Book Just Got Real

I’ve been working on my book draft/mock up and managed to get most of it mapped out into a format that’s starting to take shape. I’ve been scrolling back and forth between the 200 or so pages on my computer screen for a few weeks now.

I decided it was time to print off a copy so I could hold it in my hands, see what the pages looked like beside each other and get a feel for sizing. I wanted to start to makes notes and edit it at another level.

When the 212 pages were printed and bound together the other day, I wept.

It finally felt like a book. It finally felt like a project that was going to come to fruition! I’ve been dreaming of this for a while and have been telling people about my progress over the last year as we tackled photo shoots, as the written work went through another round of edits…but this moment was such a huge milestone. Me, the one who loves paper books so much, the one that loves holding and touching books, magazines and reports in my hands instead of reading them on a screen….of course this was the moment.

I closed my eyes and hugged the package of pages, pressed them close to my heart, and told myself that this would happen, this was happening. This dream will come true.

The Book Beckons

It is very heady and exciting working on my book. Nearly 100 first draft essays have almost all been given a once-over again. Along with my enthusiastic and talented photographer Kathy, shown above, we’ve completed 10 photo shoots over the last year. Now it’s time to put it all together.

I’m working on a physical print mockup. I can see it completed in my head (most of my projects come to me as a photo in my mind of some kind of finished/complete thing…). I think it’s best now to create a mock up and start getting some advice on fine tuning – and make it more “real”.

I’ve said for many years: “There’s a book inside me”. Still it feels surreal that I am actually working on completing one….am I ??? I hope so! I do want to give birth to it, to see it complete. That is the first step. Where it goes from there? We’ll see. I battle with the two opposing voices in my head: the one that says: “Really? What do you have to say???” and the other: “Your ideas are fantastic!!!” As a lifelong writer said: we must put forth and write what is true to us. We are unique and wonderful as we are. Speak from the heart, speak your truth and share it fully, with an open heart.

I love the many facets of my creative life, and how I can appreciate the art and beauty we see around us daily – the sacred in the everyday. How nature’s designs are so exquisite, how we can create art with our food, our clothing, our gardens, our words, our voices…How we can share the sublime appreciation of all this with friends, family, partners….

Last week we were busy shooting all kinds of fill-in bits, and the power went out! It was pretty dark in the house, so we moved out to the front porch. The southern (albeit cloudy) sky was more than adequate to shoot my cousin Susan’s gorgeous floral painted silk scarf. Kathy has taught me so much about photographing in natural light – something she does almost exclusively. Things do look particularly beautiful (and natural!) in natural light.

Stay tuned as we head into the homestretch. I can’t wait to have more to report.