I teased on Facebook that I’d provide more information on
the “summit” of the metaphorical mountain I had finally ascended back on March
25. It’s not the tallest peak there is, but the tallest peak I've ascended to
this point in my publishing career. Now it’s time to tell you more about the
climb and the view. For more background on what I’m talking about, refer to my
blog post “Recording More than Just Cats” (October 28, 2014).
In a nutshell, for ten months of my LDS mission I talked
about each day’s events into a tape recorder rather than writing the
experiences down in a longhand journal. From 2003 to 2011, I transcribed all thirty-six
hours of recordings and then edited, proofed, and added end notes to the text. In
2011, I started formatting the text in InDesign CS4. In the past twelve years I've
worked on this project, there have been a few years I haven’t touched this
project at all. When I have worked on it, it’s been no more
than an hour at a time because of full-time employment and other conflicting
priorities.
After becoming self-employed in December as a personal
historian, I decided that in order for anyone—including myself—to trust me to
publish anything, I'd have to have published something. I've been in the writing business for years, but I've never been the person to take a project
the final steps to publication.
While at BYU, publishing opportunities slipped through my
fingers in situations beyond my control. My English 318R class required me to publish
a short, personal history project. After I finished it, no matter how many
times I took the zip disc to the BYU Print Shop or even to Kinko’s, no one could
print it. There were always problems, like missing fonts or a corrupted zip
disc. In 2002, the student publication adviser chose me to be the co-editor of a student journal called Inscape: Conference Edition. Soon afterward, the English department pulled funding.
Funding returned a year later—during my final semester of college, as I limped and crawled to the finish line of graduation.
While a newspaper reporter, I worked in a bureau in a
separate county from the newsroom. For a single month, I worked in the
newsroom. I proofed the paper each afternoon on the day prior to circulation;
however, I never took part in taking it to the printer. I had a much, much
larger role to play in a magazine production process at Harris Publishing;
however, once again, the artist formatted the magazine and prepared it for
publication, not me. That’s where my experience has stopped.
Until now.
As this year began, having taken a year or so hiatus from my missionary book project, I didn't know where I had left off. Tired of putting
it together piecemeal, and while finding side jobs wherever I could, I've spent
most of my time—hours per day—working on this missionary journal, which I now
call My Captain’s Logs.
At the
beginning of February, I started proofing the entire book—five chapters and an
epilogue—for the umpteenth time. I realistically cannot count how many times
I've proofed this book, but I can say I've completed every step in this production
process myself. I did that for the bragging
rights, not because I should have.
I intentionally made this project more complicated than it needed
to be, partly to give me my first taste of publishing a truly professional book,
and partly for the benefit of readers unfamiliar with LDS jargon. The preface
explains how the project came to be. The epilogue concludes my mission between
the time the final cassette ended and when my stake president released me three
days later. End notes explain details or complete events I had forgotten about while
recording the captain’s logs (so that those memories won’t be lost for all
mortality). The glossary explains LDS jargon and missionary culture mentioned
too frequently in the text to be included in the end notes.
Starting on February 4, I devoted the entire month to proofing
the main text—several hundred pages—one last time. During the proofing process,
I came up with scores of new end notes for every chapter I hadn't yet written
that needed including. So as to not derail my proofing, I marked each spot in the
text for a new end note and continued on. Once I completed proofing the book, the
day after my birthday I went back and wrote all of those missing end notes—as
well as even more notes I hadn't thought of while proofing it that final
time—and renumbered the end notes in the Notes section and corresponding text.
I also had to confirm every cross-reference I mentioned in every chapter.
At one point I felt like Lewis Carroll's Alice, metaphorically plunging down
a rabbit hole. Much like picking rock in a field while growing
up on a farm, the more rocks I picked the more I found. With this, the more I corrected
the more needed to be verified/corrected. Once I finished writing new end notes,
I proofed the end notes. And then I proofed the glossary. Then based on the
sixteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style (2010), I corrected front
matter, back matter, general formatting, and I checked for style consistency
throughout the entire Book document until I finally felt satisfied with the
changes I’d made. Since the day I felt I had finally reached the
summit—finishing a complicated project I started twelve years ago—I've even
added a few final end notes. Just this afternoon, I even revised one end note
to make it more factually accurate.
Now that I stand on this summit, feeling the cool wind on my
face and enjoying the spectacular view of a completed project, I look ahead to the
peak rising yet above me on the next mountain over. I've already run into
hiccups on my way up the new slope—the website of a book printer based in
Caldwell, Idaho, won’t even let me send them a quote request, which I've
attempted several times. I’m still working on it.
My plan is to have it printed, bound, and delivered no later
than the sixteen anniversary of my release from my mission (June 23). I’ll
distribute those ten or so copies to family members and mission friends. Like I
mentioned in my blog post in October, if you want a copy let me know. Donations
will be gladly appreciated.
However, you’ll notice—after the countless hours and years of
manpower I've poured into this book—it doesn't even have an index or an ISBN
number.
I’m saving those for the second edition.
