Last night was my first presentation of my book. My friend and colleague invited me to speak at her local National Association of Professional Women (NAWP) chapter at their monthly meeting. I was very unsure about what I was going to discuss, until a single word was identified by my mom.
The NAWP's mission statement is, "...to provide the most advanced forum for members to connect with like-minded professional women to develop innovative business and social relationships. We continuously offer our members the resources and benefits necessary to foster professional and personal success." Their M.O. is empowerment. Empowering professional women through relationship building and networking. It is a great group of women. If it wasn't for the $500+ annual membership fee, I would join...
Thus, night before my presentation, my mom called me (as usual) and asked what I was planning on discussing. I started by saying that I believed it really began for me in 1997 with the Publishing Course I had taken at the University of Colorado. During that course of study we worked on Tuesdays with Morrie, and ....
Mom said, "No." And I am glad she did. She asked who the group was and I explained their concept was empowerment, yada, yada, yada. "That is what you should talk about. Your book is designed to empower women with knowledge about marriage law and their rights within their union."
Eureka!
She was right (as usual)! Sometimes, when you are so entrenched in a project, you forget the essential element that got you to where you are. The whole point of this project is to empower women and to provide them with the necessary tools to make the right decisions for themselves. I was too focused on the non-emotional part. The reality was that the component of empowerment was right before me - EMPOWERMENT.
So, my discussion began there and the rest went very smoothly. I hope the audience enjoyed me brief talk. It felt good too to really let the spotlight shine. In our day-in-and-out lives, we lose sight on our need for attention. And, damnit! It felt great to be the center of it for once. I am so fortunate to have been invited to speak and I really cherish my friendship with my friend. What a great opportunity she provided for me :))) I also got some great contacts for design help and outreaching to local professors - I feel like I might be on my way here...
CC
Friday, August 30, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
"A formatting we shall go, a formatting we shall go, hiegh-ho, the dairy-o, a formatting we shall go..."
The one bane of my self-publishing existence thus far has been the annoyance of not being able to line up the indented material in my text. Since my book is legally based, I reference a lot of case law. Any quote that is longer than three typed lines requires special attention. It is called block quotation or long quotation. As you recall from English class, you make a small paragraph with smaller font, indent it, and then return to your regular text. It looked great in Word, but when I posted the book onto Kindle or CreateSpace, it looked all out of whack.
Here is what I have been dealing with ever since I first posted my text on these sites (see where it says "Marriage is one...":
As you can see, I have set the Microsoft Word options to show me the formatting. The arrows are tabs and the backwards P means paragraph (to figure out how to do this on your own computer, simply use your Help options when in Word or search online). Clearly, there are tabs where tabs should not be. What would make these tabs move all over the place? I mean, I did not put the tab there in the first place! What would make it do that? Hmmm...
A-Ha! I needed to end each line with an "enter". I needed to create little paragraph to set the boundary on the line for the CreatSpace software to comprehend where to end. Can you see the difference? Tab - > Text PARAGRAPH.
On and on, I feverishly ran through the text. Once I was done, I cleaned it all up a bit:
The finished product looks soooo much better. Huge improvement. I really think it will improve the readers' perception on the quality of the work. I am sure if I picked up a book and saw lots of inconsistencies with formatting, I would question the reliability of its contents.
It took me a couple of hours to really get the formatting problems down. For anyone using the CreateSpace service, you should just keep plugging away with these minor details. Personally, this was a MAJOR accomplishment in my own book. I feel so much better knowing I took the time to get it right rather than just letting it look a mess.
I have just reloaded this file into the Kindle edition. I hope to see that this improved the formatting issues there as well. This is so much fun!
CC
Friday, August 9, 2013
Judging a Book by Its Cover
After refreshing the interior of my book, I believe it is time to look at its jacket. Does my cover really work for my book? Here is the original cover:
I liked it because the peachy colors made it very feminine and the type was the same as the interior. I designed the ring using stock imagery and the circle tool in Microsoft Publisher. Very inexpensive and, I think, it conveys the interior's content. But does it work?
Short of returning to college to study cover art, I did a simply Google search. Here are some of the useful tips I discovered:
Inspiration
The following link shows very artsy, fartsy covers. Clearly, these people have Adobe Photoshop. Although I will never be able to create letters out of water, I do find these images to be refreshing and inspiring. Also exceptionally well thought out...
