A Personal History of the Birth of a Book

Realizing that we were running out of money without much chance of more coming in soon, and running out of our most precious asset namely staff people, I spent a good chunk of the remaining money in the bank to buy a nice computer. We had a layout program that no one really knew how to use and I reasoned that if I had a fast computer and a good program that could interface between writers and layout well, then I could handle everything else but editing and proofing myself. Well, a year later I want to tell you that I will never attempt that again. Call it "A slow painful way to brainwash yourself with work." Now that its all done I'm still trying to deal with not feeling like I'm developing an ulcer all the time. That constant knot in my stomach couldn't have been healthy and I don't recommend living with it. The book involved 500 pages of type and photos, photo captions, a full color cover (not done by me), running folios top and bottom, seperate photo sections on Current events which were at first bled off the page and then changed throughout, and front and back matter. An index was attempted and then scrapped when time ran out. Printing three proofs at Kinkos cost over $96.00. I stood there trembling as I wrote the check. My mind kept blanking out. Could this really be that big a book? My thanks to Jon and Curt and Dawn who bailed me out of an impossible solo task and also doubled as marriage counselors and priests for the week of nonstop madness we call "the Burn." I look forward this week to many more hours spent kissing up to Martha and the kids for my absence in spirit and body over the last year.