The Beat Goes On

I had another meeting with Kris this past Friday. We worked on another edit. I managed to send the wrong revise (which was no revise) to Kris the last time. She thought I didn’t want to make any changes. Actually, I think she gave me the benefit of the doubt. I have no idea how or what I sent her. I did make the changes. She had Ryan, the musician, look over the manuscript and look at the cadence. There were still a couple of areas that needed tweeking. ugh. I don’t mind but sometimes you don’t hear it the same and I march to my own beat. We worked it out.  I enjoyed this session as much as the last. This is fun to me. I LOVE it. Still feeling impatient about the illustrator. Today, Marian and Kris wanted me to look at a number of illustrators and decide what style and look or feel I would like for my book. I may have said that I can draw and part of me wants to but when I sit down to do it, it’s like laundry.  Too tedious and mundane. I love to draw but I don’t like to force it. I draw when inspiration hits. I am looking forward to seeing my book come alive by the hand of another artist. That is exciting. I have found a number of illustrators I love. I sent (too many) to Kris. She may kill me. I always say, “It can’t hurt to try.” Only one can illustrate my book and I don’t know which one it is, so send them all. It may be none of them though. They just want an idea. They have a pool of illustrators they can draw from (no pun intended).  Seems I am drawn (again, no pun) to computer generated art for this particular project. You have a feel for the story and what it should look like. Other stories I have written have a different feel and I’ve seen other artists for those. 

Kris and I meet again on Friday. Can’t wait. We will lay out the pages of the book next. The excitement builds.

“Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity.”

Bo Bennett quotes

The Dreaded Red Pen

Well, I had my first editing session and, well, I LOVED IT. I love Kris, my project manager/editor. She is smart and creative.  We laughed and tapped and made a mess of my manuscript. She actually used a soft pink pen and the markings were minimal. They were actually the parts of the story/poem that I kept stumbling over and I was hoping she was just going to fix it and say, “There.” Instead, we sat there tapping away (literally) making sure the story had cadence. Hmm. That is a tough one. We all have our own cadence when we read but we have to find the middle ground to avoid stumbling on the words. Myself, Paul (not musically inclined- though likes to sing.”Likes” being the key word) and his Dad (who writes music) felt the cadence worked. But I understood what Kris was getting at. So the pink pen became a blue pen and the paper was ridiculously scrawled on. It looked like a football playbook gone wrong. We managed to make our corrections though I don’t have think I have the correct tap cadence and we mapped out the pages. It will be a 32 page book in landscape. Unfortunately, due to costs, construction and flow of the pages, I won’t be able to publish the book with an actual flip. I thought flipping the book over gave it an extra bit of creativeness but they said it would cost a lot to do it and it might take away from the story trying to figure out how to read the book. I still think it is a neat idea and makes the book and story even more creative. 

So I was fired up after the meeting. My creative juices were flowing. I am anxious for the illustrator part to come into play. I want to see my book come alive. Patience. 

I have made the corrections and sent them back to Kris. She will look them over as well as send them to Ryan, a musician, to double check the cadence. We will make whatever corrections are left and then start laying out the text the way we want it in the book (I think). I am going to try to document and take photos of all of the steps in the process of publishing my book for vanity sake as well as for anyone who finds it interesting. I would have if someone I knew had done it. 

“Most of the people who will walk after me will be children, so make the beat keep time with short steps.”

 Hans Christian Andersen quotes