Hello! I am Gary R. Hafer, Ph.D.—known to some as
“Dr. Weber”—who for over thirty years taught writing as Professor of English at Lycoming College, and for eleven of those years, as the John P. Graham Endowed Teaching Professor. Even with a rich professional life, I needed something more. Weber helped fill that need.
As a result and exclusively on this site, I focus on how grilling—and specifically, Weber grilling—became my treasured obsession. But the first place I explored that life was in a book-length memoir—personal reflections and interviews with Weber luminaries—that I completed over five years ago.
In fact, I wrote Standing in the Shadow of the Kettle: My Journey Back to Life through Weber Grilling not as an employee or a “super-fan” (a title I detest, by the way) but as a humbled, journeyman griller—a Weber ambassador without portfolio—who, at a critical point in his life, was buoyed by the George Stephen story of grilling for neighbors and friends from his backyard. I thought others might be uplifted by my story and those of others who stand, not for themselves and their accomplishments, but in that shadow of the simple kettle.
While the book is complete, I lament that it remains in its original manuscript form, unpublished. As a former academic, I look for traditional publishers. For instance, I have numerous articles and one book published in the past; my wife is a prolific author with over twenty books and countless other pieces published by established houses. I know how the system works. Because of my training, I resist the self-publishing route because I believe the book has merits beyond reaching a small circle of friends. I really and truly believe in this book and its message and desperately want that message to reach others.
My efforts to have it published through traditional means, however, have garnered mixed results: enough to encourage me to keep seeking a publisher though insufficient to register any real progress. I’ve offered sections of the book to literary contests, forwarded it to agents who specialize in food and cookbook markets, and even sent it blindly to small publishing houses. I’ve received a few nods but no handshakes. I’ve also suffered through soul-crushing experiences involving oblivious agents, unkept promises, and false hopes given by others in places that would make a real difference in getting the book published. None compared to how crestfallen I felt after I was invited to read a chapter of my book at Weber-Stephen headquarters in Chicago. I was warmly received, given a platform to address their team leaders worldwide at a special event that was recorded and streamed, and celebrated at a dinner. Yet, once again, even while in that spotlight, nothing substantial with the book ever materialized. Presently, the manuscript is sitting unread in the mailbox of a major publishing house that Weber first recommended I send it. Over a year later, I have yet to receive even an acknowledgement that the publisher received it. Again, I know how the system works; I know this is the path down which manuscripts go to die.
As I have just reached my sixty-seventh birthday, I realize some goals I will never achieve, all a part of growing older. Yet, I desperately do not want this book to languish in somebody’s mailbox. Standing in the Shadow of the Kettle feels like a life’s work—it certainly took a lifetime and a near-death
experience—so it’s not one I’m willing to let go of without a publisher picking it up.
In the meantime, I offer the manuscript to you here in the form of a blog, displaying one chapter each month along with occasional bonus chapters along the same theme: grilling stories and a few life lessons along the way. I intend this site to give me the opportunity to sharpen and to update many of its stories in the book and to add new ones since the five years the book has circulated. Perhaps naively, I hope an agent or publisher will see it, become interested, and pick up the whole manuscript for publication. At this point, I know no other way to seek a publisher. I’m exhausted from trying.
When a guest at Weber headquarters, I remember one audience member asked me how Weber could encourage others to move from “customer” to a major subscriber, like myself. I have no special expertise in such matters, but my answer remains the same: create a community of mutual trust. This blog is my small contribution toward reaching that ideal.
ABOUT THE EDITORIAL BOARD
I have asked three close friends to serve on the editorial board for this book companion site. I met them online several years ago as fellow members in the official Friends of Weber program. All are admirable human beings and avid Weber grillers, in that order. They have read significant portions of the manuscript, offered salient suggestions, and been good friends and readers. For me, the test of good readers if I want to deliver revisions after hearing their feedback. For these three—and my beloved wife, Marjorie, an excellent writer and reader herself—I can say that I always do.
