I mentioned in a previous post something about a skinny book. What is it? I got the idea from Sally Jean; she calls it a “book-book.” I took a workshop with her and bought her book where she mentions it. Quite frankly, the term “book-book” seems a bit juvenile for me; but I liked the idea of it. So its the same concept, and I take no credit for “inventing” it. I just call mine a skinny-book.

First, what is it? Go to your local Kinkos and purchase 50 pages of plain white paper and have them cut in half length-wise. Have them cut a nice bright colored piece of thick card stock in half as well for the cover, and then ask them to bind the entire thing for you. Personally, I prefer the black spiral binder as it allows the book’s pages to fold easily back onto themselves and you can lie the book down flat on the table. Now you have a hundred-page 4.25 by ll-inch spiral bound book, ready for you to write your ideas and thoughts.

Now, keep the book with you and write your notes, ideas and epiphanies in, whenever and wherever they come. Like Sally Jean suggests, date the cover of your book from when you start writing in it to when you stop. Its also nice to leave a couple of pages blank in the front so when you’re done, you can write a “table of contents” of all the content inside once the book is filled. Keep the books around as you’ll be amazed as to how often you refer back to them. The cost of the book is between $8-$10, depending on how many pages they put in (sometimes I put more) and the quality of paper used. I don’t like it to be too thin or cheap as I like to write with the permanent thin markers and they tend to bleed through.

It’s also a good idea to change the color of the covers, if possible, whenever you create a new one. I am a very visual person and will remember writing something in the yellow skinny-book as to opposed to the one three months ago.

Why do I like the size of the skinny book? I mean why not just buy a notebook and write in it?

• The thinness of the book fits very neatly in my purse.
• On pages that are too wide (like a regular piece of paper) my writing tends to slant and get very messy
• There is something nice about writing on such a narrow piece of paper. I don’t get lost in my thoughts and I can more easily FIND the stuff I’ve written before. I mean think about it. Magazines and newspapers are written in thin columns. It is much easier on the eyes not to have to move so far from left to right when you read (and write!)
• I have a tendency towards ADD (or at least getting very distracted with “shiny things”); somehow the narrower width of the page helps overcome this.

So far, so good. I’ve actually decided to keep track of all my major projects right now instead of just three. “Three” didn’t make sense. So I have written out a “snapshot” list for each deliverable or project, working backwards in time. Then took each of those steps (at least the first 2-3 snapshots in that list) and written a to do list. It’s going okay. I’m trying to time myself so I don’t get lost and spend too much time on one thing. Hopefully, I can keep this up.

So now I have the to do list, but what I need is some sort of organizational tool that I can use to get me started and actually using it. I’m not very good at sustaining my use of to do lists, at list not in the past. I usually just don’t follow them after a short while whether they are on paper, on my iPhone, on the internet or on my computer. I’ve yet to find a system that will help me to follow it consistently. I could see maybe some really cool Flex/Air application written to aid in this. But of course I don’t have that now; all I have right now is Word. So the next step is for me to design some sort of paper/computer to do list or organization system to help me get through these items so I can accomplish the individual steps or snapshots that will lead me to the delivery of final product – in the example I am using, mailing at least five packets of my children’s book to publishers.

Okay, the previous step was relatively the fun part. The next step….not so much, because it actually involves creating the dreaded TO DO list. But this part is the really really important part. To tell the truth, this is the stage where I always seem to get stuck. Because this is the part where I always get overwhelmed, it’s important that I only do it a few steps at a time. My tendency is to be impatient and start out all “gung-ho” and take on too much. I quickly get overwhelmed or confused and stop. So the actual “to do list” needs to be done, taking only a few steps at a time from the previous list.

One reason I’d get overwhelmed is because I would try to see too far down the dimly lit road. How can I know what it will take to complete “step 7″ for example, if I haven’t even started on “step 1.” And why should I even be worrying about step 7 yet??

Starting at what is the bottom of my list, I break that one thing down into an actual “to do list.” A brainstorming session is in order and of course some of the “to do’s” on the list might be too small to even warrant putting them on the final to do list. But I’ll worry about that later. Right now I’m not trying to prioritize anything. I just want to make a list of everything I will need to do to make that “snapshot” a reality…even if an item on the list is “buy pencils.” Whatever it is, I’ll write it down.

