We are very pleased to announce the release of Grief Diaries: Project Cold Case.

Available now at Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com and soon at ProjectColdCase.org

Recent publicity about our book

Grief Diaries: Project Cold Case – First Coast Living

Atlantic Beach man co-authors on fellow families of unsolved murders – Maggie FitzRoy, Jax Daily Record

Grief Diaries: Project Cold Case – Melanie Lawson, WJXT Morning Show

Cold case book inspired by Jacksonville man who lost his father in unsolved murder – Larry Hannan, Florida Times Union

Grief Diaries: Project Cold Case features 22 true stories about losing a loves one to an unsolved homicide – Melissa Ross, First Coast Connect (WJCT)

Grief Diaries Newest Book Features 22 National Cold Cases – PRlog Press Release Distribution

 

I’d like to take the opportunity to share a little about how this book came to be and give a glimpse into the amazing stories that are shared within its pages. It started in June 2016 when a close friend and supporter of Project Cold Case told me about Grief Diaries books and Lynda Cheldelin Fell, the creator of the anthology series. My friend was a contributor to Grief Diaries – Loss By Impaired Driving where he detailed his story about losing his father in a multi-car crash caused by two separate drunk drivers. As I researched more, I realized that the Grief Diaries book series, which “shares the poignant journeys of men and women seeking healing, hope and the silver lining amid life challenges”, could be an opportunity for families of unsolved homicides to not only share their loved ones story, but to help others travelling along our same path. Grief Diaries has already published multiple titles to help people living with a variety of struggles. From homicides to eating disorders, parents to infants, brain injuries to break-ups, Grief Diaries has created a village of survivors whose stories, when published, become “portable support groups” for others. I wanted our families to be a part of that village.

For Project Cold Case the opportunity was simply too important to pass up. We consistently hear from individual survivors that they fear law enforcement has given up on their case, or that the community has forgotten their loved one, that no one cares anymore. This was a way to share their stories with the world, to grieve openly, to plead for someone to come forward but also show that many of our feelings are shared by others and that we aren’t alone. We also felt this book would offer support and hope to other families struggling with an unsolved case. The issue for us was having to limit the number of stories to be published. We truly feel that every unsolved victim should have their story shared with anyone willing to listen. That is why we share the cases on our website. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t possible to publish a book with every unsolved homicide included. So we reached out to a diverse group of survivors from around the country in hopes of spotlighting the reality of unsolved homicides; they happen everywhere and they effect every demographic. We also posted a link on Facebook for survivors wanting to contribute and had our title accessible on the Grief Diaries website for anyone to see and sign up on for participation. We worried that too many would sign-up and prefaced our ask for participation with the fact that the publisher would have final say on what stories made it into the book. We were advised that some contributors would end up changing their minds either before or during the writing process. That happened and for a number of reasons some individuals that had shown interest in the book decided not to participate and we ended up being able to include all the stories that were submitted. As we knew would happen as the publish date got closer, survivors that didn’t know about the project started reaching out about being included or sharing their disappointment about missing out on this opportunity. Because we want all stories shared we contacted the publisher about doing second volume of unsolved homicide stories and the response was positive with the exception that the books would need to be spaced out a couple years in order to not compete with each other. We understand and agree with that logic despite wishing there was a way to do another book sooner. If you would like to be notified when volume two begins, please send an email to info@projectcoldcase.org with your contact information and your loved ones name. We are keeping a running list of potential future contributors.

The way the Grief Diaries process works is, once enough contributors have signed up for a book title, a list of 3 questions is sent to the participants each week for 6 weeks. The writers answer the questions based on their personal experiences. The exercise can be therapeutic for those writing and hopefully helpful for those that end up reading. Our writers were challenged to go back and live through the worst days of their lives and remember things that sometimes seemed surreal when looking back. This project was not always easy and most, at some point, questioned why they had taken it on. I am forever grateful for those that did and I am honored to have been a part of this book. At this point I’d like to introduce the victims that this book is dedicated to; each one loved, missed and grieved by a contributor to Grief Diaries: Project Cold Case.

Thank you for taking to the time to read about our book and how it came to be. As always, the support or our communities could be the difference between justice and never knowing.

Sincerely,

 

Ryan Backmann – Founder, Project Cold Case, Inc.

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Grief Diaries is always adding new titles and looking for contributors to expand the healing reach of the series. Click here for a list of in-progress and upcoming titles that are still looking for contributors. Published titles are available for purchase online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

A portion of proceeds from the sale of this book will go to Project Cold Case, Inc. We are working on a way to sell the book directly from our website and at out events. Once that is complete, sales directly from us will benefit Project Cold Case, Inc. significantly more than sales through Amazon or Barnes and Noble, as we will be allowed to keep more of the revenue generated. Proceeds will be used by Project Cold Case, Inc. to further our cause of publicizing all unsolved homicides and bridging the gap between information, families and law enforcement and ultimately helping solve cold cases.