Monthly Archives: July 2014

The Next Challenge

The cover design has given me fits.

It took awhile to decide on the picture for the front of the book. Nope, not telling!

Then, I had to design the cover in my head. That wasn’t too hard – title, drawing, my name.

Then, this is where it gets hairy. Adobe InDesign is not an easy thing to use, and the world of covers is not a place where I have a map.

The printing company sent a diagram for the cover design with confusing dimensions and terms like “cloth size” and “board size” and all sorts of fractions that didn’t translate into clean decimals.

Then I saw that it was for a vertical book. Oops. My book is horizontal.

I requested and received a new diagram, which was just lines and measurements. Still no clarification on “cloth size” versus “board size”, and don’t even get me started on the whole issue of the spine dimensions!

It took the better part of an afternoon with InDesign, Googling for instructions, sending out an SOS to Carol in Seattle who was on a ferry returning from the San Juan Islands, which is where I want to live when I grow up, more googling, experimenting, and gritting my teeth with the effort of not screaming or slamming the laptop shut and picking up some nice soothing knitting.

I thought I got it. I sent it off. Then, the design department at the printing company sent me an email with a real template to use with InDesign so I redid it.

The person in the design department is named Jana. Why does that matter? Because I may be temporarily insane from the frustration of InDesign, which means everything takes on a new significance.

Perhaps it is time for a break. How about a nice cuppa?

So worked up here I forgot to mention the title of the book, The Cabins of Wilsonia, in case Google is listening.

Did I Make a Mistake?

While in Wilsonia, a cabin owner asked me if I could fix or change things on the original cabin drawings. I said a very confident and certain, “It depends”.

It depends on what it is, where it happens in the drawing, and if the drawing has been spray fixed so that it won’t erase or smear.

She told me I made a mistake on her cabin.

Really? I work from photos, so I think she meant that I didn’t portray her cabin as she sees it. I drew it as it appeared in the photos, and other than making me look fatter and more wrinkled than I already am, we know that cameras don’t lie.

See the white thing? It is an out-of-place shutter. It isn’t covering a window, because you can’t see a window from this angle. It is just there. It was in the photo and it is in the drawing. Did I make a mistake??

You can see a bit of a window on that back section of cabin in this photo without any visible shutters. It doesn’t show in the angle I drew for The Cabins of Wilsonia, an upcoming book of drawings of Wilsonia Cabins. (Thank you, Captain Obvious.)

I can draw out that white shutter and I will!

IT’S BEEN SENT!

What has been sent? The Cabins of Wilsonia has been sent to the printer! A big fat check has been sent too. (They don’t work for free, unlike some artist I could name here. . .)

The cover is designed in my head, but no matter how skilled the printing company is, it cannot see into my head. Dexter, Michigan is kind of far from Three Rivers, California, not that physical presence would make my head more transparent.

So, cover design is next. If it ain’t one thing, it’s anuthuh.

I also need to design a post card to mail out so that everyone has a chance to buy the book at the pre-sale price. That way I will be able to pay the ransom to get the books, The Cabins of Wilsonia shipped to me.

Mid to late September, expect your copy of The Cabins of Wilsonia, if you pre-ordered one.

~~If not, you may order one here and now:~~

Special pre-order price has expired.

A Visit to Wilsonia

The Fourth of July is a busy busy time in Wilsonia. When my husband (AKA Trail Guy) and I arrived, our host had posted a schedule of events in our cabin.

We headed over to Grant Grove for the annual parade. It is a parade with few entries, but all are patriotic and enthusiastic.

This is possibly the most impressive horse I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Ever.

Motorized vehicles were more common than horses. They hold more waving people than a horse does.

Then, I went to work and pre-sold some books, The Cabins of Wilsonia. Please excuse me for being redundant here – Google likes to see what a blog is about within the blog because it helps them find whatever people are seeking, and I hope people find this blog if they are seeking the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia. (STOP IT!)

Trail Guy and I took a walk around Grant Grove Village. He found his favorite flower, a leopard lily (AKA Tiger Lily). If you want to know more about Trail Guy and wildflowers, the info is in my other blog. It will open in a new tab so you don’t lose this window of The Cabins of Wilsonia. (STOP IT!!)

I photographed a cabin to draw again. 268 drawings – you’d think there’d be nothing left to draw of the cabins of Wilsonia (not the title of the book here – will Google notice?) However, you’d be mistaken. This will be a commissioned drawing – photos have been ordered, and I’ll provide sketches too so that this very gracious cabin owner is thrilled with her original pencil drawing of her cabin of Wilsonia (I SAID STOP IT!)

It wasn’t all work. We joined our dear friends from Wilsonia on a walk. It wasn’t really a hike because we took no water, snacks or daypacks. Trail Guy is explaining things about the area. He knows a lot and is great to have on the trail.

The Manzanita/Azalea Trail has a great view. The cabins of Wilsonia are down there in those trees. (Would you please just STOP IT?)

Okay, I’ll stop it now. 😎

Want to Pre-Order The Cabins of Wilsonia?

Until September 15, 2014, the total price of the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia will be $70, including tax and shipping.

On September 16, 2014, the price will become $86, including tax and shipping.

If I were you, I’d order before September 15, 2014, because $16 is Sixteen Dollars, which I consider measurable money.

But, it’s up to you.

There are two ways to order:

~~1. Use this button and pay with Paypal.~~

The offer ended 9/15/14.