If the to do list that I’m generating is too long (read overwhelming) it’s possible that my “snapshot” is too big and I need to go back in and break it into two or even more smaller snapshots. If there is nothing to do, then I should ask “why?” There should be something to do, even if its the end of the list and the item on the to do list is “get out of bed and do a happy dance!” I guess if the to do list has only one or two items and they seem like the mother of all items, then perhaps again this snapshot is too big (read overwhelming) and it needs to get broken down.

Depending on what the project is and where I am in the process of delivering it (the individual snapshots or steps) I will create this brainstorming to do list for 1-5 items. But I think more than that would be too many.

So the brainstorm to do list that I have come  relates to the first two steps from the previous list.

I finish piecing together the images for my first illustration. It is ready to be digitally painted.

1. Open Photoshop
2. Look at the illustration
3. Decide on the cropping and save it as a NEW IMAGE in case you change your mind later.
4. Adjust any of the images of the collage, if needed, due to the new cropping
5. Re-do the “lettuce patch“ in the collage
6. Create the inside borders of the illustration
7. Create the places of the illustration that will “bleed“ beyond the inside borders.

I play around with Painter and Photoshop to find the technique I want to use for the illustrations in my book.

1. Open illustration in Photoshop and save it as a test copy so as to not ruin the original. In fact, save a couple this way to be safe.
2. Open Painter and open the test illustration.
3. Experiment and play around with techniques until you come across a look you like for the illustrations
4. Keep a paper and pen nearby so as to write any notes to yourself you’ll need while playing and experimenting
5. Actually write some notes to yourself while experimenting. You WON’T remember what you did you later so write the notes. All of the gazillion things you tried will mush together. Keep it in your skinny-book.

A couple of important points. Some steps are so obvious that they are silly, like “open Photoshop.” Duh!! They can be removed from the final to do list. Some of the items on the to do list are so big that they are in fact the linchpin or whole ball of wax for the ENTIRE project. For example number 3 in the second snapshot of experimenting with the illustration style in Painter. That step is overwhelming but I can’t figure out  a way to break it down into smaller steps. So I think this step might be better served with an ongoing item on the to do list of “work on illustration style for 15-30 minutes”; this item will need to occur on the to do list until the desired outcome is reached, in this case finding a style that I want to use for all the book’s illustrations.

BTW, my “skinny book” is a thin book of blank pages that I have bound at Kinkos. I always have this book with me and jot down ideas or notes to myself. I date the books, write a table of contents in the front when that book is full, and keep it for future reference.

Okay…so here’s the gravy, I hope. This is the place I’ve always gotten stuck. The next step is to work backwards and write a sentence or brief paragraph (affirmatively in present tense) of what had to happen to get me to that step. Again, write it descriptively…so what did I see/hear/touch/taste/smell on each step, working backwards until I am at the beginning. I’m trying to keep each step a major point in the delivery…as though I have to answer to someone who wants an update of my progress on the project and let me, the boss, know that I’m on schedule. There isn’t a limit to the maximum number of steps, but I’m going to once again think in terms of snapshots in time. No details just yet. Again, I’m doing this offline in Word. But one of my projects below…

1. I celebrate my accomplishment by going out to a great restaurant with my boyfriend.
2. I go to the post office and mail the packets off to the publishers.
3. I assemble the book packets consisting of the cover letter, manuscript and book dummy.
4. I finalize the list of which book publishers I should send my book packet to.
5. I research the proper way to create a manuscript and book dummy, and what should be written in the most effective cover letter.
6. I tighten up the sketches of the remaining illustrations for the book.
7. I digitally paint the second illustration of the book for the book dummy using Painter and Photoshop.
8. I piece together the images and photos for my second illustration.
9. I collect at least 3 names of publishers per week and add them to my database.
10. I start a database of publishers’ contact information that I start to gather.
11. I finish illustrating the first illustration for the book. It looks awesome and I’m ready to start on the second one.
12. I play around with Painter and Photoshop to find the technique I want to use on the book’s illustration.
13. I finish piecing together the images for my first illustration. It is ready to be digitally painted.