Potential Cover/Artwork

Lansdown Cemetery, Bath, UK

Lansdown Cemetery, Bath, UK

William Beckford is buried in this cemetery. I have a shot of his grave, but, really, it's not that stunning.

Haworth Cemetery, Haworth, UK (Bronte parsonage)

Highgate Cemetery, London

Everybody who was anybody...

Pere Lachaise, Paris

I spotted this black cat, stalking among these folks...

Note: The death's head I'm using for the blog title is from Greyfriars in Edinburgh.

Complete overhaul...

Whew...it's been a long and frustrating month.

Everything's been changed. Regrettably, I am now no longer able to publish Will's work surrounding the Ohio River Valley. Due to unforeseen circumstances that are no one's fault--you could call them "acts of God"--I've had to completely switch gears. Talk about a total 360...I am now publishing a collection of 18th century graveyard poetry (I might squeeze a 19th century piece in there). See here, and here.

Why did I pick this? Well, first and foremost...because the above unforeseen circumstances put me many weeks behind schedule, and I've got a lot of catching up to do. Compounding the problem, my hard drive failed a few days ago. I was able to save a lot of data to an external hard drive before it kicked it, but I did lose some...mainly, all the work I've done in my classes this semester. So, it's sort of like jumping into the middle of the semester with nothing and trying to catch up to where you're supposed to be. My time, very suddenly, became very precious.

I don't have time to find another author, negotiate a contract, find new cover art, etc, etc. Right now, I should have a printer's estimate and I should be well into the layout. Solution: Public Domain. And, for me, the obvious choice really is graveyard poetry...

I haven't come across too many collections of graveyard poetry and find it very underrated. I spent my undergraduate studying 18th and 19th century gothic literature, so, I have in interest and a background in this (if you'd like, I can send you a doc file of my thesis The Influence of Swedenborgianism on the Supernatural Literature of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu...ooOOooo..). I like the stuff and I think it holds an important, though quiet, place in the gothic tradition. No graveyard school, maybe no Otranto, or Vathek, and so on...well, I'm sure they would have come along, or something like them, but the graveyard poets, I think, set the literary stage for these sorts of musings, and I appreciate that. So, there you go...

As for cover art, I've got that covered, many times over. Any time I visit a big city anywhere, I try to hit their cemeteries, so I have literary hundreds of decrepit cemetery photos. I'll post a handful I'm considering for the cover and/or inside artwork.

And that's that. Desperate times, desperate measures. I'm hoping to be at the printer's tomorrow getting an estimate, and on Saturday I'll be continuing the layout, which I have actually started. Right this moment, I'm going to do some proofing...fun...

Update #1

There's not a whole lot to report, actually. It's a lot of groundwork-laying. I can see this blog is going to be at least 40% of me bitching and complaining about the various pitfalls/pratfalls that this process entails.

Will is plugging away at the manuscript, and will be contacting two folks: one for some photography to consider for the cover art, and another for a possible introduction to the book. These are good things.

I wasted a surprising amount of time today with my school.

On the phone: IT says that yes, they have Microsoft Office Suite, which includes Microsoft Publishing, and yes, they have it for Mac--a mere 15$, just swing on by and pick it up. Okay!

On campus: What? No. We don't...no. We don't have that. (Can you check? I talked to someone earlier and they said you had it, for Mac.) I watch the guy pull a CD out of a box marked "Mac Microsoft" in black magic marker on the side, then he goes over to his desk, doesn't look at the CD, looks at his computer monitor for about 30 seconds, turns to me and says "No, not for Mac."

This is situation #67 that student workers in various departments have given me completely false information and wasted my time and energy.

I'm am--as I type this--downloading Scribus. I have no idea if this will help me, or how complicated it will be. In the meantime, a friend is hunting down MS Pub for Mac, although I'm not sure if it exists.

Hmmm...understand, I know nothing about this stuff. I will be learning as I go along, so any luck you've got stashed somewhere that you're not using...feel free to pass that my way.

Anyway...I've narrowed down a few print places on the South Side that I will get quotes from as soon as I know exactly what's going in this thing.

As far as I know, the weekend of April 16, 17, & 18...one of those dates (not yet confirmed) will be the date of the book launch. We are doing it as a class--a sort of "Book Carnival," if you will. But once we've got the date and a space, I'm going to push for an author reading schedule as soon as possible, so I can promote Will & his book on their own.

That's where we are. Huzzah...

Following Button

Hi folks,

I just added a Followers button to the left for anyone to sign up with, so that when I post some update, you'll know.

Cheers,
K

Introductory Post

Hello friends and family (and whoever else stumbles upon this blog).

So, this semester, I am an intern at an independent publishing company here in Pittsburgh. This is not a paid internship; I am doing this for credit at school that will go towards the publishing certificate after which I am chasing. Part of the requisite for taking this position is to simultaneously take the school's Independent Literary Publishing course, which is taught by the owner/editor of press for which I am interning.

Unfortunately, while applying for this position and registering for this class, I was under the impression that the cost of publication for the chapbook that I must produce was covered in the class fees. It is not, and I don't have the luxury of dropping this class until I am in a better financial position to take it. Of course, when that would be, anyway, is unclear, as I live from month to month off of fellowship money (yes, in addition to the internship, I am a fellow for the school's literary journal. No, I don't have time to eat or sleep).

The purpose of this blog is two-fold: to raise money for the publication of this chapbook, and to keep those who've donated up on the progress of said chapbook. The syllabus for the class containing the deadlines at each step towards publication is break-neck. There are a number of things I need to get taken care of before I can put together a solid budget, but I can estimate that the costs will likely be between $300-$400 (perhaps more once I consider promotional materials, which is mandatory through the class). It'd be nice if I could rise that money here, but you'd have to know that this is charity work--I could not pay this back. I am hoping the production of a nice little book and the joy of helping little ol' me might be enough repayment for a donation. I can only do my best to produce something nice, get a good grade, and if I've raised enough money, to send a copy of the book to everyone that's donated.

That being said, as things are now, I am in contract negotiations with author William Whitaker (some of you may know him), to make the subject of this chapbook a series of short stories centered around the Ohio River Valley, which I'm very excited about.

A note about the PayPal button to the left: I've just set that up and made a test-donation, which went through just fine. It is secure. However, if you would feel more comfortable writing a check, I will certainly accept checks.

Make it out to: Kriscinda Meadows

Send to:

920 Norfolk Street #2
Pittsburgh, PA 15217

I'm sorry I can't be more formal with this...all of this is moving very quickly and I need to get it going immediately. Thanks for your help and your patience.