Category Archives: Progress Report

Accepted!

In Visalia, the county seat of Visalia, is an art group called, appropriately, the “Arts Consortium”. I recently became a member, because they are active in promoting the arts and seem to get results.

Upon joining, artist are allowed to make a page in their Artist Directory. The link to my page is here (will open in a new page).

The Arts Consortium is sponsoring a juried show to hang at the Visalia Convention Center for 2 months. “Juried” means that the artists submit a certain number of pieces, and a juror decides which pieces are in the show. The decision is usually based on the available space, the number of artists who submitted pieces, and perhaps a theme of the show.

When entering such a show, there are forms to be filled out, descriptions to be written, lists to be made, questions to answer, computer pages to be deciphered. It’s a hassle. If there is no fee and there are sales, it feels worth it to me. The group sponsoring a show ALWAYS takes a percentage of sales, but that’s fair.

I met all the requirements, entered the allowed 10 pieces, 5 of which were drawings of Wilsonia cabins.

Two paintings and one drawing were accepted.

Flagged Cabin #1

I’ve titled this piece for the show “Flagged Cabin #1″. It is matted and framed to 11×14″ and is priced at $250. I’ll keep you posted as to the details of the show when I actually know some.

Protecting people’s privacy was important to me as I compiled the book, so I will continue with that even in this blog. No names or addresses. Just a simple and beautiful cabin, drawn in pencil. Do you know which lane it is on in Wilsonia? 

A List Mostly Pertaining to The Cabins of Wilsonia Book

lodgepole

  1. There are many many boxes of The Cabins of Wilsonia in my workshop and house.
  2. Perhaps 1/5 of them now have cover stickers applied.
  3. The boxes weigh 31 pounds each.
  4. The boxes contain 11 books each.
  5. My husband and I each keep a sample book and a few to sell in our vehicles.
  6. The local paper in Three Rivers, The Kaweah Commonwealth wrote a nice (mostly) factual article about The Cabins of Wilsonia for last Friday’s paper.
  7. Many of the folks who received their copy have written or called or emailed me to express their happiness at the quality of the book.
  8. #7 makes me really happy!
  9. Eventually, when AT&T stops messing around and my internet is more reliable and the speed that I am paying for, THEN perhaps I’ll be able to figure out how to put the book on Amazon. Update: I put the book on Amazon but no matter what I try, it doesn’t come up on Amazon. I emailed for help and didn’t hear back; I think my email is also not working. 
  10. I started a new drawing just because I can.
  11. I’m painting an indoor mural in Visalia. You can read about it and follow the progress here. That’s my new website!

THE CABINS OF WILSONIA IS FINALLY HERE!

 

I called the trucking company to verify delivery of the books today. If there was going to be a problem, I wanted to just drive to Fresno and get as many as possible for the book signing tomorrow.

BOOK SIGNING – Tuesday, December 16, 12:30-5:30, Exeter Courthouse Gallery of the Arts, 125 So. B Street, Exeter

Becca from the Three Rivers Mercantile called me to say “THEY ARE HERE!”. I left the house within 30 seconds.

Three Rivers Mercantile

Tammie took me around back, and then we opened a box to verify that it is my book in the boxes and my boxes on the pallets. (Yes, I was worried about that.)

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5 pallets of books, 1529 books, 11 per box, 31 lbs. per box, 4472 lbs. in all.

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The trusty Bot-Mobile and trailer that we co-own with a friend in Fresno. (Hunh? How do you share a trailer when you live 80 miles apart?)

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The Mercantile’s forklift placed two pallets in the trailer. They fit just right. They remain in the trailer in our garage, out of the rain.

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I followed with a full load in the bed of the “new” truck (2003 – woo-hoo, a vehicle from this century!!)

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Careful on those curves. Michael said to follow him, and I said, “Why? So when books go flying I can run over them with the ‘new’ truck?” (I’ve always wondered about following a load – is it wise? Lots of unanswered questions in my life.)

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Phew. Made it home. Parked the Bot-Mobile and trailer, unloaded the “new” truck, went back to fill it up with the 5th and final pallet.

Then we began hefting boxes around, finding places to store them. After 3 pallets worth were unloaded, our friends Jeannie and Gary came over to help apply stickers to enough books to take to the book signing tomorrow.

The Cabins of Wilsonia is a real book, not just a subject of a blog, not just an idea or a dream. It is HERE!!

I Saw Two Books and They Look Great

 

On Friday, FedEx brought me a book with 2 sample books, The Cabins of Wilsonia, in it. Each had a slightly smashed corner. (I know how NOT to package the books when they get mailed to you.)

I applied the decal to the cover of each and it looks really good! Nope, you don’t get to know yet.

Next, my husband carefully measured a book while I called a packaging supply company. We found 2 potential boxes, and they are shipping a sample of each so I can try them today.

No worries – I’ve done business with this company for about 25 years. They are NOTHING like the printer and binder – they say it and they do it when they say they will.

On Wednesday I will show you the cover of the book. I am waiting until the person whose cabin is on the cover sees it first.

