As I’m sure you are all wondering what’s become of Miss Missy’s School, here’s an update.

Last week, Daughter C got me the– are you ready for this?– watercolor paintings (!) that are the full color illustrations for the book. I took them to the professional copy place in town and had them scanned as jpgs at 600bpi. She also had them scanned and sent as pdfs at 300bpi.

Everyone agreed the colors did not render correctly, so Kat (that’s daughter 2) who’s the graphic design person fixed everything, and the manuscript and illustrations were uploaded to the Interior & Cover Design outfit over the weekend. And then the fun began.

The consultation phone call on Monday morning was about 1:20 long. That’s the phone call where the Designer gets a feel for what the author wants the book to look like, and the author gets to learn a bunch of new design words and considerations.

And then the emails!

And more clarifying phone calls b/c what is it about [me] “ORIENTATION: LANDSCAPE; RIGHT SIDE OF ILLUSTRATION IS TOP OF PAGE” that you do not understand? Designer: “ROTATE COUNTERCLOCKWISE” never occurred to me as an instruction.

The issue there is you want the reader to learn to turn the book one way (clockwise) to see the landscaped illustrations.

[At which point in the text discussion, Miss M, mother of grandson Phen, tells us all that no parent wants to turn the book! Duly noted for book 2.]

Anywhoo, by this afternoon I’d received an estimate for Interior Book Design and Cover designs for paperbacks and hard backs. About what I’d expected. (Please feel free to hit the tip jar!)

Next up– I get a sample of the design and if I like it, a firm quote. Paperwork, downpayment.

I like learning new things.

And if now, I could figure out what to do with Lawyer, the injured Black-necked stilt bird who found his way to the Farm after the tornado in book 2, I’d be a happy camper!