Michael Leppert: There is one key reason I wrote ‘Flipping the Circle’

When I published my first book five years ago, I remember the first few times someone said congratulations to me about it. The reason I remember is because of how odd a thing I thought it was for anyone to say. Apparently, that is protocol for those who still care about that sort of thing. I was such a newbie; I had no idea.

“Congratulations on your book,” took the place of what I think would be a better question: “Why the hell did you do that?” The first and most important answer to that question is a pretty simple one.

I was at lunch with a friend last week at an old restaurant in Bloomington, one I should have visited many times before, but I was making my first venture. In between shovels of that feast, my friend made a comment about my columns. It is one of the best compliments ever given to me.

He said, “I read your column, and you sure seem to enjoy writing it.”

That’s about as good as it gets for someone who writes only because he enjoys it.

And of course, that is the primary reason I wrote my new book, “Flipping the Circle.” There is a list of other reasons, but without that primary one, I would imagine writing a long-form story would be laborious, if not torturous. Oh, sure, all of us have long stories in our minds that are worthy of being told. But actually doing it is a feat that is unquestionably worthy of pride. And congrats.

I can only hope readers can see I enjoyed writing the book, though that was not on my list of reasons for doing it. Telling the story in the book was important because it explains how a process works that is mysterious to most people. The legislative process and the pressure of outside influence on that process is important for Americans, not just Hoosiers, to understand. It is important because it belongs to all of us. We should do better at acting like it.

“Flipping the Circle” is not an exposé of people who were involved with doing the wrong thing in the real-life story about e-liquid and vaping regulation that inspired this fictional account. In fact, it is specifically and purposefully not that. The book does tell a parallel story of an outrageous episode in Indiana Statehouse history, with plenty of dramatic liberty and fictional characters added.

My goal is for people to learn a little about government and then think about it. The way I want to accomplish that goal is to try to tell the story in a way people can enjoy consuming it. Whether people read it on paper the old-fashioned way, or on a Kindle or Nook, or even listen to a professional voice actor read it to them on Audible, I want it to engage people enough for it to be given some thought.

It took me nine months to write it, and I was done with the original manuscript almost exactly three years ago. The publisher and I started talking about publishing it two years after that. And I could not be happier with how it turned out and that I am done carrying it around with me.

Because, you know, now I can start on the next one. Because I love writing. Drop me a line and congratulate me. Because now I understand what a big deal doing it really is.•

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Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.

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