The other 3 problems were things that I had not [...]]]> I got an email very late last night from the printing company that’s printing my book, querying four pages where they had found problems. One of the problems I had checked for already, so I’m not sure how it slipped through, but obviously it did!

The other 3 problems were things that I had not noticed and am very pleased that they picked up.

I love having such thorough printers. While I don’t want to have to rely on them to pick up problems like these, I am glad that I can!

The pages have been corrected and are currently resending.

I have no idea about video – my brain designs better in two dimensions – even though I did some really basic stuff at uni when I did my design degree. At the [...]]]> I spent a bit of time on Friday and Saturday working on a video preview of “Portuguese Whitework”. It’s been quite fun.

I have no idea about video – my brain designs better in two dimensions – even though I did some really basic stuff at uni when I did my design degree. At the time I decided video wasn’t really for me. However, I am enjoying the challenge of making the video!

My husband and I chose some music for it the other night. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed about the music, because looking for some royalty-free music to use was also something I had never done before. We found some websites where these sorts of things are available, and searched through the ones with “Portugal” or “Portuguese” amongst their keywords. Found some lovely classical guitar type pieces, and eventually whittled it down to the one that works best with my video. I’ll probably purchase the music today.

I also need to speak with my shipping agent today to work out when the books are likely to get here, so that I can set a release date. The printer has given me a shipping date, but I just need my shipping agent to give me an idea of how long it might take to get to Sydney, through the dock system and customs.

Its all happening here!

Just quietly, it doesn’t feel as marvellous as I might have expected, to have it finished, possibly because [...]]]> Yesterday afternoon my daughter and I drove to the Post Office (yes, drove! – that’s a new one for me!) and I posted off the printouts and files of “Portuguese Whitework” to my printers in Hong Kong.

Just quietly, it doesn’t feel as marvellous as I might have expected, to have it finished, possibly because I wasn’t feeling all that stressed about it beforehand. I was just working solidly to get it done.

However, I am sure that over the next few days and weeks I will really feel the difference of not having to rush off to my computer for every spare second to get more work done. I am looking forward to being a little more detached from the computer!

However, now I can get stuck into updating the website and putting it there so that people can pre-order it. But the thing I am really looking forward to, is making a video preview of the book. I’ve never done anything like that before, so I am looking forward to the challenge.

I’ll also have to decide which of my other book ideas is the best one to focus on next. Its a bit hard to decide! But the decision can just percolate for a bit yet. I’m happy to have a little break!

Thank you to you all for your encouragement, and for those who have let me know how much they’ve enjoyed hearing about the process of writing and publishing a book. There’s still more stages of the printing process to go through, so I’ll probably be able to tell you about them also.

At the beginning of the day I was thinking to myself “Oh, I’ll let that one go. It’ll be ok” but then I thought to myself “No! This is my chance to [...]]]> I spent about 10 hours yesterday reading through the printouts of the book again. And finding lots more little things to fix…

At the beginning of the day I was thinking to myself “Oh, I’ll let that one go. It’ll be ok” but then I thought to myself “No! This is my chance to get it right! I am going to fix those things.” So fix them, I did.

I now have another set of printouts that I will read through today. Hopefully it won’t take me 10 hours again! So hopefully it will be posted today?

I woke this morning from a bit of a nightmare. I dreamt that I had travelled about 8 hours into the country for a class. I turned up for the class and in the few seconds before it was due to start, I realised that *I* was meant to be teaching it! As it was a Mountmellick class, I was supposed to have brought kits with me, and prepared a workshop. It was rather awkward as I stood there explaining to the class that because I had been so caught up in finishing off the book I forgotten to do it. Thankfully they were all very nice about it and because we were in a fabric shop, we made do with the supplies there and had a slightly chaotic class instead. I’m so glad it was only a dream!

Can you tell this book is just slightly weighing on me?!

Hopefully I will find very little this [...]]]> I am hoping to send off my files for Portuguese Whitework to the printer today. That will depend on how I go with reading through and checking the entire book. I’ve made all the changes that my husband found the other day and had it printed out again.

Hopefully I will find very little this time through.

I’m SOOOOOOOO close…!

On Saturday I finally finished what I call my “first draft”. For anyone else writing a book, this would mean that the author had finished getting all the words out of their head and onto [...]]]> I nearly forgot to write my blog post this morning – I just got straight onto working on the book!

