Adventures In Book-Formatting

February was a bit all over the place for me. My dad had surgery mid-month (praise God he’s recovering SO WELL!), which meant that a more flexible schedule was necessary. But one of the tasks I was able to work on (while still being available to lend a helping hand), was working on my Bits and Bobbles art book. I’m so excited to say that I made some BIG PROGRESS on it!

I finished writing the poems, thought prompts, and story snippets, scanning the sketches, and digitizing them (lemme’ tell ya’, digitizing sketches is a PROCESS, and I’m SO glad it’s over with…) After all that prep work, all that was left was the formatting.

But I was afraid.

For a kid born in the early 2000s having grown up with technology (and a software developer for a dad!), nothing psyches me out more than technology, and I have a very “can’t do it” attitude when it comes to anything computer-related. In theory, formatting this book wouldn’t be that difficult. All I would need to do is follow the guidelines, set up the correct margins, and make sure everything was aligned and balanced on the page.

So, I read through the guidelines the printer gave me, and was IMMEDIATELY overwhelmed. In truth, I debated with myself for a while over whether or not to just pay the extra several hundreds of dollars for them to format it for me. But I was determined to do this myself, not only to save money, but to prove to myself that I could. So, I very, VERY carefully arranged my pages with the correct trim sizing and margins, and began filling the pages with my text and sketches (all the while whispering “You can do this! You’re not stupid!” over and over and over again…)

After MUCH finagling, a few extra cups of coffee, and possibly a few tears (I don’t know… it’s all a blur now…) the book is finished!

Anyhoo, I’m over the moon with passion for this project, and I cannot WAIT to show it to you! I hope it’ll touch your heart as much as it’s touched mine. Bits and Bobbles are my dearest characters, and I’m thrilled to share their story with you.

The pre-order sale goes live in my shop on Thursday, March 27th! 💛