The Inside Scoop on the Carver's Daughter

So when I began thinking about writing this book, I thought it would be simple. After all, I'd already written most of the content--I had eight years worth of pieces I'd written for Chip Notes, the museum's newsletter. All I had to do was compile them. Or so I thought. First I had to find them on my computer, which was a problem because in eight years, I'd gone through several computers and the original files were all over the place in terms of formatting. And I had to make a trip to the museum to find a couple in the archives and retype them. Once I had them all in order, I emailed the file to my editor to have a look at. The amazing Kate De Groot wields a mighty red pen, and I quickly realized the manuscript was a bit less finished than I thought.

Once I plowed through all Kate's comments, I started thinking about the photos. The wonderful museum folks had chosen lovely photos to go with all the pieces in Chip Notes. Some I ended up using, and some I wanted to change up a little. So that meant going through old scrapbooks, dusting off old photos, taking photos of the photos, and then choosing which ones to use. There were so many, I kept having to remind myself that this was a memoir, not a photo collection. Finally, I settled on the perfect ones, with every piece getting at least one and sometimes two. None are actually photos of carvings (well, one is, but you'll understand why when you see it) because it's not a book about the carvings, it's about my father and me and the museum and growing up and all that stuff. Most of the photos are old ones from my pre-teen and teenage years, but they range from sometime in the 1930s to this spring. Most are ones I took myself. I am so appreciative of the folks who gave me permission to use their photos--Erin Talmage, Deb Moran, Ingrid Rhind, Dennis Lanpher.

The concept for the cover gave me a little pause. I had a general idea and lots of photos from the time period covered in the book, but there are very few photos of my father and me together. We both prefer to be behind the lens. So I imagined a sort of collage, and I threw a bunch of old black and whites at my cover artist, the wonderful and very patient Brooke Albrecht. Thankfully, she ignored my suggestions, went to the museum website, and designed a cover with photos from there. She told me to either retake them myself or get permission to use them. The minute I saw her cover, I wanted to frame it, buy the book, and read it. Which is generally what a cover is supposed to do, and why I'm not a cover artist. So I meekly followed her instructions. The hummingbird on the cover is a shot I took, and the blackburnian warbler is by the museum director, Erin Talmage. But the photo on the back cover of the print edition is one of the black and whites I sent her--my father with a bowl of ice cream in the 1970s. The best of both worlds, and the cover gives readers a taste of what my father's carvings look like.

I decided to go with IngramSpark for printing and distribution for the simple reason that I'd like this book to placed in local bookstores. No bookstore will take a book published through Kindle Direct Publishing, which is another option, since Amazon is the biggest competitor of local shops. Publishing through IngramSpark is a more expensive choice, but I decided it would be worth it. I have to admit, their publishing process was way out of my comfort range, especially a book with color photos, but fortunately I'm married to a computer wizard, and I am not ashamed to say I dumped the formatting issues in Dennis's lap. The beautiful finished product you see is all his doing, and I take full blame for any mistakes that might have slipped past.

I was an official mess the day we uploaded the files (print content, eBook content, print cover, ebook cover) but Dennis and Brooke got me through it (or rather, got all the book stuff uploaded despite me.)

I have concluded that I am a writer and a photographer, but NOT a publisher, by a long shot.)

So a few weeks later, I approved the final copies and now the book is launched. I could not have done it without a lot of help from Erin Talmage and the museum staff, Dennis Lanpher, Kate De Groot, Brooke Albrecht, and everyone else who listened to me wail about how this was supposed to be so easy (Crystal, Alicia, Deb, Kate, Clover, Piper, Willow...)

The Carver's Daughter is a book at last, and I loved writing it. Even though we'll never know what my father would have thought, I have a sneaking suspicion he would be proud. I am quite sure he would have told me that I made up too much stuff. I would have assured him it was just to get people interested in the museum. Then he would probably have said, "Hmm. Well, all right."

Here's a link to the museum website--please go and visit, it's a really cool place (it's open under Covid guidelines right now, so check the site for the latest.)

https://birdsofvermont.org/

Thank you for reading!