This month marks the beginning of Double or Nothing‘s layout stage. I’ve got about 2 months to get the book into its final, ready-to-print form. I’m hoping I can get it basically finished well before then in case the printer says something needs to be tweaked (virtually guaranteed, really). I don’t have a lot to show, but I figured you might like to see one of the cover options. Of course I’m using Adenydd for the cover, because the photos show off the reversibility well, and it’s one of the more eye-catching pieces. The issue is that I’ve decided to lay out the book as an oblong (in landscape mode) to accommodate some of the charts which will have a harder time fitting into portrait mode and still be readable. The difficulty is that most of my really good photos are in portrait mode, so I’ve had to get creative. Love it? Hate it? Let me know (but be kind, I had to ban one person already for extreme rudeness and vitriol).
If you’ve been following my blog or social media in general, you may have noticed that last week was the end of 14 weeks of pattern previews from my book. As of today, we’re just shy of 500 people on the preorder mailing list — which, assuming they all order a single copy of the physical book, will just allow me to print the number of copies I’d prefer — but won’t yet allow me to drop the price as a perk for those loyal fans on the list. However, the preorder list is still open — and will be until I begin the actual preorders, so feel free to go and add your name if you think you’d like to get in on the fun earlier than everyone else.
In the coming month I have two big projects: the first is obvious — do as much of the layout as possible, and identify gaps in the manuscript where I need to take new photos or write new copy. The second is less obvious, and may be subject to a “plan B” if I can’t do it — redo my website. Currently it’s a mostly hand-coded CSS/HTML static page, but with Google downranking non-mobile-friendly sites, it’s time for me to migrate to WordPress. Unfortunately that’s going to require a total rebuild; fortunately it’s WordPress so it’ll be a little easier to do that. The other reason is that I’d like to use WooCommerce for my new payment platform (you know, so you can actually order the book), and that’s a WordPress thing.
No further news on upcoming teaching gigs beyond the ones I mentioned back in Month 3, although I am delighted to inform you that I will be the keynote speaker for FiberCamp Boston in March of 2017. This is put on by the Common Cod Fiber Guild, which I’ve been involved in since its inception. I did a presentation when my first book came out and I’m glad they’re having me back again.
Very unique and must have!