Autumn in Gainesville

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world -- or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diary ever written.

Grayson's seventeenth compilation of diary entries, AUTUMN IN GAINESVILLE, alternates among the three fall seasons he worked as a staff attorney in social policy at University of Florida law school think tank. Taking place from 1994 to 1996, Grayson's diary chronicles his adventures as a legal researcher, college instructor, gay rights activist, candidate for Congress and columnist for New Jersey Online. Working for a education project called Schoolyear 2000 and one of the first experiments in web-based journalism projects, Grayson moves into his mid-40s and finds himself surprised with a book contract for a new collection of short stories.