check out GastricSteps.com. I’ve also set up a Facebook Page and a Twitter account for the project, so you can like or follow those if you want to be notified when new blog entries go live. Finally, the site will also have an e-mail mailing list for notifications if you prefer receiving them that way.

Life is crazy right now. Susan’s trying to build a Futuro UFO House and I’m trying to sell a book on top of everything else we have going on. If there’s a way to live other than hectic, I don’t know what it is.

WWW: GastricSteps.com
Twitter: Twitter.com/GastricSteps
Facebook: Facebook.com/GastricSteps