We’ve been covering the questions I had to answer before deciding to do the book, The Cabins of Wilsonia.

Do I have the ability?

I’ve been drawing cabins since 1986, along with lots of other subjects. I’m positive that I have more than 10,000 hours of focused practice with the intention to continually improve.

Wilsonia benches

I’ve published another book on cabins, The Cabins of Mineral King (1998). That book was accomplished with a partner. Jane Coughran is a retired picture editor for Time-Life Books, and without her expertise, the Mineral King book would not have happened.

Times were different in the last century. Janey and I did the research by interviewing other local authors. We decided how to divide the info into chapters, where to have text, took the photos for drawing, borrowed the historical photos that we included, decided the views of each cabin, laid out the book, found all the people we hired*, chased down the ISBN and bar code, got into the Library of Congress Card Catalog, chose a printer, a binder and even a trucking company to deliver the books. We designed pre-order forms and sent them with invitations to a book signing, which we also planned. We hauled the books to shows, sold them, delivered to bookstores and other gift shops, stored them, and shipped them all over the country. We sold out.

This time, it’s just me. I either know how to do this stuff, or can find people to teach me, or know how to find people to do the parts that are beyond my ability.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

*a book designer, a graphic artist to make our map, a publicist