On Saturday I finally finished what I call my “first draft”. For anyone else writing a book, this would mean that the author had finished getting all the words out of their head and onto paper. It is relatively early in the book writing process. That’s not what *I* mean though.

Most authors write in a word processing program, and then the designer takes their words and puts them into the page layout. Because I am both the author and the designer, I write directly onto my page layout, in the design program that I use (QuarkXpress).

This means that my “first draft” includes all the words, photos, and diagrams (or at least an indication of what photos or diagrams are going to go where). If you’re familiar with my books, you’ll know that due to the step by step nature of the instructions, the text is completely intertwined with the pictures. Often, to make it fit, I need to massage the words and layout of pictures a lot to edit them into shape and make it work. So for me, a completed “first draft” means there is something on EVERY page, but it will already have undergone a significant editing process to get to that stage.

I took a long time to complete my first draft because there were some pages that were completely empty until Saturday. As soon as they were done, it felt a little more finished.

I went to my local office supplies place and got them to print it all out for me (much quicker than troubling my poor little laser printer with it!). I finally held some semblance of this book in my hands for the first time. Wow!

It has now been handed over to my proofreader for checking. My husband is my proofreader. He is very meticulous, likes words, yet knows very little about embroidery, so he comes to the work with a fresh, non-understanding brain. If he can understand the instructions, a stitcher should certainly be able to! If he can’t, then I need to make it so that he can.

Thankfully, he hasn’t found huge amounts that need significant work. Mostly it is just small changes. But it is a really important step, as he sees things that I don’t see, because I am over-familiar with it.

When he’s written all over it, I get the pages back again and work through the things he wants me to change. I get to decide what changes and what doesn’t. However, if he thinks something needs fixing, it probably does!

So that’s what I’m working on today. I will hopefully also find the time to go and get my pattern pages and the cover printed out, so that they can also be checked.

Once they’re done, the first draft will be complete. [...]]]> I’ve been working hard filling pages of the book. Currently there are only two pages that are yet to have anything put on them. One is a chapter opener that I need to take a photo for, and one is a fairly simple step-by-step instruction page.

Once they’re done, the first draft will be complete. I have already moved on to editing some of the other pages. It is lovely to be at the stage where I am checking all the project instructions, doing really fiddly typographical things (yes, I enjoy this! I am a book designer at heart, seeing that is what I trained as!) and just generally editing the pages.

I had a fun time the other day putting the photos of the historical examples in place. Wow, they look fantastic! It makes a wonderful start to the book, really helping you to get a feel for the historical background of this style of embroidery.

In the slightly paraphrased words of a “They Might be Giants” song, “and now we’re even closer, and now we’re even closer. And now we’re closer still…”

I have been very fortunate throughout the process of putting [...]]]> This morning I have received the files for some historical photos I’ve requested to use in Portuguese Whitework. They’re downloading at the moment, as I write. Its a little bit exciting as these are going to add a wonderful sense of history to the book!

I have been very fortunate throughout the process of putting this book together. All the people I have dealt with in Portugal have been so wonderfully generous with knowledge, time and even things like photos and fabric. I have been thrilled by their kindness and willingness to help me.

I’m really looking forward to putting the photos in place on the pages.

This morning a reader asked if she will be able to pre-order Portuguese Whitework. Yes, you will be able to, but not yet. Once the book is off to the printers and that process is underway, they’ll give me a shipping date, which will help me to figure out when it will get here (give or take some weeks, depending on shipping!). And after it is off to the printers, I will have time to get the necessary information up on my website.

I also hope to put together a youtube video type preview of the book. I’ve seen a few video previews of books now, and think they’re a wonderful idea. I’m really looking forward to the fun and the challenge of making that!

In the meantime though, I have a book to finish, and the historical photos (still downloading as I write!) to enjoy!

Added later: Oh WOW! The photographer has been even more generous than I had hoped, and sent me a number of photos of each of the items I requested, showing different details. I had only asked for one of each item! Manuel Correia of www.mcfotografia.com, you are wonderful! Thank you so much!

'Portuguese Whitework: Bullion Embroidery from Guimarães' by Yvette Stanton, due for release in early 2012.