Prefatory Remarks

The research for this book began back in the mid-1970’s, and at that time, we didn’t have the vaguest notion of what was to transpire. As a matter of fact, one of us started on their journey to write this book before the other had any inkling that we shared a similar interest. Not once did we talk about our research interests until much later. How could we, since we did not fully understand that we would be writing a book in the future.

Our teaching careers began at the same secondary school where one of us taught Introduction to Sociology and the other taught Introduction to Psychology. By chance, our courses were always very popular with students, which created a competitive atmosphere as to which area of study provided the most useful information to our students. That rivalry ended when one of us decided to pursue what one might call a very passionate interest.

Social interaction between us was maintained over the years, but we did not see each other all that frequently. However, our friendship was serendipitously renewed. While getting reacquainted, we realized that we had been studying a similar topic but from totally different perspectives. That interest was focused on trying to understand the underlying reason(s) that a human being will seek out their personal chimera which can never be fulfilled.

Our beliefs can be very influential in regards to our behavior. The challenge we all face is managing those beliefs. Sometimes our beliefs are grounded on some baseless illusion, a trick of the imagination, or some foolish fancy. One’s chimera of a perfect life can direct one down a path in life in search of some unrealizable dream or unattainable illusion. Going on a chimerical journey will not bring us to where we really need and want to be.

While we did not read the same literature, our perceptions on this issue were similar in nature. Before we knew it, we got ourselves organized and agreed that we were going to write a book based on our individual research. We came up with an outline for our book and divvied up the chapters to be written. It took us a year to get out ideas down on paper to a point where we were satisfied with our work. Even though we wrote different chapters, we always would sit down together to rewrite each chapter, while sitting at the same laptop. There was always heated discussion taking place between us, but in the end, we were able to find the words to express what each of us had in mind.

The next step in our journey involved finding a literary agent. Luckily, we stumbled on someone who was willing to represent us. Following their guidance, we sent our written work to a significant number of publishers and received a lot of rejections. Then, one day, we received a letter from an editor at Norton & Norton that informed us that they were very interested in the initial sample of work that we submitted for their review. Follow up material cemented the deal. We were going to be published.

There were revisions to be made and changes that were taken under advisement. Things were moving along, when suddenly, we received a letter from our editor that they were pulling the plug on out project because someone decided that we did not have enough “name recognition” in the academic world to motivate people to buy our work. The book material was more than acceptable, but our status as researchers was much too limited.

This all transpired in the early part of the nineteen nineties. It goes without saying that this was a very emotional experience for each of us because of the time and effort that was put into this project. We each grieved in our own way. There was not a lot of discussion about what happened to us. The aforementioned was followed by an extended hiatus. We stayed in touch and got together from time to time. However, we never talked about the book again.

One of us held on to the original manuscript which sat on a shelf for a long-time collecting dust. Approximately ten years ago, one of us decided to reach out to the other to query them as to whether they had been following the news. They agreed that they were staying on top of what was going on. Then a question was asked – “Do you see any similarities to what we wrote about back in the nineteen nineties?” Their reaction was in the affirmative. This was followed with another question – “Would you be willing to sit down and work on updating what we had written all those years ago?” The answer was in the affirmative.

We were back together working. We drew up a plan and got to work with updating what we had originally written by adding more current references and adding new insights. Again, we sought out a literary agent, but this time we had no luck. So, we started sending out quires to publishers.  Again, we had no luck. Since the nineteen nineties there has been a big change that has taken place in the publishing world.  Indy publishing has come on the scene which has empowered authors to determine their future. In this country, only one to two percent of all the book submitted ever gets published. The terror of the commercial editor has ended and opened a new vista to all kinds of authors. An author can now determine if something is worth publishing.

So here we are presenting our written work to others for their consideration.  Hopefully, you will give some time to reflecting on our research and provide us with some feedback. If the topic of leisure is of an interest to you, then you are in the right place. Another topic that will be given consideration is the subject of emotions. Most people under appreciate what an important role that emotions play in regards to one’s life and one’s leisure time behavior. The purpose of this blog is to bring up issues that we could not fit into our book due to its limited space, and which merit further reflection and discussion.