What is it like to finally get the book you wrote in your hand for the first time?

After working over a year on writing, organizing, revising and illustrating my book I opened up the mailbox, and there it was at last; a priority envelope with a copy of my work, BEYOND THESE DARK LANDS ARE EDGES OF JOY, WORDS OF COMFORT AND HOPE, my Collection of poems. 

On the inside, I am dancing for joy. 

I went upstairs to my desk and opened the packaging. The book looked beautiful and just the way I hoped it would be. I sat down and looked at the illustrations I made for it and was very happy with the drawings. I was able to open the book and sit in a chair and read it for the first time as an audience and not as a wordsmith full of doubts and second guesses. It was a time of sweetness and pure indulgence, it was the only worthy way to reward my work. 

The printing company, The Book Patch, did a nice job, I was afraid it would be an inferior job or second-rate, but not at all. They took my work and produced a book that would stand with pride on the bookshelf at any store. I am eager to show it to all my friends. 

I am immediately aware of the many people who helped me along the way; without their help, I would

Holding My Book
 At Last!

not have been able to accomplish this task. I am very grateful for their help and encouragement. 

But this is not the end of the road because as hard as it was to write the book I am beginning to understand that promoting and marketing it is much harder. 

Obviously, I have the blog and the Facebook page, and a website under development. But I am beginning to see that getting my book of poems to market may be the harder part of the enterprise.

I've been thinking of this project as a piece of creativity and an expression of my devotion to God and service to others. Now I have to think of this book as a product or a piece of inventory and myself not as an author but as its marketing agent. In fact, if someone were to ask me I would not say I am a poet or writer, I would say that I am a publisher in a niche market.

So the moment of elation is over. Now I am going to go and write a business plan.

(c) Adron 2/28/18

What Is My Purpose For This Collection Of Poetry?

I have written poetry since elementary school. I love the art form, and the way poetry can say something in a meaningful way. For some people poetry is cathartic, a method of therapy, self-discovery, a way to vent, for others it is a powerful tool for communication.  For me, it is some of that but something more.

GOD SAID, DONT WRITE THAT ONE (FOR NOW)
When I started this project I was already working on another one but felt that God was calling me to turn from it and build this collection, instead.

GOD SAID, WRITE THIS FOR NOW
I was sitting in church and listening to the pastor preach and I don't remember what he was preaching about but somehow I began to think about all the hurting people in this world. I believe that my writing is a way to help others. Maybe my poems will help them take a step forward or maybe my poems will inspire them to keep on going and not give up. Maybe my poems might give hope to someone who feels they are at the end of their rope.

THE VISION (I mean that metaphorically- I am a poet)
This book of poems might reach someone who would never go inside a church or see a counselor. A concerned friend might share it with someone who is going through a loss or hurt. A pastor might leave it after praying with someone over a tragedy and they can read it when they are ready. It might be in the lobby of a house of worship and a person with a secret pain might pick it up when no one is looking and later in quietness find comfort and hope.

GOD GIVES US DREAMS
I always wrote poetry and always dreamed of publishing a book. I believe God puts dreams in our hearts to help guide us. Of course, the primary way He reveals His will is through His Word the Bible. From the Scriptures, I know His will is for us to share the Gospel and be His witness. So balancing the scriptures and my dream to publish my poetry I wrote this book of poems for those who are hurting and struggling with the deepest hurts and losses in life. In this book are words to comfort and hope to people. It is not another book of cheap overused platitudes, nice sayings or vague nonsense but offers hope that is thoughtful and substantial. I wanted the meanings to be easily found but leave you with much to think about while pointing to the God of all Comfort and His Christ.

THE GOOD NEWS
This book concludes with an appendix which is a three-page explanation of the Gospel of God's love and His Son's sacrifice to pay for our sins. I hope that the poems and scriptures will be used by God's Spirit to prepare a person's heart so that when they read through to the end and they will learn how they can have hope in Christ.

(c) Adron 2/25/18

Should my Book of Poetry have a Theme?

Should I arrange my book of poetry with a theme, or should I just put a random bunch of my poems into a collection? I thought about it a lot before starting this project. Many questions came to my mind such as, would a collection based on a theme be pretentious or insincere?  Would working within a theme cause my writing to be forced and not as good as I would like it to be? Would it compromise my focus?

NO THEME?
It is easy to just randomly put a bunch of your favorite poems into a collection and title it something. I suppose there are times where that is O.K. Maybe random poems can be the theme of your book. A collection of favorites might not have a theme and might be fine.

PROS
There are a lot of good reasons to work within a theme.

