This is the back cover of "the book" that I've been working on ever since I started at my present job. My one boss is an attorney by profession and a historical writer by passion. He is a long time member of the state Historical Commission as well as the local genealogical /historical non-profit that just published this four-pound, 8-1/2 x 11, 414-page book . . . The text was edited and re-edited and re-edited and I typed every single word in it at least three times over the course of its development. (His former assistant covered the initial 2-1/2 years of its journey while the final 2-1/2 years of work have been mine.)
And here is the front of the book ~ this photo was taken at one of our local bookstores where the volume is now available for sale (at $75.00 per copy). Almost 400 have been sold through pre-publication sales (and yes, I handled all of those; along with the severalthousand piece mailing sent out to solicit the orders). On one particularly challenging day, I appointed myself Assistant Editor so that people who called would take me seriously instead of wanting to bypass his "secretary" in order to talk to the Editor himself. (Note: that appointment did not extend to the print version of the book.)
The many other members of the organization who contributed drafts of their family articles are pleased and happy with the results, even though it took much longer to get the book finished (well over 4 years) and published (3 months on a fast track approach) than anyone ever thought it would. Along the way, I learned a great deal about the deepest, most obsure, inner-workings of Microsoft Word (I knew far more than I let on at the beginning, but I still learned quite a bit) ~ and I have, as a consequence of all this, earned the dubious honor of being named "Word Queen" around the office.
Oh, and I also earned my 'Honorary Ph.D. in the Reading and Interpretation of Chinese Road Maps' ~ my boss edits heavily in pencil with lines drawn here there and everywhere (including the reverse side and stacks of yellow sticky notes), so we have jokingly called many of his drafts, you guessed it, 'harder to follow than a Chinese road map'. I even have a certificate with a section of a real Chinese road map (made it myself and hung it in his office). I love the look of the written Chinese language, but I haven't the faintest clue of how to read the characters . . .
Anyway ~ the research files are still underfoot (although I boxed the ones in my area this morning and stacked the boxes neatly in the corner of the editor's office :-)
Once again, this is a perfect example of why the beautiful colors, endless possibilities, and the wonderfully tactile nature of my fabrics are SO very important to me. One can only work with letters, commas, semi-colons, apostrophes, and formatting issues for so long. . .
Thanks for letting me share (vent)!
This is an example of the interior layout - in 10 point font with very narrow margins. Page after page after page of family histories, local history, some with family/area photographs (each with a 9 point caption and source citation) and others with just text. The publisher did a wonderful job of integrating all the various parts ~ and our combined experience from various newsletters, high school newspapers, and other volunteer projects came in very handy along the way.
And here is the front of the book ~ this photo was taken at one of our local bookstores where the volume is now available for sale (at $75.00 per copy). Almost 400 have been sold through pre-publication sales (and yes, I handled all of those; along with the severalthousand piece mailing sent out to solicit the orders). On one particularly challenging day, I appointed myself Assistant Editor so that people who called would take me seriously instead of wanting to bypass his "secretary" in order to talk to the Editor himself. (Note: that appointment did not extend to the print version of the book.)
The many other members of the organization who contributed drafts of their family articles are pleased and happy with the results, even though it took much longer to get the book finished (well over 4 years) and published (3 months on a fast track approach) than anyone ever thought it would. Along the way, I learned a great deal about the deepest, most obsure, inner-workings of Microsoft Word (I knew far more than I let on at the beginning, but I still learned quite a bit) ~ and I have, as a consequence of all this, earned the dubious honor of being named "Word Queen" around the office.
Oh, and I also earned my 'Honorary Ph.D. in the Reading and Interpretation of Chinese Road Maps' ~ my boss edits heavily in pencil with lines drawn here there and everywhere (including the reverse side and stacks of yellow sticky notes), so we have jokingly called many of his drafts, you guessed it, 'harder to follow than a Chinese road map'. I even have a certificate with a section of a real Chinese road map (made it myself and hung it in his office). I love the look of the written Chinese language, but I haven't the faintest clue of how to read the characters . . .
Anyway ~ the research files are still underfoot (although I boxed the ones in my area this morning and stacked the boxes neatly in the corner of the editor's office :-)
Once again, this is a perfect example of why the beautiful colors, endless possibilities, and the wonderfully tactile nature of my fabrics are SO very important to me. One can only work with letters, commas, semi-colons, apostrophes, and formatting issues for so long. . .
Thanks for letting me share (vent)!
Quiltdivajulie
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"Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle.” (Helen Keller)
5 comments:
wow, what a labor of love for him, a lot of work for you, and finally the reward, the book published. Is there a bit of let down or have you moved right on into the next project at work?
Of course the book was long! Those Southern gentlemen take their time telling a story properly, not leaving out any details, bless their hearts!
Just kidding. We raised our sons in the South, and they have no gift of gab a-tall! :)
What a job that was! But you must be very proud of it, now that it's finished (or just about).
I can certainly understand how your work with fabrics was a *must* while all of this was going on.
Wow! That's a whole lotta intensive work, oh yes... we all understand why you turn to needle and thread! Well done, Julie!
Such a huge job, but it looks great! I hope you were at least interested in the topic.
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