HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVEN SALMON!!
Your birthday is January 12, and we are proud to announce that your book It’s a New Life: Mom Is Gone is available on Amazon Kindle. Our wish for you is that you sell hundreds, no, thousands, of books... to start! You are a real inspiration with your perseverance, dedication, and consistency in dreaming big.
Meeting you was a real highlight of our trip. 
And your case manager and care giver were also a delight to meet.
I am going to include here what I wrote in your book:
A SPECIAL NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
When Steven’s book was submitted to our publishing company, I found myself captivated and read and edited the entire book before I even responded to him. I wholeheartedly fell in love with his raw style of writing and his soulful authenticity.
One of my husband’s and my favorite comedians of all time is a man named Josh Blue who won “Last Comic Standing” ten years ago (August 2006); and to this day, I often tell two of his jokes, always getting a laugh. Josh Blue also has cerebral palsy but much less severe that Steven’s. Projecting my love for Josh on to Steven, I cracked up laughing at Steven’s writing. Then I took a step back with the realization that this author is NOT Josh Blue but is Steven Salmon; and I started reading and editing with my heart rather than my funny bone, even though I still could imagine Josh borrowing material from Steven and in his own way making it funny. (See http://www.joshblue.com/.)
But there really isn’t much if anything funny about Steven’s life. Imagine being in a wheelchair, not able to do any of your own self-care, having minimal speech, yet, as he says, “Just because I can’t speak doesn’t mean I don’t have anything to say.” How many of us with all our capabilities have the diligence, determination, and dedication as Steven does to reach our full potential and dream big?
Steven Salmon has severe cerebral palsy and impressively holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Writing from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point and spends some time every day at his craft—writing. Think of the comparison: I type 60 words a minute while Steven uses a form of Morse code and types one letter every two to four seconds. That translates to about four or five words a minute.
This memoir, It’s a New Life: Mom Is Gone, gives the reader a real in-depth look (not just a peak) at what it is like to live with cerebral palsy, especially when thrust into independence in his 40’s after his mother dies. Steven’s writing is as raw, personal, and genuine as it gets. It automatically invites the reader to be Steven’s most avid cheerleader in life and gives us an inspirational kick in the butt to dream big too!
Sometimes people succeed in life because of who they know. Steven and I don’t know anyone in common, to my knowledge; but there is something besides his writing, his personality, and the photos on his website that added to my desire to publish his work. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin, my home town. My family lives in Wisconsin. Steven and I both live on the very same Latitude Parallel north of the equator—43.1 degrees—only we are 1,755 miles apart as the crow flies!! As I write this, I have only met him via the Internet; but by the time this is in distribution on his birthday, January 12, 2017, we will have met in person! How exciting is that?! (HOW EXCITING WAS THAT!!!)
~ Cleone Reed, Editor, Cover Designer, Publisher,Robert D. Reed Publishers, Bandon, OR