Susan's 366 Project: October 2017

What a sad, difficult week. On Tuesday, we found out that another of our former student leaders had lost her father to suicide. It was such a tragic loss to a beautiful, loving family and the entire community. Yesterday, in the eulogy, the victim's best friend spoke of demons that had seized control of his friend. He told stories of happier times and chose to remember his friend in better times. His children, wife, parents, friends were absolutely devastated. I'm afraid they will be forever haunted by this terrible, violent death.

Last evening we went to a party for Julius, Steve's best friend, who retired as director of county emergency services yesterday. He is an extraordinarily selfless and self-effacing man who has spent his entire life in service to others. He always deflects complements and turns the praise toward his team. An inspiration to everyone who knows him, he is enduring about a half dozen parties and ceremonies in his honor and that's really difficult for him. So, it was a bittersweet night as we joked and told stories about our friend and said goodbye to the "boss."

Then, during the evening we found out that our friend who is suffering from cancer has had more bad news. All in all, the week has made us both feel helpless and sad. How can we help our friends face these painful challenges?

On the other hand, the book work is going well. I insisted on another proof of the book since the cover images were distorted and the color inconsistent. Now, I must wait a week for the new proofs. I got lots of the small tasks done in preparation for the Tradition Fest on Saturday, designed the new business cards and secured a new email address.

The best part of the week was speaking with the eighth graders on Tuesday. It's a small class, only about a hundred kids, but there was some enthusiasm and lots of questions. The after school meeting will be on November 9, so we'll have a better sense of the level of interest that day. I also finished the Quest promo video which I absolutely love. It should make a strong impression on the kids and their parents.

Another surprising and exciting moment came when I got a message from a former backpacker who is now teaching in Colorado. It seems she wants to start a backpacking club and she asked for advice! Plus, next week we're meeting with an instructor from the Audubon Society who wants to create a backpacking program. Great things are happening!

Thankfully, the week was gorgeous and we were able to hike in Arkwright and around the village. The steelhead are still running, but the water level is so low they've had to stay in the deeper pools. Steady rain today and during the upcoming week will permit them leap over the falls to reach further upstream. Hiking is one of the best therapies. The quiet soothes my soul and calms my racing mind.

Julius and Melodee at the retirement party

His honey do list.

All the past and present fire coordinators

I just noticed that it's been two months since I've been able to write. Although the book took eight years to write, the months since February have been very intense. Getting published presented a whole new set of challenges that I had largely ignored.

So far, I've done 14 mock ups and two sets of proofs. The last mock up was sent out the Friday before we departed for our trip to NYC and Berlin. When we arrived home, there was the first hard copy of my book! What an incredible thrill! I was so excited, Steve took my photo holding it and then I sent messages off to my kids and sisters.

The excitement was countered by terrible worry about Paddy, however. He suffered terribly while we were gone. He could barely walk and dragged himself out from under the back deck. The sitter had left him outside most of the week without any water. I don't think he ate anything. We rushed him to the vet who did some tests. He had lost two pounds, was dehydrated and had an infection. His eyes were running and bloody. The vet did blood tests and found a high level of calcium which is an indicator of cancer. He thinks it's probably in the stomach and the only way to know for sure is to do a biopsy. NOT going to do that to my beloved 14 year old cat. We brought him home thinking he had only two or three months left. The vet did not understand the power of intensive mothering. In the last month, I have babied him. We have fed him six to eight times a day and he has regained his strength and interest in roaming the yard. It doesn't change the cancer diagnosis, but he's much better equipped to deal with the sickness. For weeks he barely left my side. Now, he is venturing out more often.

After the first proof arrived, I asked my friend and mentor Margaret Ruckman to do a close reading looking specifically for punctuation errors. It needed fresh eyes. My writer's group and I had read it so many times that there was no way I could identify any of the minor errors that I was certain were in there. She read it in a day and then we met.

Sweet, diligent Margaret saved me 35 bits of embarrassment. Not bad for 413 pages. There were two dangling participles that I would never have found, even though I recognized them once she pointed them out. Three noun verb agreement errors occurred in long complex sentences. I was most worried about the dialogue and she found two capitalization errors and one misplaced comma. She questioned the use of the word "till." but we looked it up and it's acceptable. On money, I had included the cents, like $40.00. She found that cumbersome, so I went through and dropped all the cents.

I also discovered several photos missing and a few others that were too fuzzy. I resubmitted all of those too. Most important, the cover was too dark. The image as a bit gray and the color around the title was dark olive rather than a cheerful grassy green. Finally, when I was satisfied, I resubmitted the 14th mock up.

On Thursday 10/19, the new proofs arrived. I've reviewed it and found one extra s on a verb, one extra e on a name and two extra commas. I am not demanding a new proof to fix those small items. On the other hand, four out of five proofs had a slight pink cast to the white letters. That is the last major issue to address.

In addition to perfecting the book, I've been wild planning the launch and the promotion. Every single step takes research so I've spent so many hours pouring over ideas for the launch party, how to create a website, invitations, business cards, a Facebook profile, speeches, photographer, a sound system, food for the party. Yikes! I also agreed to do a presentation on Nov. 4 at the Dunkirk Tradition Fest where I'll have photos and equipment on display.

I also bought a new computer with a terabyte of storage so I could finally start working on the Quest video and remake the promotional video. Today, I finished the promo video because I need it for the Tradition Fest. The Quest video is about three quarters done.

So, where am I going with all this? I had hoped to launch on November 10, but now I am aiming for December 1. It was just impossible to get everything done by Nov. 10. This week, I'll check in with the MS principal to book the MS or HS Library for the party. I gave him one of the early proofs so he would know what's coming. He's already agreed that the MS is the place to celebrate a book about our MS backpacking program.

Tomorrow, I'll be back at it with the publisher about the cover and whether I can get 300 copies printed by Dec. 1. And there's a long list of other jobs to tackle as well.

I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. It's almost here! I'll be back now for a the next six weeks or so till after the launch.