Out of the Rut

Today, I must use some prompts to do a journal entry. The prompt I choose is...."7 things I want to accomplish in the next week" because planning is always fabulous. :)

1. Finish 60% of needed sketches
2. Start inking said sketches
3. Call someone from the Family Reading Partnership about an interview
4. Look up ways to format a children's book into pdf files for Lulu.com
5. Blog every day
6. Scan and start coloring pieces.
7. Talk to someone about talking to children

And Vio'la

Aaaand POOF

Ever wake up in the morning and have a great idea? And then you do something and you completely forget what it was? But you do remember that it was a great idea? Well, that happened to me this morning.

I woke up, hair askew and excited with this going through my head "Ohmigod that is the best research idea EVER! This is such a great plan!!  I can't wait to do it!!" And then I turn off my alarm and....it's gone.

No recollection whatsoever.

I read this thing that said that within a few minutes of waking up you forget most of your dream. And then withing 10 minutes you forget all of it. That is if you did start pondering on what the heck it was about the second you wake up. Like yesterday, I had a dream. I remember waking up and being like "That was freaky." and I knew if I didn't concentrate on it, I would forget it. But now I can't remember it anyway. Just that it is likely it was a scary dream and something weird happened in it.

Why do good ideas have to come to you when you dream? You will only forget them and then you feel awful for the rest of the day. Dang it.

Just some trivia, the idea for my story came to me as I was falling asleep. I decided to get up and write it down instead of forgetting it....I'm not sure if the same thing applies to that situation but...anyway.

And good news! In the process of writing this, I have rememberd enough about the dream to be able to tell that there was something about publishing involved....OH MY GOD. I just remembered it all. Thank GOD.

The idea is to look up how to format a book so that it looks professionally done. Cause that is one of the deals with Lulu.com. You have to format everything yourself and then upload it in a PDF file...that....was awesome.

I am officially dubbing this the best Blog Post EVER.

So I'll be looking that up later today. :)

Communication

I am someone who takes pride in my communication skills. I can talk about certain subjects with strangers, and if I need something, I can get my message across without being rude. I feel that I can comfortably claim to be friendly and personable.

But I have the most trouble initiating the connection. Whether if it's by email, phone or in person. I find it so hard to actually go up to somebody and say "Hello." Usually it is someone else who imitates it.

That is a little bit of a problem for me...I need to contact people. I'm not even joking....it's so baaaaaad.

I am in desperate need of interviewing people. I know who I want to interview. It's just...I can't pick up the phone and force myself to actually try and dial the seven little numbers.

It gets worse every time someone doesn't pick up and I have to leave a message. My messages are always....odd.

But anyway. I need to get over this. Four weeks ago.

Sooooo Behind It isn't Even Funny. Ha.

So. I have been lost on the road of life. It....is not a pretty road to be on, but it is twisty and turny with many forks in which people tend to end up in ditches if they follow. But it is probably....OK for me to come out now. Stop slacking. Stop being lame in general. GET INKING DONE. I have to have twelve pages (AT LEAST) done by May. I got a month. ONE MONTH. GOTTA GET-A-MOVING.

Frustration.

One word to describe my current and continuous state of mind. I feel....the need for rant. But since I have already provided a little tiny one (that is all about my faults and failures with little detail) I will instead provide a list.

• 3 Sketches this week
• Finish Inking 2 (at home)
• Photograph/Scan works in progress
• Look through Book given to me by Marley (lovely girl there)
• Go to that Fuzzy Publishing website (you know, I think it is actually called something else, but for the life of me I can't remember) and do some research on the type of publishing they provide. (It's not self publishing)
• Get Colors on One more Page. 
• Meet up with In Shik Lee (Perhaps she'll be nice and firm and tell me to move my butt)
• Finish Research for Rain Warrior Design (and upload)
• Research squirrels.

Weekly Review 3

How much time did you spend on your project?
I have spent about 5 hours on various researches and blogging and more than 3 hours working hands on. More than 8 hours! Whoa.


What did you do for hands-on?

I have started to do the sketches for each page which will be then traced and then inked. They'll be awesome

What Research did you do?
I researched a variety of different Self Publishing companies, comparing them. Lulu.com and Dog Ear Publishing seem promising


Did you meet with your mentor? What did you talk about?
I did meet with Mrs. Spence. We talked about the speed in which I am working, figuring out deadlines and such. She suggested getting in contact with the Family Reading Partnership and gave advice on various visual aspects of my plan.


Were you in class this week?
Sure was. Late as always. MLK book given, got the community contacts sheet. Homework too.


What do you think your fulfillment of WISE requirements was?
I think I was a lot better this week about actually doing my work timely.  I made a goal sheet on Tuesday and I have accomplished most of the goals.
I have decided the size I am working with, I have begun to design the pages with more detail, chosen medium,  going to talk to Barry Deustch on Friday, have yet to contact Ann Mazer, had my Mentor Meeting, and I have done research. Awesome. 
 

What are your plans for next week?   
To continue researching further into publishing options, to continue to design the pages and get started  on inking some so I can work at home for the digital coloring.  Once  I have that, who knows how many hours I'll have. Set up interview or meet with Ann Mazer.

