Obsessed with the book

I go to bed thinking about the book and wake up thinking about the book. There are periods during the day when I tear myself away to work on other needed projects or to have a few hours of downtime to watch TV in the evening. But, for the most part, focus is totally on the writing and the pictures.

 

Most of yesterday was spent on listing the photos recently edited, printing them on a sheet of regular paper for reference, and the working on the writing of days three and four. I was pleased with the amount of work accomplished, but at the end of the day, I had a meltdown.

 

I live alone, therefore travel alone, edit pictures alone, and write alone. These are my choices… for the majority of the time. However, there are times when I get so caught up with decisions that I crash; times when I just can’t decide. These are times when I miss my mother very much. Yes, she was very opinionated, and if I did something she didn’t like, she did not hid her displeasure and her negative criticism could be quite crushing.

 

But she was here. She was always here, and even if I didn’t take her advice, she was someone I could say to: “Do you like this one or is that one better?” AND, she would have been so proud of these books. “My Life Isn’t Flowers” in 2010 was probably the proudest she ever was of me. That I could do a book and have it come out so beautifully… that HER daughter could do this…

She would have been proud, too, of “Too Cold for Alligators.”

 

Now I am working on the next book and because I want it to be even better than “Too Cold for Alligators,” the pressure is greater. I took so many photographs because I not only want to tell the story of my travels, I want to show you. I want you to see how the highways would go on and on, how the scenery could be blah of color because of the season, or the beautiful farms and country sides.

 

But I realize, too, that all the pictures cannot fit in the book. One to three may make each chapter and I will also do a picture book, but even still, I can’t use all the pictures. Some will be left behind to never be seen. How do I decide which to use and the ones that will not be shared?