Yes, the contact I mentioned in my last post has worked out. A local woman, a resident of the same city I live in, Bella Vista, will provide the artwork for the cover of Father Daughter Day. And, she says she doesn’t want to be compensated for it, except for receiving a copy of the book. She has a few things on her plate, but says she will most likely start on it next week, in an art class.

She also said that, as she read the book, ideas came to her for interior illustrations. That would be nice. At one time I had hoped for quite a few illustrations in the book. Then, as finding an illustrator became more and more difficult, I decided I’d settle for a few nicely done illustrations.  Then, as more time passed with no illustrator, I decided on worrying about the cover only. I soon determined I couldn’t do it on my own. If we can go from that lowly position back to having a few nice illustrations inside the book, as well as a nice cover, that will be a step up in the world.

So things are rolling. I don’t really know how long any of this will take. Formatting the book itself for print should only take an hour or so. For e-book, because of the need to make every line text-wrap in the right way, it should take longer, perhaps half a day or maybe less using Word’s styles feature. Could it all happen before the end of the year? Maybe, but right now I’d say more likely in early 2015.

In terms of completed books, my first was Doctor Luke’s Assistant, and my second was Father Daughter Day. I haven’t talked about this for a while. It’s a story, told in a series of poems, about a weekend day a dad has promised to spend with his daughter. He at first doesn’t want to fulfill his commitment, but does, and winds up more blessed than she was.

This has been finished since 2006, though I’ve tweaked a few of the poems in the years since then. My original plans were to seek a trade publisher for this. Alas, I quickly saw that wasn’t going to happen. It was too Christian for the general market, not Christian enough for the Christian market. And who reads poetry anyway? I didn’t submit it to many places, but I discussed it with some editors and agents, and let’s just say I wasn’t encouraged to continue to seek trade publication.

I haven’t self-published it because I felt that it would be better as an illustrated book. I mean a richly illustrated book, with a black and white sketch-type illustration on each page, tied in to the text on the page. Nothing fancy, simple sketches. Yet, when you figure the book would run 75 pages when formatted as poetry books usually are, and maybe 150 pages with room for illustrations, meant perhaps as many as 150 of these sketches/illustrations. How could I get that done?

My first thought was to have an art class do it as a kind of practicum course. I checked with two local high schools. One principal didn’t get back with me. When I saw him six months later and asked about it, he said, “We’re just not big enough to handle that kind of project.” I resisted the urge to reply, “That information would have been quite helpful six months ago.” A teacher at the other high school gave me the name of the art teacher. I contacted her, and she seemed genuinely interested. She said she would contact her principal about it. That was the last I heard from her. Four years later I’m still waiting (not really; gave up a long time ago).

I also contacted the art departments of two Christian colleges, via e-mail. In one case I had a recommendation via a writing professor at that college. In both of these cases, I never received a reply to my e-mail. It was kind of like submitting an unsolicited query to a Christian literary agent. The submittal/request/query goes off into the ether, never to be seen or heard from again.

Moving on to Plan B, I started talking with some artists. I discovered a cousin’s wife was an artist. She seemed interested, but declined, the birth of their first child being an obviously greater priority. One woman I met at a writers conference was interested, but was far to busy in her studies to take on a project of this size. Other leads of artists came up. I discussed it with them, and either none were particularly interested or the project was too big for them. I can understand that. Up to 150 illustrations that fit the context of the story, even if they are simple, is a big project, especially if a few of them are made more artistic for use as covers or full page inserts. I have no money to pay someone, so they would have to take the work on for a share of the royalties, which are a very uncertain remuneration. So I’m stuck.

A couple of nights ago I decided to just go ahead and self-publish the book as an un-illustrated paperback. I have one more poem I’d like to add to it, one that I’ve started on a few times but could never get it to where I liked it. I have a few conceptual sketches for the cover (or at least the title), which I’ll do myself. The interior formatting won’t be a very difficult thing.

So, before the end of the year, Father Daughter Day will be one of my publications. In a follow-up post I’ll re-set my publishing schedule.

My other work in progress that is actually finished and in search of a publisher is Father Daughter Day. This is the story of how a dad kept his promise–reluctantly at first–to spend a Saturday with his daughter. He struggles with this as they hike in a State park, eat fast food, drive in the car, and mow the lawn. He prays often during the day. The daughter seems unaware of his misgivings, and thoroughly enjoys herself. She even turns down a chance to play with some girlfriends who drop by, because she has promised to spend the day with her daddy and wants to help him mow the lawn. By the time evening comes, he is enjoying himself, and by nightfall is more blessed than his daughter.

The unique thing about this book is that the story is told in poetry. Thirty-seven poems, in a variety of styles and lengths, more formal than non-formal. Each poem is intended to both stand on its own and form a seemless part of the story. Included are three sonnets, one sonnet sequence, a villanelle, a long ballad, a long mixed-verse story, a number of cinquains, a number of haiku, and some free form poems (not to be confused with free verse).

Some of the poems are specific to what the dad and daughter are doing. Others are more generic about the activities they are engaged in: about rising for the day, about eating breakfast, about reading, about hiking, etc. If you pull these short, generic poems out, the remaining “story” poems still make sense, though perhaps with more gaps. Three of the poems are “children’s books” that the daughter brings along to read in the car.

I finished the last of these poems in June 2006. Actually, my original plan called for three other poems. Unfortunately the inspiration for these has not yet come, and, as I read the book as it is, it seems to read as a complete story. So if I never get those three written, I think I’ll be okay. Of course, even for completed poems, I’m always open to further tweaking and improvement.

I submitted this to two different Christian publishers, one unsolicited and one after a conference. Both said no. I’ve been slowly researching, hoping to find another publisher, but no viable candidates have surfaced. This may be one may have to be self-published.