One Step Closer

I've finished the first round of proof-reading and re-laying out the layout and am ready to send it back. It's been a lot of work, more than I anticipated and on so many levels. I don't think I'm naive--I had the expectation that my book dummy would be honored more than it was--so the amount of disregard given was kind of surprising.

In the mail tomorrow, about three weeks to get to the Philippines (they're in Cebu even though, when asked, the representatives say they're in Philadelphia), a couple of weeks of review on their end, and then back to me. As long as it's in their hands, though, I can step back and focus on other things.

Other things such as coming up with designs to submit for consideration to be included in a book (a "real" book); write an article for the AKD newsletter on teaching the blind; and getting photographs of a baby wearing the item I want to submit to knitty. As well as having time to knit more socks.

Meanwhile, I've begun to add links on my sidebar here--blogs and sites that interest me. And even though it's old news and won't be updated (at least in the foreseeable future), I've included a link to Allie's site that she kept while she was in Mexico two years ago. It's interesting and funny; the video on the water heater still makes me laugh. And I'm still impressed at how brave she was, at 18, to go off to Mexico on her own.

Sunday Night

I used to enjoy watching 60 Minutes, but over the last couple of years, I've grown to despise every painful minute of the show. I don't quite know why, other than the fact that Andy Rooney has morphed from a humorously cynical guy into an old kvetch who whines during the time given to him on air. And also, perhaps, that the formula has become so stale (after 30+ years I guess it's hard to stay fresh). I wish the TV people would ask my opinion about what should be broadcast. I'm here, I'm ready to answer their questions. In the meantime, I escape from the living room on Sundays from 7-8, either to my knitting room or to the office computer. It also doesn't help that he who selects the show usually falls asleep in front of it.

Doing It All

This self-publishing seems to be a two-edged sword: yes, I'm in charge/control of the book, but at the same time, I'm the editor, the proof-reader, the designer, the whole ball of wax. It is a lot of work, and one that requires a lot of very clear communication between me and the publisher. It would be much more helpful if I were working with someone who had at least a little experience with a knitting book (or any other kind of work in which the relationship between text and photos is crucial).

I naively thought that by sending the publisher a complete mock-up of the book with clear (at least in my mind) instructions on photo size and placement I'd receive back a cleaned up version of what I sent in. But that's not what I got back.

Basically, over the last two weeks, I've not only proofed the book but have ended up with an altered layout. Because the type is spaced differently (I believe they used a larger font), the continuity of the written patterns and related photos is thrown off. I'm making up another mock-up that I'm hoping will give the graphic people a better idea of what is important.

I've been getting the galleys printed out at the UPS store. Scott, who manages the place, and I are becoming BFF. We both know that I'll be back for at least a third printing of the galleys.

Galley: Round One

So I got the first round of galleys this morning in pdf form, and there is certainly editing to do: both my own typos that I didn't catch before, their typos, and a whole lot of layout editing. Certain photos are way larger than what I asked for, there are type-face discrepancies that need to be addressed, and the background color of the pages definitely needs to be changed. I know it's a book of knitting patterns for baby items and I know babies poop, but did the layout people really have to pick a perfect baby poop green for the background?

At first glance, I was disappointed and upset by what I saw, but I quickly realized that these are the preliminary galleys. And the pdfs are low resolution so the photos do not look good at all (which I almost was in tears over until I realized what low.pdf must mean).

I'm going to print out the galleys and get to proof-reading and making layout changes. Fortunately, I'm under no deadline other than my own so I can take deep breaths, and breaks and take my time.

Actually, this is very exciting, and I'm sure it's going to work out well. Keep your fingers crossed for me, please.

I'm Waiting...

I'm waiting for the galleys of the book to be sent to me.
I'm waiting for the next issue of For the Love of Yarn to be on-line with my cape design.
I'm waiting for yarn to arrive so I can knit the sample sweater for the design that WEBS wants.
I'm waiting for my earlier design to appear in WEBS, print and/or online.

A New Year, A New Sweater

The first Mr. Greenjeans is finished and fits and looks pretty good. I am happy with it. I've been wearing it for forty-five minutes now and haven't pulled or tugged at it or tried to re-arrange how it fits. I think it bodes well.



And it looks good from the back. Coming and going. Well done.

The P.S. to this is that I went to a New Year's afternoon get-together wearing this sweater and got many compliments on it, especially from the twenty-something hipster crowd.