From blog to book...

As Barry and I were kind of planning our art year ahead - what we wanted to do, what we wanted to make, where we wanted to show etc, one of the things we discussed (at Barry's suggestion) was the making of a book based on my series of Thursday Thoughts.

For some reason two weeks ago I sat down and organised to do it - totally surprised myself!  And two weeks later to the day; here in my hand is a copy of my book.

I love it.

As ever with online publishing, you don't get total control over the look and feel; but I think it worked out well despite that.  The paper feels great; it is well-finished; the clarity of the photos is beautiful; and the text is nice as well.

I used shared book's blog2print platform and was very happy. It was easy to use and it gave you options (like choosing a timeframe - posts between such and such a date; post with such and such a title) which some others didn't.

A 20 page soft cover book starts at $14.95; a hard cover at $24.95, and extra pages are 0.35 cents each ($US). I bought two this time around, but I can buy more if the desire takes me!

Update: I have learned that only I can buy the book and that each book has 'not for re-sale' printed on it; which strongly suggests you can't sell it commercially or sell it on. So my book is for personal use only.

So, without further ado, here is Volume 1 - the first year of Thursday Thoughts...

The cover (it's shiny can you tell!?!?!)

I think this is called the dedication - I think of it as an introduction. It explains that I have included all the comments people made in response to my Thoughts; so that you can feel the personal conversational nature of it. This is Volume I, because it contains the first 52. Each anniversary date I will make another one.

My very first Thursday Thought.

A double page spread from last year.

You can see the comments and 'read the conversation'...

The final Thursday Thought in this volume. I kept the pages bent up because the book is so new and still bouncy, so apologies if it makes you feel sea-sick; but I didn't want to flatten it out just yet!

When I received my book and held it in my hands; it felt so right. It felt as if the world I inhabit on the blog had become even more real in a way that matters to me - by becoming a book I could hold in my hand and turn the pages of.  I love that all the Thoughts are there together, with the comments and conversations together. They are more accessible this way. I doubt I would ever go to the blog, click on 'label' and then drag up all the Thursday Thoughts and then scroll and click and open the comments and then go back and scroll and click and do it again, at least 52 times. This is perfect for me and I have enjoyed sitting down with old friends - me, my thoughts and the folk who comment - and smiling.

Thank you all for the engagement and interaction that makes for such a wonderful conversation.