So this post is a work in progress update of my thoughts and resources I used to write a book. This is my first book and I am sure I did things wrong, things got messy, but I hope by sharing my process some other ‘want to be authors’ will take the leap. I am going to update this post as I go along.
7/8/2018
I have been writing down ideas for a book for the past two years. I decided I have to get this done and get my thoughts and ideas organized. I have been using google docs to be able to access the ideas from any device I am on. I have so many other ideas and interests but I am determined to focus and finish this book. My tendency to have a million projects plus a fulltime job and a full load of freelancing on the side has been a real hinderance. I also suffer from severe migraines that last for three+ weeks at a time and during that time my grand ambitions of getting things done doesn’t happen. Honestly I can barely take care of myself during these times. I ended up in the ER today because of the migraine pain but I am determined to get this book done.
And I know this may sound silly but I keep seeing words of encouragement that feel targeted to me. They are not perfect. (The lack of perfection is a huge worry I have with this book.) but I know I need to get this book out there I just feel it in my gut even if only one person reads it. It needs to exist. And it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to exist.
Just some of the posts I have recently seen online championing the power your truth can have for others. These images were found online posted by @ianbernard, @beingbossclub, @lisacongdon, and the two images are from unknown artists.
This Ellen Page quote has been my montra for completing this book:
In all honesty doing my own quote art is a bit scary as a designer because there is an entire subset of designers who specialize in this type of hand lettering design work. I am not one of them but I am doing it anyways.
7/9/18
I sent off my first twenty pages to an editor along with half the stipend we agreed on for her services. It isn’t as many pages as I thought I would have ready by now. But I sent off something.
7/12/18
Here are a bunch of resources I have been using while working on this book. I have found inspiration from all over the place and you might find these helpful too if you plan to write a book.
THE CREATIVE PENN PODCAST
I have found this podcast to be a wealth of information and it has hundreds of episodes and answers absolutely any question you could ever have about being an author.
HOW TO WRITE NONFICTION: TURN YOUR KNOWLEDGE INTO WORDS
This book is written by Joanna Penn, the very same woman behind the Creative Penn Podcast. I found it to be the right balance of need to know information and nitty gritty stuff. It goes from writing the book all the way to marketing ideas.
BOOK BABY
This site has a weird/memorable name but it has great resources! I highly recommend jumping onto their mailing list. They are very insightful and they have great free resources.
BOOK PUBLISHING CHAPTER 1
This Skillshare class had the perfect mix of nitty gritty info designers need to know. I highly recommend it.
BOOK MARKETING: CRAFT A KILLER PLAN
I really liked this class. It was so thorough and really helped me wrap my mind around what I need to do.
ROCKPAPERSTAR
They have a great book launch kit I recommend. It is an automated email subscription that drops tips ind tricks into your mailbox.
7/14/18
I created a video explaining what I am thinking about right now and why I am writing this book and what I hope to do with. Enjoy!
7/28/18
Today I sent one more chapter to my editor! Yay! The process has been going so much slower than anticipated but I try to squirrel away minutes whenever I can to move forward. I have had some huge client projects outside of work and my health has not been fabulous so that hasn’t been all that helpful on my turnaround time.
I also discovered that my images are probably going to render in B&W in my ebook depending on the reader so I am going back and turning all my images B&W to make sure they show up the best they can. Why put in that effort? It is because definition in B&W really depends on dark and light contrast and when you design in color your brain also utilizes color, tone, and vibrancy to give contrast. All which will be lost in B&W so when converting images to B&W from their original color you should always check to make sure the contrast is there and fix any places where the image doesn’t come across as clearly as it did in color.
I also am going to head to a book store later today to do some research on book layouts for nonfiction and categorizing my subject matter I am working with.
Until the next post I will leave you with this fun sketch for the book. I just finished a chapter on trolls and this illustration is explaining the concept that trolls thrive in the information gap.
8/1/18
i spent so much time last month working on freelance projects, working full time, and battling migraines for three weeks solid that I am just burned out. I am emotionally, enthusiastically, and spiritually exhausted. I feel like everything I try to write it horrible biased and doesn’t get to the core of my message.
I am going to try to take a break for a bit and wait to see what my editor gets back to me next week. It is so strange having as much information as I already have gathered and trying to wrangle it into cohesive thoughts a reader can understand. It is like I have everything I need but I absolutely have to redo all of it. That is a weird workload for me never writing a book before and I am learning how this is so extremely challenging.
8/13/18
got my edits back from my editor but I have been battling migraines and haven’t gotten to them. Honestly I am starting to feel like this blog post is less about the book and more about my migraines. Sorry about that. But this where I am in life right now.
9/18/18
Finally getting to my edits and there are over 900 on only 20 pages. I feel like a total dummy. As a graphic designer I don’t work in Word and I kinda hate the program because I don’t find it intuitive... so here we go. Ten minutes in and I have phoned a friend, stalled by updating this post, and am thoroughly irritated and overwhelmed.
this blog has been broken up into two posts mainly because of how long it is getting. CLICK HERE for the second blog post.