Typing With One Hand: June 2009

First of all, thanks for stopping by!

"Typing With One Hand" is a memoir of about 280 pages and there are 33 chapters all together. They document the course of my life going to a strict private Catholic school, transitioning into a public school and eventually into college in Detroit where I moved into an apartment and studied Theatre. All the while, dealing with my unique disability.

Major themes in the book are: self-actualization; family dysfunction; religious bigotry; sexual confusion; sustaining relationships; and brain tumors.

This website contains four sample chapters from the work: Chapter 1 is an introduction of myself and my disability; Chapter 9 illustrates some of the confusion involved with questioning your faith while in a private Catholic school; Chapter 15 is a story of how to deal with bullies in high school (grabbing their girlfriends' butts is not a good solution); and Chapter 21 looks into what it's REALLY like to be 18 and live away from home during college.

For more information on the book, please see the side bar to the right.

Also worth noting: When you order a copy of "Typing With One Hand" from the Lulu storefront to your right, the book now comes with a sample chapter from my current project, "Amsterdam" [working title] -- a novel about the prison system, education, City Councils and the auto industry in Southeast Michigan.

I really hope you enjoy your time here! Be sure to check out more of my writing at www.peterjurich.wordpress.com.

BUY YOUR OWN COPY TODAY!

Typing With One Hand is now available for purchase by visiting my storefront at Lulu.com!

The manuscript, with cover design by Tom Russell, has been updated, but only for the print version. There are less typos and more insights. Don't be the only person in your neighborhood without a copy of Typing With One Hand!

But the fun doesn't stop there! See, I can no longer read the book without being critical of myself, which leads to a very unhappy author. Since I stopped reading it, I'd like you to become a bigger part of the process and tell me what you think! Catch a typo? Don't like a paragraph? Email me at twohmemoir@gmail.com and let me know!

Plus, YOU could be purchasing the ONLY VERSION of the book to ever be printed!

A Message To The Reader

Typing With One Hand is a memoir written for adolescents and teens from middle school to high school levels with intent to prove reading fun and writing uninhibited. I began work in October 2005 and finished in September 2007. For the months following, I'd queried many agents in hopes of finding representation and a place on bookstore shelves, but this process proved far more difficult and disheartening than I had anticipated.

So by the suggestion of my friend Luke Duncan, I decided to publish online for free. The purpose of this blog is to provide an easy and accessible way for audiences to read and critique my work (and hopefully be entertained). My ultimate goal, through word of mouth and email, was at one point to eventually attract the attention of an interested agent or publisher. I've since gone through the self-publishing process which has been extremely rewarding. There is no feeling quite like holding a book that you wrote.

I hope you will support me in my work and purchase a copy of "Typing With One Hand" by clicking below:

Sincerely,
Peter Jurich.

The Query Letter

A query letter is an initial proposal from a writer with which an agent decides whether to pursue representation of the work in question. Some agents may also ask for sample chapters. I've sent out many of both and have only received rejections. (It was not uncommon for a rejection to begin impersonally with “Dear Writer.”) The following is my query letter:

Dear [Agent],

I’m writing in hopes of interesting you in my 80,000-word memoir, Typing With One Hand! The chapters are meant to serve as parables to awkward teens as they progress through the very different stages of life. In Typing With One Hand, I hope that adolescents will learn from my mistakes.

The title refers not to any double entendre, but to the fashion with which the manuscript was written; unavoidable circumstances and undeniable laziness have left me with an inability to type patiently with both hands. When I was three-years-old, I was diagnosed with two strokes that turned out to be the byproducts of three hereditary brain tumors. As it is explained in the first chapter, the removal of the tumors resulted in a lack of fine motor skills in my left hand (known as “the Shaky Left Hand”) and an inelegant gait. As I’ve tried to live a normal life, my disability has prevented me from doing so.

The third chapter opens with my first day at the catholic elementary school that provided me with a hatred for my first name, a fear of sexual urges and an ironic belief in atheism. In high school I was nameless, studious and “practically a bull's eye when you've nothing to write with.” Will I be tempted to drink at my first real party? Will the school ruffian break me in half after the Shaky Left Hand accidentally grabbed his girlfriend's butt? Will my testicle untwist itself in time for the big dance? The fall after graduation, I was rudely coaxed into moving into a dingy apartment in downtown Detroit where I studied theater at Wayne State University. After two semesters spent doing my roommates’ dishes and impersonating animals for my major, I inevitably moved back home. Then, I had my first drug experience and got my life on a confident track. (These two events were unrelated.)

Currently, I am a junior in the journalism department at Wayne State. I transferred from Henry Ford Community College where I was a columnist for the school paper. I also have an article published on The New York Times Magazine website and have begun work on a YA novel. More than academic success, however, I want to help teenagers understand that anxiety and uncertainty are all just a part of growing up. With that said, Typing With One Hand may not always be forgiving, but it oftentimes is funny. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Legal Information

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

What this means to you is that you are free to share my work with whomever you like. (After all, that is the point of setting up this website.) What this license prevents anyone from doing is--without my consent--editing passages, redistributing them as their own work, and/or making an independant profit.

Also, to protect the identity and dignity of certain individuals and locations, names have been changed. The events, however, are no less true.

TYPING WITH ONE HAND CURES AILMENTS!

Typing With One Hand

Welcome to Typing With One Hand!

BUY YOUR OWN COPY TODAY!

A Message To The Reader

The Query Letter

About The Author

Help Keep My Gas Tank Full

Chapters

Legal Information

THIS BOOK WILL GET YOU DATES!!!

TYPING WITH ONE HAND CURES AILMENTS!