THE CABINS OF WILSONIA BOOK SIGNING

 

The books, The Cabins of Wilsonia, are supposed to arrive today. This may mean they arrive at some truck depot in Fresno where they sit over the weekend or it may mean a big rig comes to the hardware store in Three Rivers. (Bless Mike McCoy and the Three Rivers Mercantile for making their turn-around space and fork lift available to me!)

No matter when they arrive in Three Rivers, I will be bringing them (not all 1529, but a reasonable transportable amount) to Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery on Tuesday, December 16.

Here. Let’s make this easy:

The Cabins of Wilsonia

BOOK SIGNING

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 12:30 – 5:30

125 SOUTH B STREET, EXETER, CALIFORNIA

IF YOU PRE-ORDERED:

  1.  If the books come on today, I will begin shipping to those who live far away on Monday. LET ME KNOW IF YOU PLAN TO PICK THE BOOK UP IN PERSON SO I DON’T MAIL IT FIRST!!
  2. If the books come on Monday, I’ll try to ship on Tuesday a.m. before the book signing.
  3. If you paid for shipping and would rather not wait, come to the book signing and bring your receipt. I will refund your $5 mailing.
  4. If you didn’t pay for shipping, bring your receipt and retrieve your copy.
  5. If you live far away or can’t come on Tuesday, I will be there again the following Tuesday, same time.

 DETAILS FOR THOSE WHO DIDN’T PRE-ORDER:

  1. The price is $81, which includes tax BUT NOT SHIPPING.
  2. If you want a book shipped to someone, the price is $86. (Yes, I know it is a weird amount – I often specialize in weird.)
  3. If you want to order the book, you may do so using Paypal (the send money option) or through the mail (I accept checks) to P.O. Box 311, Three Rivers, CA 93271

I do NOT accept credit cards – bring cash or checks if you plan to buy a book. 

(This is because I don’t have a smart phone or a Square, because I don’t get cell phone service where I live – unbelievable, I know. Yes, I have AT&T. No, it doesn’t work at my address. Yes, I am sort of glad about that.)

The Cabins of Wilsonia In Transit!

 

Today I got a tracking # from the book printer. Conway Freight shows that there are 1529 books, The Cabins of Wilsonia, on 5 pallets, last in Cincinnatti, Ohio.

The estimated delivery date is December 12, which is Friday. It is supposed to rain on Friday. We need rain.

They will come to the Three Rivers Mercantile. Don’t you just love small towns? That is the best store, with the greatest owner and employees!

We had visions of taking the “new” pickup with the trailer and the Botmobile to retrieve the books. Not if it is raining! We need the rain. (I said that already.)

When they arrive, I will order shipping boxes, apply the decals to the covers, sign each book, wait for the shipping boxes to arrive, fidget, check the UPS tracking #s, learn how to print postage from my computer or visit the local Post Office to learn how to best facilitate sending all those books at the busiest time of year, the time I was hoping to avoid by ordering the books in July.

Never mind. They are coming. Rain is coming too. We need the rain. (In case you were wondering. . .)

New News

The Cabins of Wilsonia didn’t ship on Friday.

Now the binder says it will ship today, Monday, December 8, 2014.

Do you believe them?

It is a little hard to not be cynical. Time to go outside, sit in the sunshine, and knit a little to take the edge off all this, ahem, umm, stuff.

 

 

NEWS??

 

pencil drawing

Today I went digging around in my old emails and paperwork from the printer. I found what I think is the name of the binder. After Googling it and finding a phone #, I called the place. OF COURSE there was an automatic phone answering system, which listed names that meant nothing to me. The last choice was “zero”, so I pressed that and got some dude’s voicemail.

I left a message with my name and number, asking him if I had a book in his bindery and asking him to call me back.

Silence.

Suddenly, I had an email from the so called “customer service” representative. It said this:

The binder just called and said they plan to ship books on Friday.  I’ll let you know when I have confirmation.

Coincidence? Probably not.

A sure thing? More will be revealed. . .

The Cabins of Wilsonia may arrive before Christmas.

Words From the Book Printer

 

Feeling antsy, anxious, and many other sorts of nervous and negative emotions, I emailed the printer’s “customer service” representative to inquire about the upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia.

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Multiple rows of knitting later (I don’t smoke or bite my nails), I received this response:

I apologize for the delayed response.

 I contacted our Purchasing dept for shipment details.  It turns out that your books have not shipped yet.  All we know at this time is that due to mechanical problems with their binding line they were unable to bind and case bound books for 4 days.  It sounds like they are up and running again and are prioritizing the backlog of work.  Our Purchasing guy is doing what he can to get firm details on when your books will be able to ship.

I know this is very distressing news.  I’ve made it very clear to everyone on how important it is to get books shipped. We are doing everything we can to work with the binder to get them shipped as soon as possible.

Don’t you feel reassured? I think she meant to say “any case bound” rather than “and case bound”. I bet she is a bit anxious and nervous every time my name pops up in her in-box.

Excuse me. I need to return to my knitting.