Moving Right Along

Last weekend, I bore down and sat my ass in the chair. The photos and captions are almost done. Once they are complete, I will wrap up rewrites on the text and then start formatting, which is a pain but doesn't take much actual thinking. I mean, I have to think about where the photos go, but I don't need to write or create new stuff - just place stuff that already exists.

So I'm pleased with my progress so far on the book. It might not go live before the new year, but it will get close. I just need to be sure to carve out some hours every day until it is all done. And I also need to get my husband to get his butt in the chair when I need him to review things... That'll be the hard part. I might have to resort to bribery. 

Emotional Procrastination

It's funny. I know, from past experience, that once I get started on the book, it's going to go quickly. But, the hard part is getting started. Part of the problem is that I share a computer, and my image processing software is a resource hog so my husband likes to shut it down when I'm not using it. That's fair, but doesn't help me with jumping into the work since the program also takes some time to start up.

And maybe it's more fair to state that rather than it being a problem, it's more like that's one of the excuses that my brain has been inventing for not starting to work.

It doesn't help that I've learned that my mom can't really read anymore. There's a part of me that feels so very sad about that. What's the point of making this book, that was originally for her, when she can't read it, probably can't see it, and, quite frankly, doesn't always remember who I am?

But the book isn't just for her. It's for me. And while she might not be capable of reading it or enjoying it, I know that my dad really likes the books, and my in-laws, too. It's a record, and an accomplishment, and a pretty neat thing to make.

In theory, anyone could do just what I'm doing. Write up a trip, add photos to a template layout and publish a book. But not everybody does it. It does take some effort and skill to do all of those steps myself. And the books bring in steady coffee money.

So I just need to get my butt in the chair and get to work. Everything else will flow from that, and I will be ready to publish before the new year.

No Progress

Ah, just when I think I'm safe, that the worst of the illnesses circulating around have missed me... I get sick. The unpleasant, gross kind of sick. No fever, so it's not serious enough to go to the doctor, but I'm pretty much a coughing, snot-generating machine right now. So the progress that I hoped to make over the last week is pretty much shot. That's okay. The publishing process can go pretty fast once I get started.

The question will be whether I want to do a printed proof or not. I find that it's easier to find typos on a printed proof, but getting one in the mail will delay the publication of the final product. I think if I can actually get something ready by the 15th, then a printed proof will be the way to go, otherwise, for the sake of getting the book published before the end of the year, I'll probably just do the PDF proof for typo review.

I mean, I guess I could print out the PDF, but I don't own a printer. Hm. That might be the way to go, depending on whether I can figure out a printer to use. Maybe a printed version with just the writing and not the photos, since that will be a waste of ink since there's no way I'd pay for printing it in color and I couldn't really judge how the photos turned out in black and white.

The Book Continues

Ambrose has worked his way through my draft, and I now have some things to go back and touch up. Most of his notes are about rewriting for clarity, so it won't be super easy but shouldn't take me too much time.

I've picked the photos that I want to include, and I'm going to get started on captioning and prepping those. The photos are both easy and difficult. They're relatively easy to pick, but each one takes time to prepare from a normal photo to a captioned plate ready to insert into the book template.

I am not on track with my writing goal for the year, but I think for next year I'm going to do a publishing goal instead. I've been thinking for a while now about having normal print editions of my books along with the large print editions. But I've never gotten around to doing it because it would be a lot of work not only to redesign the interior layouts with the smaller font, but also to redo the covers for the existing large print editions so that they are clearly labeled large print on the cover.

And on that tack, I'll go ahead and make this book simultaneously in large print, normal print and ebook versions. It will be good practice for the other conversions. I think I'll still do the layout for the large print first, and then work out how I want to convert to normal print so I can reuse that system on the other conversions. I have one other hiking book in normal print right now, but I'll need to update the cover of the large print edition with whatever sticker mark I decide to use.

I feel like I'm running a bit late with this book; it won't likely be out in time for Christmas gifts. Well, my family is still getting those, they'll just be late Christmas gifts. On the other hand, I kind of do this every year. The work gets put off until it's cold and snowy outside pretty much every year. And this wouldn't be the first year that I was working long hours on the book over winter break when I have some time off of work.

Overall, I think it's a good one. I learned a lot on this hike, and I hope that I've been able to convey at least some small part of what I learned and experienced. I had some incredible highs on the trip and also some profound lows. I was initially disappointed with myself for not completing the planned 150 miles, but revisiting it has me convinced that it was not a failure, but an adventure.