I managed to hear half of my Quick Word radio show this afternoon.  It was not the show I had recorded for today; that suggests that the radio station had trouble downloading the programs, probably because of the file size problem.  I’m going to have to go back and see what I can do about that.

Speaking of file size problems, I ran into one in connection with the cover of Do You Trust Me?  Yes, the good news is I have the front cover; I’m working on the back.  It was delivered to me last night on paper, and I scanned it this afternoon.  I used the very best quality scanning my scanner would provide–and the result was a file so large than none of my art programs could resize it.  I wound up scanning it again at lower resolution, and it is now ready.  I had a couple of quotes I wanted to include on the back from a couple of ministers who read it a few months back; I’ll have to hunt for their letters.  I have been getting eager to the point of antsy to get this in print.

At the end of last week I received word that someone about two hours away needed a ride here by midweek, and it was agreed that I would pick him up on Monday, that is, today, after taking care of my mother-in-law’s shopping trip.  To some degree I scrambled my day, so that I could make sure people were fed and get a fair amount of the work done before making what was to be a six hour errand.  It did not all work exactly according to plan, but I had finished the first half of it and was about to make the last jump when I got word that there had been a change at his end, that complications had arisen and he was not certain he could make it and would make other arrangements.

I’ll confess that I was disappointed but also relieved.  He is a big help when he is here, but I was already tired and knew I had much to do still–particularly since the final front cover for the Faith and Gaming book had arrived in the e-mail, and I was going to have to deal with formatting and uploading files to finish that book.

That book is now available.  It is in a sort of pre-release form–only because the next formal step is to set up a distribution package, which means adding an ISBN, which means editing that onto the title page of the book and uploading the edited text and losing a few days of availability while everything is put in place–a few days I cannot afford if I am to have copies for Ubercon.  So I am ordering my copies for that (not too many, but enough to have available), and when I get a chance to clear my head I’ll take the next step.

That means copies ordered now will be different from those ordered in a couple weeks, as they won’t have the International Standard Book Number or barcode on them.  I know some people like having those unusual copies.  Of course, it also means I’ve not seen them and don’t know how they actually look, but that’s part of the charm.

Much to do.  Let me get to it.

–M. J. Young

Although I cannot claim much progress yesterday, I can mention that there is progress happening.  The cover for the first Game Ideas Unlimited book has already been uploaded, apart from the spine which I am assured will be simple once the text is uploaded.  I’ve received some rather promising drafts of a cover for the Faith and Gaming book, as well, produced by a young lady (transactions mediated by her father)–although they are having technical difficulties getting her hand-drawn artwork to scan right.  So the books are moving closer to completion despite the fact that I’m not making much progress on them.

Meanwhile, I was invited to sing at a church coffeehouse, a sort of talent show setting where they have many different sorts of performers sharing the stage.  I in turn passed the invitation along to Collision, and tonight’s rehearsal will be preparatory for a two-song first gig.  I was concerned that I had not heard back from Brittany, our vocalist/rhythm guitarist, but lead guitarist Baxter tells me that she’s very excited about this.  Bass guitarist Adam, meanwhile, is rather nervous–it will be his first public performance, and although he quite well knows the two songs we’ll be doing, he’s still worried about making mistakes.  I suppose it will be after Saturday night’s show that he will decide whether he really does want to be in a band or not, as it will be his first experience of the real point of it all.

Our youngest houseguest has an appointment this afternoon, and almost as soon as he arrives home from school I’ll be leaving to take him there.  Meanwhile, with dinner to prepare and a rehearsal slated, I’m doing my best to complete as much as I can in the gaps.

–M. J. Young

I’m still working on those two books, Faith and Gaming and Game Ideas Unlimited Volume 1.  The problem presently is that the new Adobe Acrobat program, while it probably works much better than the one I was using, does not work the same as the one I was using, and I’ve not been able to figure out how to make it do what I want it to do.

