How Brown is Brown? And Getting Ready to Fundraise

Hello!

As we move on to the color phase, the big question that crops up is, "how brown is brown?"  Prior to today, I thought I knew what brown meant to me.  Apparently not, judging from the difficulty I'm having in choosing the "right" brown.  There's always more to the process.  Other than choosing the brown, we also have to choose which two tones to use, which finish, whether to go with or without outlines.  These are things that I don't tend to think of on their own.  All I seem to know (and go by) is how I feel when I look at the illustration, whether it's offputting or inviting or however way I'm feeling.  When I have to articulate why, I have trouble expressing the reasons.  Again, lots to learn!

Brown Enough?  Too Brown?  Not the Right Brown?

While Andrew is finalizing the pages, I'm putting together the fundraising materials.  We are targeting to get the illustrations done in the next 2-3 months and hopefully we can raise the money by August (GOSH!  That's only four months to raise at least $10,000.00 to fund a 1,000 print run!)  If we do this, we can aim to get the book published by and shipped back to us by November, just in time for marketing it for the holidays.  One can hope, right?

Chugging along... We can do this...

Thank you for the support!  Seriously.  It means a great deal.  Especially now when I get overwhelmed each time I start thinking of raising some serious cash for the printing.

Editing the Half Page Dummy

Hey All,

The layout phase is over and the half size dummy is in!  It's motivating to see the book take on its physical shape, to be able to turn pages and get a feel for what the book is going to be like!

So- Mike read the book to the boys a few nights ago and Charlie had a lot of questions.  He was clearly proud to have "his" book.  However, his questions brought up a few things about the book.  Because his perspective was fresh, some things that were off were immediately obvious to him.  Basically, the question and answer format confused him.  And if it confused him, I'm sure it would confuse many other readers and listeners, as well.  

This indicates to me that the manuscript needs a little more fine tuning.  In retrospect, the editor did bring this same issue up when she reviewed the manuscript.  I thought I had fixed the issue but apparently I have not.  But I'm confident I will resolve it this time.  I think it's a case of treasuring a "good" idea, hanging on to it and forcing it to fit when it clearly does not.  As Mike wisely said, maybe that idea is really another book waiting to happen. 

So, with a big sigh, I will let go of my good idea (for the moment!) and stick with what's simple and clean and cohesive.

And we move on!  Stick around for the full page dummy (that may or may not have the colors).

Thank you for the support.