The Book in Production: March 21, 2011

Journal entries about clairvoyance, meditation, spirituality, and mystical experiences

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figaro
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The Book in Production: March 21, 2011

Post by figaro »

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Image: The falls down the street from us.

Monday, March 21

Downloaded and printed up Diana’s corrected file of Visits With Angels yesterday. Now to reproof the manuscript one final time.

Spent most of last week raking the leaves from the gardens in town. The spring bulbs have already started pushing through the earth; some croci are in bloom, even as the mounds and mountains of snow continue to melt. Now we have mounds and mountains of leaves as well, at intervals along the walkways.

Tuesday, March 22

Finished reproofing the corrected file and found only three simple footnote formatting mistakes; called Diana and we fixed them together, over the phone.

My work is done.

Wednesday, March 23

An e-mail from Diana: she sent the file to the publisher today. Now to shovel the sidewalks; an inch of slush so far, and five more inches on the way. La Puerto del Vino is almost memorized. Yet another Debussy masterpiece, this little Prelude ... Decided to add on two Rachmaninov pieces.

Thursday, March 24

A message from our publishing team: they have downloaded Diana’s new files and a new galley of Visits With Angels should be ready within weeks, for us to reproof and approve.

A new aide came today, a college student named Kristin. She is very special and has much Light. We spoke a bit about meditation and she might come to classes. Meanwhile, she brought the clean laundry up from the basement and swept the floor ...

Wednesday, April 6

Diana started teaching a new round of classes at the Art Institute and has not had time to look at the galley of the interior of the book. She did however already approve the covers and spine. I could find no further errors, so the final approval is up to Diana.

Added on two Rachmaninov pieces; memorized the Debussy Prelude and one of the Rachmaninov. Spoke with Myra: it is possible we might record the Song Cycle this summer. I need to find the singers now and give them the scores. Added on a piece by Richard Strauss, Opus 9, No. 2 from Stimmungsbilder.

A rainy day, the gardens contented ... The early snow crocus have been blooming for some weeks, the small iris ... And now the late crocus, "Pickwick" and other varieties forming bright clumps ... The gardens are now raked - save the roses, still protected by their sturdy mounds of leaves. I had wanted to take the last leaves out the wheel barrow and out of missed corners of our walkway, but the rain prevented it. I enjoy seeing the pile of leaves in the back garden, on the stone path - so it can all wait for another day. My new aide, Kristin, comes again on Friday, she can help with the leaves; we will see what the weather brings ...

Thursday April 7

Diana proofed the interior of the book and found some mistakes in the folios at the bottom of pages; she also objects to the four blank pages currently placed at the end of the book. Diana also checked every left-and-right margin width on every page; some of those needed correcting. The page numbers are part of the folios, all the three-digit numbers were positioned slightly beyond the margin; she repositioned those as well - and there are 190 pages in the book, not including intro pages & table of contents. She also wrote that our publishing team will have to send us a new galley of the new file. She added: "I feel your pain."

Monday, April 11

The gardens are filling in with green and blues, and some daffodils are now blooming. Very warm today, almost eighty degrees. Over the weekend M. and I went to Windgarth House and I worked in the gardens, raking leaves and taking them down to the beach. It was far too windy to burn them, that will have to wait. Woke today to the painters moving ladders around the outside of our house.

Wrote our publishing team leader about the four blank pages. I cannot approve the galleys until Diana is satisfied with their work.

Tuesday, April 12

A new bend in the road - our design team leader has been promoted; we have been assigned a new team. Mel is our new design team leader. Wrote Diana. Wrote Mel.

Tuesday, April 19

No word from Mel. Diana called the publisher and found out who manages all the design teams; wrote the manager.

Wednesday, April 20

Sunny, in the low seventies. Went to the falls down the street and took photographs. Studied the gardens. Have been practicing the Ravel, the Liszt. The painters continue to scrape and patch and prep our house for painting. Called the fence man; he will come Friday to replace one strip of fencing near the coal bin. Called the fellow who is replacing the studio door; the mail slot he ordered should arrive soon. Called our handy man about the tub next door; they put the new ceiling vent in but forgot to sand the spackling so I can paint. Have not called the plumber yet about the kitchen faucet. Still need to call Joseph about installing gutter screens; he also needs to repair the carport roof next door, the one he put his hand through last year. The aide came and did laundry. Kristin came to help me in the gardens; she felt sick so I sent her home.

Thursday, April 21

An e-mail from the publisher’s design teams manager. Our newest design team leader, Mel, is on vacation. Tim wrote and said he would help us while Mel is away. Tim has the wrong version of the corrected interior of the book. Wrote Diana. Wrote Tim.

Still working with the fellow in Trinidad. He is still mystified, does not know how to integrate his spiritual studies with daily life. Yesterday I wrote him: " If you are not living the spiritual Quest, then you are not on it." Tonight I introduced the idea that Divine Ideas run through our lives, every moment of every day. Therefore every person, every event - no matter how powerful or insignificant - is in our life for a reason.

Friday, April 22

The fence men came today, they are clearing out the woodpiles, carting the wood away so they can get to the old fence to take it down; Rick is putting a mail slot in the new studio door; the painters are still scraping and prepping the house; my aide is doing the laundry. A neighbor’s cat is scampering around in the back gardens, tried to climb the tree. All sorts and sizes and shapes of elves are everywhere, fixing and clearing and fussing over the house.

Diana wrote Tim, our newest design team leader; her e-mail was far too technical for me to understand, but basically she is not pleased. Diana also persists in her objections to the four blank pages the publisher team is insisting on adding on at the back of the book. She wrote: "It's absolutely backwards, what he's claiming about the InDesign files; and he is wrong about the book needing a number of pages divisible by four. . . the correct number by which it must be divisible is -. This is printer’s basic knowledge. "

In any case: it appears this will take more time and effort than we had hoped.

Thursday, April 28

An e-mail from Diana. Our new design team person sent a new proof and Diana is almost willing to approve the interior of the book . The four blank pages were deleted, the other problems corrected. All that remains is that this new team puts the page numbers as Diana has them, starting with page one on the left hand page.

Meanwhile the new fence and gate are up; the house is painted save the trim; the mail slot for the studio door is installed and working; I need to call the roofer, the porch roof has holes in it; Jim will come and haul the rest of the woodpile away next week; still have to call the fellow to put in gutter screens and repair the carport roof next door; St. Francis’ head fell off his statue, bought glue at Agway. And who knows what tomorrow will bring ... Bought pansies for the window boxes; some of the dahlias I started indoors are inches high; the sunflower seeds I planted in peat pots are beginning to sprout. JD came over this afternoon and we played through a four hand version of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, transcribed by Rimsky-Korsakov’s wife. Thought I was in Heaven. Then we attempted a transcription of Wagner’s Tannhauser Overture, arranged by the great pianist Hans von Bulow.

Saturday, April 30

Spoke with Diana on the phone last night. She said I should approve this version of the galley. Wrote Tim today and approved it. He wrote back to say that now the book would go into the last stages of production, and would be ready for printing in two weeks or less.
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