Book Printing Research

So, I've been looking at alternatives to Lulu.com.

Don't get me wrong, I think Lulu is really cool, but 60 dollars for a book? My book? A little frustrating.

It's not even that it is the publishing costs. For self publishing, there are no costs. It is the printing that cost 60 dollars. My book is going to be on high quality paper, hard cover (jacket?), in color, and in a large format. I don't really have a choice with some of these...but I didn't realize that the books were so expensive!

So I looked at some other publishing websites.

http://dogearpublishing.net/default.aspx Dog Ear Publishing seems to be a good alternative. At lulu, I sort of have to get Hardcover if I want full color and stuff. But here, the website professes to have paper back full color, which seems to be a bit more affordable. They don't have an easy calculator like Lulu, so the price is a little fuzzy...but I'd like to think it could be cheaper.

http://diggypod.com/index.html Diggy Pod Printing also seems promising. They have a calculator as well, but they don't seem to provide as many services as Lulu or the Dog Ear Publishing. I used the calculator, and being as cheap as possible, I am able to get my book to cost about $14. Awesome right? Well...wrong! In order for me to get any copy, I have to order a minimum of 24. HELL. NO. That's like over $300. Hahahah...ha.

And the largest book format they have is 8.5 x 11. Yeah...not so much.

But back to Dog Ear, the more promising one: it has a section in which it compares to other self publishing sites. http://dogearpublishing.net/whydogearcomparison_lulu.aspx The one for Lulu is informative and helpful. It says for designers, who only want to print a few copies, it is ideal.

This sounds like a promising recommendation. I have no delusions that anyone will actually buy my book. I had originally intended to possibly do about 10 copies that I could give to friends, but for $60 a book, that is not going to happen.

I admit I am cheap, but whatever.

Anyway, the writer of this comparison goes on to compare profits and such (and since I am not actually selling the book this has no relevance to me).

So, It seems to me like Lulu is still the best option as far as Self Publishing goes. Dog Ear Publishing seems to not be free publishing and more geared towards profit for the author than a single nice copy of a work.

Still have yet to compare to big Publishing Companies. Hmm... I don't even know the names of any. Next Research section decided.

Lulu Research

Lulu...is cool.

For those who do not know, Lulu.com is a self Publishing website. It lets the author choose all the stuff. Yeeeeeep.

I really thought I would be lost.

At first I had NO idea what to do. I'm doing a children's book. Does that make it a different category? Does that put it under a photo book? GAAAAAAAaah.

And then...I watched a tutorial video. It made me smile. It was so eaaaaaaasy. I still wasn't sure what category a children's book would be under but....you know....Whatever. I decided to mess around. And you know what?

This...is one cool website.

I know, I know. Already said. I just needed to emphasize.

I was all worried about the cover design. Turns out they got an app for that. FOR REAL.

It's sooooo colorful.

Anyway, I went through the process of starting a project and got all the way up to the place I am supposed to upload my files. Of course I don't have any at this time so...eh.

So here are the facts:

•  Free publishing (you pay only when a print is ordered) On copy of my book will cost about $60 for 40 pages. YIKES
• I set the price and if anyone else buys it...I get 80% profit. What I set the price to...I dunno. Would anyone buy the book? Probably not. I'll just make the one copy.
• Cover Designs are easy. 
• Have to use InDesign or Adobe Acrobat to set up pages.
• After the Book is completed and officially published it can be shipped in 5-15 business days. 

This is cool. Though there may be something different about how soon I can get it after I finish it.

This little research made me think about something.

I don't have a title for my story. I need to get on that.

Next up: Compare to Publishing Companies.

Mentor Meeting 3/8/11

Had a meeting with Mrs. Spence today. It went super fabulous. We looked at my story board, while I explained the story to her. She had some suggestions about the view and angle of certain panels/pages. I'm still conflicted about using text in the story. She suggested that I use quotes. The one she had going through her head being from Alice In Wonderland. "Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

Luckily...my story wont be half as scary as Alice in Wonderland. 

Actually wouldn't mind if I didn't intend this for children.

Just brilliant. :)

She likes that I will be combining digital and traditional media for the pieces. I will be inking the drawings on 8x12 pieces of watercolor paper and then scanning them to digitally color them. Experimentation is encouraged.


Mrs. Spence also suggested that I try and contact the Family Reading Partnership about getting some interviews. Apparently I can just drop her name...AND THEY WILL DO MY BIDDING. Well...I'm not sure about that, but they would be willing to help out. 


Also, she encourages me to check out Lulu.com soon so that I can get an idea of a deadline. Probably a good idea. Should do that tonight.

Goals For this Week

• Decide on Size of  of pages. May just work on 12x8 1/2 water color paper (cut by self). 
• Design pages more in depth
• Decided on inking by hand and coloring digitally. Methods with digital?
• Talk to Barry Deustch (may be screwed up due to snow day)
• Talk to Anne Mazer 
• Research costs of publishing vs. self publishing
• Mentor Meeting Tuesday with Mrs. Spence
• Do....more research.