Well Hot Damn I'm Finally Writing a Book

"If you give a mouse a cookie he will ask for a glass of milk," as the classic children's book teaches us. Well, if you give a Caitlin a sabbatical, she will discover that her longtime interest in the Titanic is- in fact- deeply intertwined with the history of the North American funeral industry and the perfect thing to write a book about. 

If you are a friend or colleague of mine, you know that I've spent the last four years "writing a book" about funeral industry reform. I don't know why I put "writing a book" in scare quotes there; this was serious work! Tens of thousands of words. And it was just... not working. I would send off drafts to my editor or readers and get comments like "soooo great you're writing again girl, keep going, I'm sure you'll find...something."  Damned with faint praise. Crickets.

Historically I've been decent at cutting my losses when things aren't working. If you only knew how many videos (fully shot and edited!) that I haven't released because something was off. Or how many non-profit initiatives I've made the executive decision to put the kibosh on. But for some reason I could not give up on this book. It took me YEARS to admit it wasn't working, but finally, head hung in failure, I did admit it. 

Then I went on sabbatical. It didn't happen the first month. It didn't happen the second month. But during the third month, into my heart sailed a doomed oceanliner.

I was cautious at first. Almost everyone is interested in Titanic. It's not like I'm one of those super-enthusiasts that can tell you the tensile strength of the rivets in the boiler rooms or the degree of list at breakup (though, spoiler, I'm getting there). But when I went down the rabbit hole, I began to see there was a huge gap in the storytelling around Titanic. A gap only America's preeminent (by which I mean only) storyteller of the history of the dead body through the lens of the funeral industry and a hefty fear of extremely deep water could tell.

I've been working on this project for nine months. And to be clear, there is a long road ahead: likely a year and a half to two years until the book comes out. But tomorrow is the day my publisher W.W. Norton will announced the book Publishers Marketplace. The word will be out. 

My dear sweet (as yet untitled) book child will have it all. Little-known figures mostly overlooked by historical accounts. Bodies that sank to the depths, bodies that were collected from the surface, bodies that raise dramatic class issues in their treatment. The wrecksite as a graveyard, and yes, the Titan submersible.

So far, the best part about this process has been my overwhelming enthusiasm for it. You should have seen me with my broken ankle surrounded by piles of Titanic books and survivor testimony and newspapers from 1912. I work on this project with a spring in my step, happy to come to work and learn more, a complete 180 in attitude from working on the previous doomed "book" (there I go with the scare quotes again). With my ankle still stiff but mostly healed, I've been, and will continue to go on research trips, which I will take you along for– if that is of interest. 

Speaking of taking you along, I want to invite you to an event I'm hosting for Patrons with my wonderful agent Anna Sproul-Latimer of Neon Literary to talk about preparing for and actually getting a book deal. To be clear, this is free and nothing is being sold!–– I just think book publishing can be as murky and gatekept as the funeral industry and you might enjoy a transparent peek behind the scenes into the process. 

The event will be on March 28th at 7pm EASTERN time. The link will be sent to all Patrons in the next few days to sign up if you'd like to attend and posted later if you missed it.

Even if you're not interested in the Titanic (I don't understand but I'll allow it) I hope this journey will teach you– as much as it is still teaching me– about death, the funeral industry, mass fatality management, the abyss, and who gets respect after they die.

More to come xx

Caitlin