Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry because I must finish proofing the designed book before going to bed, as I’ll be up early to enter those fixes with Grant Geissman. So, without further Ado Annie, the notes.
Yesterday was a pleasant day any way you look at it and I looked at it pleasantly. I got eight hours of sleep. That was pleasant. I answered e-mails, printed out a few orders, had a nice telephonic call with Richard Sherman, whose having some back pain so let’s all send him our most excellent vibes and xylophones – talking about our aches and pains together, we were like two old Jews on a park bench. Go know. Then I moseyed on over to Jerry’s Deli for the first time in a week, where I met with actor Nick Santa Maria. Nick has done quite a few audio books and we were meeting about him doing Thrill Ride, which I think we’re going ahead with, mostly because of what happened after lunch. It was a fun lunch – I was a good boy and only had a cup of soup and a bagel.
After that, I picked up no packages and came home. Once home, I returned a call from Cindy Williams about a perk for the LACC campaign – signed Laverne and Shirley photos, signed by her and Penny Marshall. So, while we were talking I asked her if she’d like to do this audio book of Thrill Ride, playing its female lead character, an eighty-year-old feisty woman – and she said yes and it works perfectly with her schedule. I could not be happier and she will be stellar in this role, truly stellar. After that, I had more telephonic calls, more e-mails to answer, and then I got a surprise e-mail from Grant Geissman with a first pass of the designed book. I took a quick peek, noticed that the right side text was ragged instead of justified, which is what we always do – justified – and none of the em dashes were in. I e-mailed him back and fifteen minutes later I had a new version with the em dashes in and the right side text justified. So, I went right over to Staples and got a copy printed for proofing, as Grant said we could work this morning and I knew if I got it proofed before that it would save us an entire day. They couldn’t have it ready until seven, so I came home and had more telephonic conversations, ate two tuna sandwiches, then went back and picked it up. I was back home by seven-ten and have been proofing ever since. This book has many less fixes than usual – just some bad breaks and a few indentation problems, maybe thirty things in all, which is nothing compared to what we usually have. And I haven’t found one em dash that didn’t make it in, and that’s a first. So, I have about fifty pages to go. The good news is I’m enjoying the book as much as I can whilst trying to concentrate on the proofing. I have found about six things that none of us had caught – that’s never-ending, I’m afraid. Hopefully I have caught it all.
Tomorrow, I’ll be with Grant at eleven and we’ll have two hours to work and I’m hoping in that time we can get all the fixes entered except for the three or four bad breaks at page bottoms – we won’t do those, because I want to try some things with the chapter headings and titles that would move the first page chapter text block about seven lines further down the page, which will change all the page endings and probably will fix all the bad breaks while perhaps adding a few new ones, that we can then go back and fix. After that, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then later I’ll go to have dinner with Muse Margaret and her ever-lovin’ Richard.
Tomorrow, she of the Evil Eye will be here, so I’m hoping Grant may have time to do the additional fixes and work on the back cover, which is all that’s left in terms of the actual design. Then I will play the commissioned song for the folks who commissioned it, and then it’s a belated birthday dinner for Sami, which I’m looking forward to. Sunday I finish judging the singing contest, and then next week is very busy.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, work on the book with Grant, hopefully pick up packages, then sup with the Muse and the Hubby. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, Sibelius. Blu-ray, The Yakuza. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, thrilled to have the book design this quickly and having it look so splendidly splendid.