November 24, 2007- Emma goes back to NY today, Paula leaves tomorrow or Monday. It was great having them here. great to be cooked for and fed well, great to see them playing Scrabble by the wood stove for hours.
   Steaming along on my next book and this weekend, Anthony and I also plan to finish “Pay Attention,” an illustrated book about our adventure this year with ADD and other issues. We call it a story of friendship and commitment and this week, we all got to look at a rough of the book with pictures, done by Melissa Mykal Batalin at the Troy Bookmakers, the publisher. It looks good and we are playing the graphics and format.
  The book has been written by Anthony and me, and I took the more than 70 photos. Maria Heinrich is editing it and designing the graphics. I think it will be striking and classy. The experience led, in my part, to my becoming a photographer. If we can get it done this week, we might get it out before Christmas, and then, perhaps, we can set up some readings locally as well as nationally. The book is an effort to capture a personal, emotional and painful experience in pictures, as well as some text. Because Anthony lives nearby, and we are good friends, I had unusual access to his drama, and I am grateful to him for allowing that.
  He is comfortable being photographed, and remarkably expressive. Earlier this year, Anthony’s problems nearly overwhelmed him, and he was diagnosed with severe ADD and other issues, and agreed to undergo treatment, which he has done,  bravely, successfully and with great determination. We decided to make this journey together. I wanted to help him, as he has so often helped me.
   Pictures, I am learning, can tell stories as well as words. The point of the book is to capture an experience and also to encourage people to pay attention to people with great promise, who sometimes languish because their problems are not noticed.
  It could be one of the most important books I’ve worked on. If the schedule works out, we will try and set up readings in Cambridge, Albany, Glens Falls, Manchester, Vt., perhaps at Gardenworks and some other locations. I have two invitations from bookstores in New York City, one in Boston, one in LA and San Francisco.
  “Pay Attention” will be sold in bookstores everywhere but will also available from All The Right Angles in Saratoga, as are my photos. The e-mail is [email protected]

Below, Anthony meeting with Dr. Edward Hallowell, one of the world’s leading authorities on ADD, in New York City in October. Dr. Hallowell said our experience together was “amazing,” unprecedented in his experience. He said Anthony had done an extraordinary job dealing with the issues he faced, was strong and gifted and would do well. Hallowell said ADD was a gift, not simply a disorder, and he believed Anthony would use it well.
   Pictures of the meeting are also in the book. We aren’t sure yet, but are hoping to see it for around $14. A portion of any proceeds will go to various good works, still to be sorted out.