It has to do with font embedding and paper size, both of which have to be right, and different for each document.  There are two ways to move a Word document into Portable Document Format–one by opening Word and exporting it, the other by opening Acrobat and importing it.  These have different requirements, different controls, and different default settings.

The printer that will be handling Game Ideas Unlimited requires that the pages be an unusual size–what they call Comic Book Size–and that the files be kept small by embedding all the fonts needed but no others.  If I work from Acrobat, it will import the file exactly as it appears, automatically setting the page size to match the settings in Word–but I cannot get it to embed any fonts at all.  This is particularly frustrating, because it is evident that were I able to get it to embed all the fonts, I could then remove all the fonts I do not wish to have embedded; but with no fonts embedded, I cannot add them.

If, however, I work from Word, it asks me to select a paper size for the target document, from a list of paper sizes that have not dimensions but names–things like A2 and Legal.  I know what those are, but I do not know even a tenth of the document names, and I do not know which one would be right for the “comic book” dimensions I’m using.  Nor have I been able to find a listing anywhere of what size each of those names indicates.  I do have control over font embedding from that end, but I’ve not worked out how to get the right paper size.

So I’m racing against the clock, and the artist, who has already uploaded the cover images (and I’ve not had time to review them, but I trust him on this), needs the PDF completed and uploaded so he can get the spine dimensions and finish that; but the clock keeps me running in other directions, too.  My mother-in-law had to take her social security check to the bank today, which means I had to be there early enough to do that before taking her shopping; I also had to fix dinner, because the man who loves to cook for us is now cooking for someone else for the present.  I don’t mind doing it, but it is time consuming.

So here I am, the night slipping away and no extra time in it, trying to finish today’s work and be ready for tomorrow’s, letting you know that I am trying to have those books ready by the end of the month, but it’s going to be a challenge.

–M. J. Young

My thanks to those who have encouraged me to get some rest. I slept reasonably well last night and this morning, and although I am fighting occasional hints of queasiness I am not certain whether it is from the early stages of being sick, or merely from thinking about it.

I am considering cancelling tonight’s Collision rehearsal. I am loathe to do it, as Baxter missed last week, and Brittany’s mother will be going in the hospital mid-month which will put sufficient demands on Brittany that she will probably miss a few, and we are nowhere near as far along as drummer John would wish us to be. I think I will not cancel; but I will have a lot of work because of that. The man who loves to cook is fighting the illness, and last night was losing, so I have already started working on dinner in the expectation that he will not be able to manage it. I’ve already told Adam that I will want to practice with him even if no one else shows, as we are badly behind and he’s missed a few rehearsals himself.

I received an encouraging letter about the forthcoming book, Do You Trust Me? I had sent electronic copies to a few people in ministry I know (I had asked on a private list whether anyone was willing to give it a once-through and let me know if it was sound, and these people wrote to say yes, they would read it). One has responded, praising the work. I guess I should pressure my daughter-in-law to move forward on that cover art.

If I’m to accomplish everything, I must keep moving, so here I go.

–M. J. Young

It is Monday, so of course I took my mother-in-law shopping. I took advantage of the trip to pick up a son from his brother’s house, who will spend a few days and go back on Thursday, when there are several people needing to travel north (enough that I am not certain how we will all fit in the car, in truth).

I also remembered that for Christmas we bought art supplies for someone, and after wracking my brain a bit I remembered who (it has been a stressful holiday season). My daughter-in-law dabbles in art as a hobby. She has agreed to undertake creating a cover for the forthcoming book, Do You Trust Me? I am particularly encouraged, as when I explained the essence of the book to her over the phone, she described an image very like what I had imagined (and knew was beyond my abilities). She has already shown me an initial pencil sketch, as I delivered to her a copy of the text of the book to help her better understand it, and I like what I see.

She keeps asking when I need it; I keep saying that I’m not pushing her. It took too long to get previous covers finished, and I can’t imagine it will take her so long to do this one, so I’m happy already.

–M. J. Young