Daily Project Blog

First I should say, sorry for the lapse in blogging.  The past month has been a blur of editing deadlines, book purchases, slideshow construction, and various other little things that had to be completed before May 22nd.  I should have blogged but I didn't.  And now, May 22nd is here!

I'm just praying that it's meaningful for the veterans and that they feel special today.  So much has gone into all of this, but this event especially, would not have been possible had it not been for the amazing gift of time and energy my mother, Shannon Moore, has given.  She has devoted herself as event-coordinator and I am so proud of what she's done for today's festivities.  

So many people have given so today could happen.  The veterans will be blessed because of your generosity.  Thank you!!!!!!!!!!  What an amazing gift the community is giving...

 After the event, I'll post a link to the blurb online bookstore where the book can be viewed and purchased.   And then starting Sunday, I'm going to take a whole week off from the computer and focus on my family.  So if you try to contact me (www.woodmoorephotography.com), I won't respond to you until the following week.  But I'll be back.  I'll plan on keeping this site up for at least six months following today.  

Hope to see some of you at today's big event!
 

Yesterday three books were pre-sold for veterans which means the veterans will get their books! Wow!  It's a dream come true.  Thank you so much.  I hope many of you who donated books will come on May 22nd (invites for you to come) so you can see what you've been involved in.

In the beginning, most of my family thought I was crazy for thinking this could happen.  Only a few believed. And even though I kept hoping, there were many times I thought we were asking too much of people.  It's amazing that so many people have come to surround this project with their support, dedication, and book purchases.  $100 for a book that you've never seen for a veteran that you don't know is a huge gift.  It takes a lot of faith and personal sacrifice and Christina and I are truly humbled by your incredible generosity.

I have to get back to putting together the book, but I cannot say it enough:  Thank you.  Thank you.  THANK YOU.

We only need 3 books to make our dream of giving each of the veterans a copy of their book a reality.  Wow.  I can't believe it.  I'd be singing right now, but I think I'll wait until the book is actually off to the publisher before I really breathe a sigh of relief and sing a song.  Here's a random fact, did you know that several of the veterans sang to us during our interview portion of the project?  Roy, Ervin, Vince, and Lonnie... And I may be forgetting a couple more.  

See you tomorrow, cyber world.

We have less than 48 hours and ten books to go.  Oh so close!  I know $100 is a lot for one person, but if you consider pooling money with other people (family members, coworkers, friends), perhaps you too could help complete this project! 

So after working a fourteen hour shift yesterday on the book, some would think I should be making lots of progress.  But no!  I ran into all sorts of problems with blurb's software.   After doing some research online, I discovered that "text-heavy" books (such as ours) don't copy and paste well when you're using a Mac computer.  You don't say?  Ugh.  So finally at 9 o'clock last night I gave up and we moved the project to my husband's (much slower laptop) PC and guess what?  The text copy and pasted much faster.  It's still going to be slow-going, but at least it seems workable now.  It's pretty sad when something that should take 10 minutes takes three hours- and I'm not kidding!  I will probably go ahead and insert the text using the old PC and then switch over to the Mac to import the photos and finish formatting.  What a hassle! 

Christina is planning on coming back tonight so we can finish up this week.  She is in the process of making edits.  We hope to have the book ready by the end of the week, so we can print off a rough copy and go over it, before sending it to blurb for printing.  

I have lots of work to do, and should go back to it!  Please consider buying a book for a veteran!  It will mean so much!

Got a little sleep and a little perspective, and we're feeling better about what we have left to accomplish.
 
We started laying out the book this week.  The software is a little funny.  And by funny, I mean tricky and temperamental.  It's going to take a little while to get used to it.

We're down to needing 12 books for veterans.  We've had a few promises of buying books that we're still waiting to hear back on... Crossing our fingers and saying our prayers.  It's going to be very close whatever happens.  

Christina's about half-way done with the edits.  And I have about 10% of the book done.  If I can figure out the software, I think I will enjoy this.  It's actually a very satisfying and fun part of the project.  Putting together the stories, with the pictures, making creative choices with the fonts and layout- I love this type of thing.  I just need to stop focusing on the what-ifs, and concentrate on what I can do now.  And today will be a good day.

We're so close...  More editing in the morning.  So close, but so far away yet.  And tomorrow is Thursday already!  

I just escaped to my room with my notes, a recorder, and computer. I'm not feeling well and hoping a little R&R might help the situation before I jump back into all the writing I still need to do.

Christina is over.  Because we live an hour apart, she decided to spend the week here instead of either one of us wasting time with commuting.  That's good.  After a day and a half of work, we are just finishing the "grading papers" phase.  We marked up each other's stories with blue pen and orange-colored pencil.  Now each of us has to go back to our work, make edits, if necessary make phone calls, and finalize the words we plan to use.  I have a feeling we'll be doing that all day tomorrow.  If we're speedy, we might make it to the layout phase by Thursday.  The sooner the better.