"50 Best Book Covers Of 2012: Design Observer Announces Winners"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/27/best-book-covers-2012-_n_3509364.html
To Serif or Not to Serif
Serifs are the little flairs on fonts, such as this Times New Roman Font. Non Serif fonts are like this Ariel font. Serif'd fonts are the easiest to read and the most commonly used font in books. Either way, the font chosen can really make an impression on the reader, especially on the cover. This begs the question, should I use a serif font or not? Here is an article that I believe has some great ideas on this point...
"5 Great Fonts for Book Covers"
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2011/08/5-great-fonts-for-book-covers/
I like that article, but it doesn't really help me with my topic, legal - So, I just typed in the Google search engine: legal book cover art. What appeared in the Web search field is the issue of copyright laws. This is not what I had in mind. So instead of changing my search terms, I decide to click the Images tab. What I find there was most interesting:
I am not sure if you can see that, but a majority of the book's titles are in ALL CAPS. Hmmm. That is an option I am going to try now...
I LIKE IT! I think it really conveys a new look. Much more dignified. Reserved. Trustworthy. I even did the whole INCREASING THE SIZE OF THE BIG WORDS.
Finally, the colors. As much as I like the peachy-ness of the other cover. I kind of want it to go to another place. However, when I change the color of the font, the title seems weak against the white cover. Now, I am thinking a black cover with a colored font on top, but I like the image of the ring (blue diamond, gold band). Thus, I have filled the text box black. Should I do blue letters? No. Should I do gold? Well, what does the color wheel say?
According to HDTV's color instruction, blue is a primary color and orange is its secondary color:
http://www.hgtv.com/decorating-basics/color-wheel-primer/index.html
For my needs, I am thinking I should go with a more reddish-orange than gold.
Are you ready for the before and after? I am! Let me see...
And now...
Wow! I think I really like it! The difference is amazing. The ring really pops and the font looks...sexy. Yeah, I said it. I think it is a great change! I will have to order a copy to see...I think the background is a little dark, but I think it works...
Exciting changes before the weekend. Have a good one!
CC
I liked it because the peachy colors made it very feminine and the type was the same as the interior. I designed the ring using stock imagery and the circle tool in Microsoft Publisher. Very inexpensive and, I think, it conveys the interior's content. But does it work?
Short of returning to college to study cover art, I did a simply Google search. Here are some of the useful tips I discovered:
Inspiration
The following link shows very artsy, fartsy covers. Clearly, these people have Adobe Photoshop. Although I will never be able to create letters out of water, I do find these images to be refreshing and inspiring. Also exceptionally well thought out...
"50 Best Book Covers Of 2012: Design Observer Announces Winners"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/27/best-book-covers-2012-_n_3509364.html
To Serif or Not to Serif
Serifs are the little flairs on fonts, such as this Times New Roman Font. Non Serif fonts are like this Ariel font. Serif'd fonts are the easiest to read and the most commonly used font in books. Either way, the font chosen can really make an impression on the reader, especially on the cover. This begs the question, should I use a serif font or not? Here is an article that I believe has some great ideas on this point...
"5 Great Fonts for Book Covers"
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2011/08/5-great-fonts-for-book-covers/
I like that article, but it doesn't really help me with my topic, legal - So, I just typed in the Google search engine: legal book cover art. What appeared in the Web search field is the issue of copyright laws. This is not what I had in mind. So instead of changing my search terms, I decide to click the Images tab. What I find there was most interesting:
I am not sure if you can see that, but a majority of the book's titles are in ALL CAPS. Hmmm. That is an option I am going to try now...
I LIKE IT! I think it really conveys a new look. Much more dignified. Reserved. Trustworthy. I even did the whole INCREASING THE SIZE OF THE BIG WORDS.
Finally, the colors. As much as I like the peachy-ness of the other cover. I kind of want it to go to another place. However, when I change the color of the font, the title seems weak against the white cover. Now, I am thinking a black cover with a colored font on top, but I like the image of the ring (blue diamond, gold band). Thus, I have filled the text box black. Should I do blue letters? No. Should I do gold? Well, what does the color wheel say?
