Well, it only took six years...

I started writing The Disaster when I was eight years old.  It started off as a poem...

After six long years of writing this book, I can finally look back upon all my “disasters” as adventures! It is not easy to make something that matters nor to make something out of nothing, but I sure have learned a lot in the process. 

For instance, making my book cover was sort of a disaster.  I had this vision that I wanted to make “laundry” letters that were strung between two trees on a string, but I had a kind of Goldilocks situation.  At first, I made them too small. Then, I made them big enough, but I put them on such heavy cardstock I gave myself blisters trying to cut them with an Exacto knife.  Thank goodness Dad helped!

Then, I had to photograph them.  This was more of a challenge than I imagined due to shadows and lighting. I finally figured out that I needed to use a lightbox.

Then there’s the website.  There are so many formats to choose from it gave my choice paralysis.  I finally eeny-meeny-miney-mo’ed it. I hope it looks okay.

Last, but not least, there’s the challenge of getting out of bed. On a hot summer day, the last thing I want to do is stare at my computer screen for hours laying out my book to the millimeter so the margins and spaces between lines are uniform.  However, the truth is, the path towards becoming Picasso is laid with sweat, so I am putting forth unglamorous labor so that you, my readers, can savor the result.

Enjoy!

Kylie