One week left until our book pre-order deadline of April 20th.  Fifteen books to go.  It's the final push.  If we don't receive books for all the veterans, all the money that's been designated for those books will be returned.  I'm getting nervous, but I can't even think about it.  My mom has been reaching out to more members of the community, and it's her dedication that's helped lead to several book donations lately.   

We're getting excited about the event. The invitations went out today. Hopefully they will all get where they're supposed to go. I am so hopeful that it will really be a special event for the veterans.  I care for these men and women, and I can't wait to see their faces when they see that so many people want to celebrate them. 

I still have a story and a half to write.  I'm hopeful I can finish one tonight and one in the morning before our next round of manic editing begins.  How do I still have a story and a half to write?  I added one more on Saturday.  I photographed and interviewed a longtime and well-known resident of Snohomish, Art Poier.  I swore I wouldn't do it, but apparently I have a slight problem with boundaries.  Oh well, in the end I am glad for it.  The pain associated with the work of adding another one is momentary.  His book is paid for already, and I sent his photo to the printers yesterday.  If I can finish 
his story tomorrow, that will be fantastic.

And if I can overcome this sore throat and achiness that's taken over my head without getting very sick, I will be very thankful.  No time for sickness now!  This is the homestretch!

Thanks to an incredibly generous donation from the Snohomish Kiwanis and the Chamber of Commerce, we are now down to needing just 17 books for the veterans!  WooHoo!  Tomorrow it's off to Snohomish...  Back to writing!  

I didn't finish anything yesterday.  I sat down to write two more stories and realized I should probably schedule one more follow-up interview to fill the questions in my mind, and I did.  So I'll be writing on Saturday after I meet with two veterans, Art and Honey.  They just so happen to be married, so it's just one stop.   When Christina and I started this project, we didn't know what we were doing.  I photographed, she interviewed, and we thought we'd figure it out down the road.  Well, here we are at the end of that road and after 40 interviews that include mostly the same type of info (birthdate, anecdotal stories, spouse's name, etc), it's hard to work with one that is missing a lot of those details.  So I will be traveling up to Snohomish this weekend after all.  I am kind of sad knowing that it will be my last time sitting down with veterans for this particular project. And then that feeling of sadness is immediately replaced with relief as I consider actually wrapping up the writing portion of this project.

When I was growing up, I wanted to be a writer.  I would write stories and then proudly read them aloud to my friends and family.  Many of the stories had drawings that went along with them.  But most of the stories I never finished.  My grandpa and grandma lived next door and my grandma was one of my biggest fans.  Then when I was in junior high, I created a magazine of sorts, "The Sweet Pea."  It included drawings, clip art, stories, and advertising for my grandparent's home-cooked meals. My grandma loved it and she was the only subscriber.  But I think the Sweet Pea had two issues before I became distracted by another project.  I have come a long way since those days, and have grown up a lot, but I have to say that in some ways putting together this project feels like some sort of culmination of my childhood dreams and a love for my grandparents.  And its something I'm finishing.  My grandma is gone now, but I can't help but think that if there's some sort of viewing room in heaven, she's looking down and smiling at all of this.  

It's almost there...

 

My mother came down yesterday to watch Caleb so I could escape to a nearby coffee shop and focus on writing.  She even cleaned while I was away, which she always insists on doing, but I especially appreciated yesterday with all the neglect my house has seen over the past several months.  I managed to write up 2 1/2 stories yesterday.  So now just four left this week before our editing/layout spree scheduled for next week.  Yesterday as I finished up one of the stories, I had my first, "Wow, I can really see an end in sight" moment.  I cherished the thought!  My mom is also speaking with the Snohomish Kiwanis tonight.  I'm praying!  I know Christina is working like crazy, as well.

I haven't always posted thank-you's on here- usually they go on FB or the Contributions page, but there are a couple other people I need to thank including, my dearest friend, Jodie, who works two jobs, finished a huge transcription for the project over the past week.    She sent me an email after 2am this morning.  She generously gave the gift of her time and focus.  I love you Jod!  And thank you to my sister-in-law, Karla, who spent several hours addressing envelopes and invitations, despite the demands of three children, and a home business.  Thank you.  

Finally, I know it's not a big thing, but I got such a kick out of the following, I have to share it.  A month or so ago I was reading on CNN that a special stamp was being issued that honored World War II cartoonist, Bill Mauldin.  The stamp has a photo of Mauldin and one of his sketches.  Some of the veterans had cartoons in their scrapbooks that were his (or at least looked like his) work.  Last week, my husband called the Post Office to see if they had some, and they said they didn't think any post office had them, BUT we could order them online.  They came two days ago.  They are the most beautiful stamps I have ever seen.  When I put them on the little return card envelopes, I almost cried, I was so excited.  Clearly, I am not getting enough sleep at night if that type of thing thrills me so much, but perhaps it was the feeling that it's all coming together.  I don't know if the veterans will even notice, but if even one does, and it brings a smile to his or her face, it was totally worth it.

Another productive 3-5am work shift.  Now off to bed, and more stories to write in the morning!