I wasn’t making much progress on my book due to lots of distractions and household chores (and probably too much socializing), so I headed for my cottage up north.

It’s been a successful little writing retreat!

I finished selecting all the essays and poems, organized them, reorganized them, and finally found a cohesive order (I hope). Then I realized I hadn’t added the graphics I intended. I thought some small line drawings would add some interest and break up all those pages of words.

I found a site called vecteezy.com. After taking advantage of their free trial, I ended up subscribing for $15 per month so I could access thousands of freebies I can legally add to the book.

Here’s a sample:

Once I put it all together by sections, I headed out to my porch to ruthlessly cut out anything that I felt was repetitive or just not my best. I (accidentally) ended up with exactly 100 pieces. Not sure how that happened.

It’s in the hands of my trusty proofreaders now (thanks – Wally, Jo, Marsha, and Tina!!). All in all a profitable week so far.