• A theme will give the collection unity and the reader will have expectations as they travel through the collection.
• A theme will give it a place in the market.
• A theme makes it easier to explain what the collection is all about.
• A theme will help the reader know what to expect.
• A theme will give the collection structure.
• A theme is more engaging and offers the chance to explore a subject in diverse ways.

CONS
There are reasons to not give the collection a theme.

• You may run out of interest or inspiration.
• A themed collection requires more commitment.
• The subject of the theme may require a lot of research.
• Whenever you have inspiration you can write without worrying if it fits the theme.
• You need to know the subject well or your collection will be laughable.
• You might get done and wish you had chosen a different theme.
• You might never get done.
• Everybody is writing about the same theme.
• Maybe no one is interested in the theme you choose to write about.

YES
After giving it much thought I choose to base this collection on a theme. I felt passionate about the theme of God's comfort.  There are a lot of hurting people in the world, people whom God loves. I believe we should use our gifts and talents for good whenever we have the opportunity. So, I chose to make this collection about comfort and hope in God during times of personal darkness.

Time may judge my wisdom.


If you would like to read a sample poem choose the link below for the website.

(c) Adron 2/17/18

Learning How to Put Illustrations Into The Pages Of My Book Of Poems, Using Word.

For my book of poems, Beyond These Dark Lands Are Edges Of Joy, I drew about 100 individual illustrations, one for each poem. I had no idea what I was getting into!

I wanted the illustrations to fill the page and be behind the poems. At first, I thought I would use Word and open the shape feature on the insert tab in the toolbar, then use "fill" to insert the picture behind the text. That worked ok but since the illustrations were ink drawings and therefore black the words got too hard to read and the picture had what looked like a lot of black smudges making a rough rectangle where the poem was. I tried to add a layer with another shape to block out or fade the illustration just behind the words but lost too much of the image.

I next tried to open a shape and place it somewhere on the page to the right of the poem, since most of my poems are like a column there was room on most pages. The image on some pages looked ok but on many, they lost effect or some area of the picture that was important was too small to appreciate.

So as I did each page I went back into my picture files and used photo gallery to crop, (after making copies of the original) so the smaller picture would still be effective. Each picture fit nicely on the page though some were disappointingly small. I liked how it was not a poem in a picture but a picture illustrating a poem.

The insert shape feature on my toolbar offers many shapes and I thought it would be nice if some were round, others square, and a few rectangles. I did not like how inconsistent it looked like someone couldn't make up their mind and it seemed amateurish. So I redid each page with the illustrations as a circle. Again, I lost some of the edges of some images and had to return to cropping, and since my illustrations were originally a rectangle to insert them into a circle caused Word to distort the image. I went back to every image and cropped again into a square so the picture would not be distorted when I inserted it.

It was starting to look good.

I was afraid that the outside edge of some of the drawings would get lost because they went beyond the page margin. I was not happy with guessing where the margins were on each page even though I set the margins. There is a "View" feature on the toolbar and I found one of the pulldowns was a grid. I used the grid and found it lined up with the margins. Using this grid I could place the images within the margins of the page. The grid took away the guesswork. The grid helped me to make sure each image was the same distance from the poem, the page bottom, and the outer margin, so there was consistency.

It was a lot of work and took about 60 hours of my time over two weeks, but after spending three months drawing the pictures I was not going to quit.

As I review I know there may be a little tweaking here and there but I feel the book is becoming a product I will be proud of.

If you would like to read a sample poem choose the link below for the website.

(c) Adron 2/7/18

What Happens When Your Finish Illustrating Your Book Of Poems?

I've spent the last three or four months illustrating my book of poems, Beyond These Dark Lands Are Edges Of Joy.

I am relieved to have finished the last drawing. These illustrations are all black line drawings. Each drawing took about six hours and had at least three drafts. I used multiple techniques to create them while trying to maintain a consistent style across all the pictures. I am happy with my work even though a couple may need further revision.

It was harder to draw the illustrations than writing the poems. It was harder because I wanted to balance each poem with its illustration; then to have each illustration share a theme throughout the book. So I drew a road in almost every picture. It is a road in which the reader travels through this land. I was afraid that there would be too much of the same thing and that all the pictures would look like the same road scene, so I spent a lot of time looking at pictures getting ideas.

So my question is now that I've finished the drawings what do I do next? Do I scan them into my computer or download a photo image from my camera?  Do I save them into PDF format and then cut and paste them into the manuscript? Do I format the manuscript into PDF for the printer first and merge the drawings in somehow? I'm working in Microsoft Word, (I know it is primitive when there are better publisher products out there, but I am poor), so I cannot edit PDF files. I think I will scan them into my computer then cut and paste the drawings into the Word doc and then convert the entire manuscript into a PFD for the printer.