2. Mail a check made out for $86 to CABINART to my P.O. Box in Three Rivers, which I will send you if you email me using the Contact Button/Tab/Word/Menu Item/Whatever it is called above. That is if my email is fixed. I waited 80 minutes for AT&T to answer and finally decided their phone system is broken. Okay, never mind about using the Contact Button – P.O. Box 311, zip is 93271.

I wrote it all in that convoluted manner because there is something wrong with my email and now I am paranoid. So, real people with working brains can get my address out of that paragraph above, but whatever is causing my email to break won’t be able to.

Does it feel as if we are having a conversation using a shoe instead of a phone??

Life was simpler before the internet came along. Cabin life wasn’t that much different from real life. Cabin life is a simpler life, and that’s part of the story portrayed in The Cabins of Wilsonia.

Waiting

Did you think from that title that I am waiting for the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia to be printed?

I’m waiting for my email to get fixed so I can send it. I’m waiting for the sales rep from the printer to call me back so I can cement a few details. I’m waiting for someone at AT&T to actually answer my call. “All customer representatives are busy taking other calls. Please hold, and your call will be answered in the order it was received.” Been hearing this over some very irritating cheesey music for 29 minutes now.

Waiting.

Maybe I should proofread the file once more.

Waiting.

AT&T has cost me so much time and money in the past 3 weeks. Hours on the phone with Paypal, hours on the phone with AT&T, hours on the phone with Apple, hours on the phone with AT&T again.

Waiting.

When I began this project, I didn’t picture this sort of scene at the end of the project. Maybe I should go make a batch of yogurt or knit a bit on a sweater.

Waiting for someone to pick up the phone for 31 minutes now. I really really need my email to work.

Waiting.

Last week I spent hours deleting over 60,000 old emails. They used to be on the AT&T email site, but AT&T made “improvements”, which they didn’t bother to tell their customers about. Email quit working, and after a couple of hours on the phone with some very nice person with a very useless script in India, I was told I could pay for more “help”.

Never mind. I called Apple. I’d rather pay them than pay AT&T. That was about 3 phone calls, each one well over an hour. It took 4 days for all the emails to actually load so I could then spend days deleting them.

Thanks, AT&T.

Waiting 36 minutes now.

I sure hope the email at the printing company isn’t AT&T.

Waiting.

P.S. Update on Waiting: I held on AT&T for 80 minutes before finally giving up. Mechanical Man Voice kept reassuring me that my call would be answered in the order it was received. I think he is a liar. I called back and got someone, and it took 99 minutes of messing around before she admitted that I needed to call Apple again. Apple took about 45 minutes the next day, and I wasn’t on hold at all because I emailed my new best friend there who called me within minutes. He fixed another problem that AT&T caused. I love Apple. Bet you can guess how I feel about AT&T.

No More Proofreading!

“No More Proofreading!” is the same sort of command as “No more caffeine for you, Young Man!”

My husband Michael, AKA Trail Guy, has developed quite a fine eye for design and for typos. It may be his innate perfectionism, but I believe that almost 29 years of living with a Typo Psycho has had its influence on him.

He read through the whole book The Cabins of Wilsonia and found a messed up sentence, an ever so slightly sloped drawing and 4 chapter headings that needed tighter spacing.

There couldn’t possibly be anything else to correct!

So, once again, I converted the entire InDesign file to a PDF and am now awaiting a return phone call from the printer, Thomson-Shore in Dexter, Michigan to verify my paper choices.

Then, I’ll send the book off and there will be NO MORE PROOFREADING!

The Cabins of Wilsonia will be printed as is.

I mean it!

Just a LIttle Bit More

I spent a weekend in Wilsonia, pre-selling the book, selling the original drawings, showing the place to my husband, getting reacquainted with cabin folks, and explaining the project and answering questions. (Usually I’m the one asking the questions, so this was a fun switcharoo.)

Chuck and Penny were the successful bidders on this original pencil drawing (with color in the foxgloves) at the annual Wilsonia silent auction.

One of the main questions was, “When will the book be ready?”

It will be ready mid to late September. The printer/binder has said to expect it to take 6 weeks, so I figure it will be 8.

Meanwhile, I wanted to proof yet again.

This is what I found to fix:

1. A fern needed to be moved. Really! It is important to have your ferns properly placed.

2. There were 2 places with an extra space between words.

3. Two sentences got readjusted to look more balanced.

4. I added the word “Inc.” to the printer’s name on the copyright page.

Honestly, I want this book to be PERFECT. It might not be possible, but I will give it my best shot. Next, my husband will proof it for me. After 29 years of marriage, he has caught the Typo-Psycho disease from me.

Meanwhile, the pre-sale price of $70, including sales tax and shipping is good through the months of July and August. If you click the button below, it will take you to Paypal where you can choose your quantity. If you don’t use Paypal, you can click on the Contact button above and I’ll send you my mailing address so you can buy your book with a check.

Pre-order Your Book

The Cabins of Wilsonia book is now available for a special time-limited pre-publication price.

I sold them in Wilsonia over the 4th of July weekend, and now you can order yours here.

The easiest way I know to do this is to use a Paypal Add to Cart button. It will let you choose your quantity on the Paypal page. If you don’t use Paypal, you may use the contact tab at the top of this page and send me an email. I’ll reply to let you know where you can mail a check and how much it will be. Checks still work.

After the books arrive, I will ship them to you.

If you buy the book now, it will come to $70 with tax and shipping. If you wait, it will be $86 including tax and shipping. When? More will be revealed in the fullness of time.

Are you ready? I sure am!