Book Decisions

I’ve spent time the last few days (in between newspaper editing and article writing) working on the new book. The goal is to provide more description. I’ve managed to get through Day 1. Photos were edited which also help me to remember details I hadn’t written in the travel blog or journal. 

Yesterday, I perused Google Maps and the atlas tracing the route, and came up with a couple of surprising revelations. A quick glance at maps does not always translate well to the subsequent actual traveling. There were a couple of times when my sense of direction was totally off, even with the compass in the car. Yesterday’s scrutiny of the New York Thruway interchanges contradicted what my feelings were as the interstate was accessed. My mind kept saying, “This is not what I felt while actually driving!” I studied the maps. How did I not understand this before? 

After I finished writing Day 1, I copy and pasted it to a new sheet to see how adding photos would look. I realized that too many pictures detract from the text, so I definitely want to do a picture book of the journey. That book will contain more of the along the road shots while the travel book will have the better, more artistic pictures. 

I want to work on both books at the same time. I didn’t do that for the 2013 trip and subsequently never got around to doing anything with all the pictures that didn’t make it into the travel writing book. What a waste of some beautiful photographs. I’m not going to let that happen again. 

“Not Too Cold for Alligators” is being written at the moment in MS Word. The printing/publishing decision will be made when I’m further along with the book. As for the picture book, I’ve looked at templates and pricing with createspace.com, Blurb’s Booksmart, and Shutterfly. These books are expensive. They sound good for a copy or two, but to sell these books... there’s no room to make any money. (And I’ve learned from past experience that it is even impossible to break even!) It’s a lot to think about.

I’m almost wondering if an ebook is the best bet for a picture book. Oh, I would still want a printed version for myself and I have some feelers out to a couple of local publishing places and I’m waiting to hear back.  

My focus is on writing, but in the back of my mind, the call to draw is getting stronger. Ideas vie within my mind. I tell myself I’ll only work on the book a couple hours, but the next thing I know, most of the day has gone by. Once the light begins fading, drawing in the studio is not an option. My poor mind feels like it goes through the wringer.