I did a test on one page and I am really happy with how it looks.

(c) Adron 1/25/18

How Many Friends Should Preview My Book of Poetry Before I Publish It?

I have worked hard on putting together a collection of Poems for my book, Beyond These Dark Lands Are Edges Of Joy.  I want my hard work to show and for my readers to be blessed by it without being distracted by errors.

Sometimes a person gets so involved with a project and so close to it that they cannot see everything objectively. I sometimes get so romantic about my work that I do not see any problems and assume everyone understands what I am saying. So I have asked some friends to review the project to catch any issues and advise me.

To have some friends read my poems and give me feedback is not as easy as it sounds.

• First, my friends are very busy people; they are all professionals in one way or another, so I am a little reluctant to impose on them. 
• Second, would relationships be strained? What if someone was afraid to make an honest criticism? Would they begin to avoid me, and would I have injured that friendship? 
• Also, who should I ask? I can't ask everyone, so what if someone I did not ask feels left out and hurt?  
• I will need to give them copies, but printing costs money and even though I do not expect to make money on the collection of poems I do not want to go broke publishing it either.
• What if I asked so many people I later couldn't remember who? 
• What if I gave a copy of my work to some well-meaning friend and they misplaced it? That could cause problems with copyright and ownership later on. 

I settled on five friends who I respect for their deep faith in God. These friends are very educated, sophisticated and intelligent people. I am confident in their opinion. Five seemed to be a good number since I could afford to print five copies. I could easily remember who has copies of my work.

Four have responded. The fifth is overwhelmed with work, so I do not expect a response soon, but I anticipated this would happen to at least one. Those who have responded so far have had words of praise and encouragement. Few have given me a suggestion or two which I accepted and seek to incorporate into the project.

I will be sending this to the printer in a few weeks and feel more confident in the project now because of the help of my friends for which I am very grateful.

I do not know if five is the number of friends I would use in every case and for each book of poems I write. Next year I might feel more comfortable with ten or just two, but I think for me five reviewers is working out very nicely.

If you would like to read a sample poem choose the link below for the website.

(c) Adron 1/15/18

How Hard Is It To Draw 100 Illustrations For A Book?

I have decided to illustrate my collection of Poems, Beyond These Dark Lands Are Edges Of Joy. I thought this would be easy; it is just drawing, so how hard can it illustrate a book of poems?

I started two months ago, and I have been working daily on it, so one would think I would be done by now. The good news is that I have just a few dozen left to draw. Of the hundred-page manuscript, about 94 are actual poems that need illustrations.

A GOAL
I could have approached the task in several ways. Having a goal helps, and my goal is to average one a day. Focusing on an average frees me from the stress of feeling like I failed my goal one day. Some days I can do two illustrations to make up for a missed day.

PLANNING
For me, planning helps. I plan a week ahead and decide seven to draw and do a quick sketch for each. These drawings are speedy and look like a child's scribbles. Having the ideas rough sketched gives me a head start each day.  This brainstorming session means the ideas are already expressed, which is a big boost to starting each day.

IT IS A LOT OF WORK
My drawing method uses a light-box. The light shines through, enabling me to trace my drawings over and over until they are right. I know that each illustration will need to be redrawn two, three, or more times; I accept this process and can't get upset if, after I have drawn a picture, I see a way to improve on it and need to redraw it again. This means I am doing over three hundred drawings to have a finished book that is visually appealing.

I work a regular full-time job, so I have limited time. After I get home and have time with the family and dinner, I say to myself, "Ok, time to go to work," and I go upstairs to my second job of drawing pictures for the book. I work from 7:00 pm until bedtime.

PAPER TO DIGITAL
Once each picture is done, I scan it to the computer and look at it again. When I review work in a different medium or format, I see problems or find where it can be improved. Usually, it is minor adjustments by this time, and I can easily use the computer to fix a little problem.

I put the drawing into a digital mock page in Word to see how it might look when printed, and I hold my breath. Some needed major changes at this point, and on occasion, I had to draw a new version, but most have been OK.

YOU SAY FUN?
You might say, "Oh, you are having so much fun! You are doing something you like when you take pictures for the book."  Yes and no, I am having fun, and I am not. When a hobby becomes a serious endeavor, it is work, and work is hard, but when I finish a picture, and it is the way I want it to look, I feel glad for the accomplishment.

I am excited about how it is all shaping up, and I look forward to this collection of poems being an encouragement to many.

If you would like to read a sample poem, choose the link below for the website.

(c) Adron 12/19/17