August 2, 2021

Thank you for making the effort to visit my website. 
 
I am amazed I even have a website, let alone a book that will be published three months from today.  It has been a labor of love inspired primarily by my mother and daughter, as I describe in the book. I started working on it early in 2020 shortly after I announced my planned retirement as IU Athletic Director. 
 
I wrote it long-hand on legal pad after legal pad, to be transcribed along the way by my code-breaking assistant Terri Beatty. I researched and wrote, off and on at night and on weekends, until I stepped down as Athletic Director on June 30, at which time I picked up the pace through that summer and fall. I turned in the final manuscript to IU Press on November 2, 2020, a year to the day before its publication date. 
 
I’ve been surprised by all that goes into actually publishing a book even after the manuscript is completely done. Editing. Copy editing. Fact checking. Reviewing page proofs. Indexing. Printing. I’m thrilled that we’re closing in on actually having the final book in print so that readers can consider, and hopefully enjoy, my story. 
 
I’m also looking forward to the process of rolling the book out to you and the rest of the reading public through things like this website, book signings, talks, readings, and the like. 
 
Along the way, I’ll be sharing these “Notes From Fred” which you can read on this website and/or have emailed to you by signing on to our email list.  I’ll do my best not to wear you out, and I hope you enjoy following along on this journey.