According to HDTV's color instruction, blue is a primary color and orange is its secondary color:
http://www.hgtv.com/decorating-basics/color-wheel-primer/index.html
Are you ready for the before and after? I am! Let me see...
And now...
Wow! I think I really like it! The difference is amazing. The ring really pops and the font looks...sexy. Yeah, I said it. I think it is a great change! I will have to order a copy to see...I think the background is a little dark, but I think it works...
Exciting changes before the weekend. Have a good one!
CC
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Table of Contents?! We don't need no stinking Table of Contents?! Um, yeah we do...
I had no idea that at one point I would ask myself about my own work, "What chapter is that in?"
Table of Contents. They are actually quite necessary. And kinda hard to write. I decided to just go to the last chapter and work forward. I have read the beginning of the book so much, it was refreshing to start from the back. I simply skimmed the chapter and then wrote a sentence. Come to find out, I had two chapters that essentially covered the same topic. The best part of discovering that was discovering...well, that! The worse part of discovering that was the insecurity of the work as a whole that set in emotionally :( I hope it isn't crap. How embarrassing...
Oh, well - Here are my TofCs...
Table of Contents
1.
Our Constitutional right to marry as established by
Loving v. Virginia
2.
Brief introduction to legal procedure
(Why Louisiana has a civil code, how marriage laws and contract laws intertwine, etc.)
3.
You may not have realized this, but contractual obligations were initiated at the proposal
4.
Get excited!!!
Let’s talk about PRE-NUPS!
5.
Lots covered in this chapter, such as:
Covenant Marriages: Double-Duty Marriage Locks
Common-Law Marriages: Not!
The Big Three:
Absence of a Legal Impediment
Marriage Ceremony
Mutual Free Consent
(Fascinating reading, really.)
6.
The shortest chapter in any book ever.
I can sum it up here actually:
Marriage does not automatically change your last name.
Now you don’t even have to read it.
7.
Congratulations – Welcome to the laws imposed on your marriage automatically by our state legislature!
Did you know there are mutual duties imposed on your marriage by law?
And answering a married person’s favorite question:
“How do we own stuff together?”
8.
Management - Acting prudently and in the
best interest of the “community”
9.
Louisiana Succession Laws
~
What happens when a loved one passes away with or without a will?
10.
Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence’s Hotline
1.888.411.1333
11.
Finding the right attorney
Epilogue
Recommended items to file away for a rainy day
References
(Includes a Quick Introduction to Legal Citation)
Fini
CC
Table of Contents. They are actually quite necessary. And kinda hard to write. I decided to just go to the last chapter and work forward. I have read the beginning of the book so much, it was refreshing to start from the back. I simply skimmed the chapter and then wrote a sentence. Come to find out, I had two chapters that essentially covered the same topic. The best part of discovering that was discovering...well, that! The worse part of discovering that was the insecurity of the work as a whole that set in emotionally :( I hope it isn't crap. How embarrassing...
Oh, well - Here are my TofCs...
Table of Contents
1.
Our Constitutional right to marry as established by
Loving v. Virginia
2.
Brief introduction to legal procedure
(Why Louisiana has a civil code, how marriage laws and contract laws intertwine, etc.)
3.
You may not have realized this, but contractual obligations were initiated at the proposal
4.
Get excited!!!
Let’s talk about PRE-NUPS!
5.
Lots covered in this chapter, such as:
Covenant Marriages: Double-Duty Marriage Locks
Common-Law Marriages: Not!
The Big Three:
Absence of a Legal Impediment
Marriage Ceremony
Mutual Free Consent
(Fascinating reading, really.)
6.
The shortest chapter in any book ever.
I can sum it up here actually:
Marriage does not automatically change your last name.
Now you don’t even have to read it.
7.
Congratulations – Welcome to the laws imposed on your marriage automatically by our state legislature!
Did you know there are mutual duties imposed on your marriage by law?
And answering a married person’s favorite question:
“How do we own stuff together?”
8.
Management - Acting prudently and in the
best interest of the “community”
9.
Louisiana Succession Laws
~
What happens when a loved one passes away with or without a will?
10.
Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence’s Hotline
1.888.411.1333
11.
Finding the right attorney
Epilogue
Recommended items to file away for a rainy day
References
(Includes a Quick Introduction to Legal Citation)
Fini
CC
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