This will be the first “chapter” in the book. Feels funny to refer to them as “chapters” because it is a picture book more than a word book. (Remember graduating to “chapter books” as a new reader?? It was a big deal!)

This pencil drawing was the header on the blog for awhile. Have you noticed that the blog is on its third header? This one shows the back side of a cabin on Alta Lane.

Here are my thoughts on Alta so far, just as random as you please:

1. I live on Alta Acres Drive in Three Rivers and can see Alta Peak from my house. Seems sort of far-ish from Alta Lane in Wilsonia.

2. It is Alta Lane, not Alta Street! That’s good – “Lane” sounds more rural than Street, and Wilsonia is definitely rural rather than urban or suburban.

3. What if the 2 pictures I chopped with my paper cutter need to be rescanned? I’ll have to redraw them!

4. There is another cabin on Alta I’d love to include but I don’t know where to put it. If I add a page to Alta, every page after Alta will have to be rearranged, and that is the bulk of the book. Hmmm, maybe put it on the Acknowledgements page or on the back of the dust jacket. Will there be a dust jacket?

Building a book takes so much thinking, deciding, planning and adjusting. . . I sort of remember this from The Cabins of Mineral King, but that was a partnership so the load was shared. On the other hand, getting to make all the decisions myself isn’t all bad!