A Modern Cyber-Saga: How Our Book Was Written

Donations from the Sale of Our Book

Melissa Brayer Hess is the developer and Managing Editor of Foreign Service Lifelines, the website of the Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide (www.aafsw.org). Melissa is an English professor and Registered Nurse. With an M.A. in Education, she has taught English as a Second Language in Europe, Africa, and the U.S. She has also worked as a newsletter editor, cross-cultural trainer, curriculum developer and educational writer. Her medical background includes experience in Medical-Surgical, Operating Room, and Hospice nursing. Melissa and her husband have lived and worked in Paris, France; Kaduna, Nigeria; Leningrad, U.S.S.R.; Oran, Algeria; Sinai, Egypt; and Kiev, Ukraine.

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Patricia Linderman has an M.A. in German and works as a freelance writer, editor and translator from Spanish and German into English. Her translations have included speeches for the President of Chile. She is Associate Editor of the nonprofit expatriate website Tales from a Small Planet (www.talesmag.com). She has also worked as a language teacher, foreign student program director and U.S. Embassy community liaison coordinator, among other positions. Patricia first lived abroad as a graduate student in Erlangen, Germany, with her husband occupying the role of accompanying spouse. When he joined the U.S. Foreign Service, she was happy to reverse the roles, raising two multilingual, globally-aware sons while living and working in Port of Spain, Trinidad; Santiago, Chile; Havana, Cuba; and Leipzig, Germany.

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A Modern Cyber-Saga: How Our Book Was Written

Melissa and Patricia first "met" in cyberspace, while Melissa was living in Ukraine and Patricia in Germany. They were both active participants in Livelines, an e-mail discussion group for the U.S. Foreign Service community, and were impressed by each other's writing styles and supportive, sensible advice to Foreign Service newcomers.

They communicated by e-mail, and Melissa proposed collaborating on a guidebook for first-time expatriates. Patricia readily agreed, and they set to work on a proposal and sample chapter. They approached Intercultural Press of Maine, U.S.A., because of its success with similar titles, such as Moving Your Family Overseas. To their delight, Intercultural agreed to publish the book. Later, Nicholas Brealey Publishers of London teamed up with Intercultural and became involved in the project.

For the actual writing process, Melissa and Patricia divided up the chapters, wrote drafts and e-mailed them to each other for review and revision. They did not meet in person until the book was already complete, and they both had the chance to travel to Maine and meet their editor, Judy Carl-Hendrick, and the rest of the Intercultural Press staff.

It is clear from our example that the Internet has opened up exciting new opportunities for human contact and professional collaboration for people all over the world. Expatriate spouses, who often find themselves isolated, moving frequently, and lacking local work opportunities, will surely be among its greatest beneficiaries.

Donations from the Sale of Our Book

The authors have decided to donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Expert Expatriate: Your Guide to Successful Relocation Abroad to the Senior Living Foundation, Washington, D.C., an organization that assists elderly Foreign Service community members in need. (More information at www.aafsw.org).

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