TL;DR: No action items for you. (Unless you still need to fill out your survey.) I am working on preparing for shipping, reviewing audiobook files, and creating layout for the Activities Notebook. Backers can get two free months of my Patreon Community. (Link is in Backer's Only section). Things will be slow until December when many things will happen at once. Your next update will be the week of December 1-6, when hopefully I can show you pictures of pallets of books.
Pre-orders for Structuring Life to Support Creativity are still open! CLICK HERE If you know someone who missed the funding, they can still sign up and get a book in any of the available formats.
Shipping Starts in December!
Word from my printer is that books will arrive to me on December 3rd. There are lots of factors that can delay a shipment, but this printer is usually right on the dot with their delivery estimates. So I'm planning ahead and setting things up so that shipping can begin as soon as I have books. What does shipping prep look like?
Arranging physical space My warehouse was kind of a mess. It was one of those messes that accumulate year after year when you run from one project to the next with out pausing to clean up properly. It took several months, new shelving, and a willingness to massively reorganize, but I now have a functional workspace. Here is a before and after of the room which I'll use to assemble SLSC packages. Oh! And because I previously showed you pictures of the partially finished side room, here it is complete. (Or at least Done for Now) Printing the last few physical items I need to get the bookmarks and note cards printed. I also need to create a thank you note and errata insert. Fortunately all of these things can be printed locally inside a week. I need to get it done soon so that I can create bundles.
Pre-assembling bundles There are a large number of orders which contain all the extras (bookmark, notecards, stickers, etc.) Shipping is much smoother if I can grab a single bundle of "All the extras" instead of individually putting each item in the box. I also need to prep the bubble paper insert. They come in 12x12 inch sheets and I need half sheets, so I'll pre-cut those before the books arrive.
Selecting shipping supplies SLSC is a different size and weight than other books we ship, so I needed to do research into how best to pack them. I found a box that is perfect for single book orders. The top folds down and the bubble paper keeps the book from sliding around. However for orders that have a journal, this box isn't going to work. Instead I had to order a box that is both wider and deeper. I'll need additional packing in these boxes to make sure things don't slide around and get damaged. I'm getting these box supplies ordered now, because once holiday shipping hits, all of the deliveries are slowed down and some types of boxes go out of stock until after the new year. I need to plan ahead so that I'm not waiting on boxes to mail orders.
Lining up shipping assistants In order to ship a lot of packages very quickly, I'll need additional hands. I have my regular shipping crew (my kids), but my local writer's group also said "Can we help?" So I'll be hosting a shipping party or two where I feed people and they help me get books into boxes. I'm looking forward to it.
Shipping season is a joyful one. I love getting to send people happy packages.
Ongoing Production Work
While I'm working on shipping prep, I also need to not neglect work on the remaining deliverable items. Over the next few weeks I need to check the audiobook files so that I have notes ready for early December. I also need to do layout for the Activities Notebook. (Orders containing the physical Activities Notebook will be later than the other orders. I'm thinking about ways to speed this up and also to allow people to choose to pay for split shipping if they wish. I'll have more news about that in the next update.)
The Error in the Book
Last update I mentioned an error discovered in the book during the audiobook recording. My narrator reached out to let me know that the chapter on Physical Space had a sentence fragment in it. I rescued the missing words and gave them to my narrator, but the book had already gone to print. When my advance copies arrived, I confirmed that the error was indeed in the book.
First paragraph of chapter on Your Physical Space where the fragment can be seen "everything back in the box"
The missing words are: When he set up to work, he'd take over half the kitchen table. Then, after he was done, he'd stow This error almost certainly happened at the copy edit stage and was definitely my mistake. When I went back to the edit documents I could see that the missing words are a single line that I must have accidentally deleted while copy editing. Obviously this is the kind of mistake I don't want to have in my book, but fortunately the missing words do not materially damage the information provided by the chapter. (In fact if I'd been just a touch more thorough and deleted the fragment as well, probably no one would have noticed it at all.) I can't afford to have the book re-printed for this small error, so I will do what I can. I will send an insert out with every copy of the book I mail, explaining the missing words and what they are. I'll correct the error in all future editions. All of you backers will get an updated eBook version once I'm past the rush of shipping and the holidays. And I'll not spend too much time spinning in anxiety over my mistake.
The truth is that all books have errors. Every single thing I've ever published has been imperfect. Even if I succeed at a complete lack of typos, a book is necessarily a snapshot of my thinking and skill at the time it was declared done. My future self would definitely say things differently. In running this project I have a unique opportunity to offer a few corrections in an insert I mail out with the book. I may have a few more along with this one.
Join My Patreon Community!
Remember that as a backer you can get two months free membership to my Patreon community. Coupon Code is available by accessing this update on the Backerkit Website and logging in. View the options here: Sandra's Patreon
And if you need to plan a gift for a creative person in your life, you can give them the give of community, creative support, or structural coaching using this link: Gift a Membership to Sandra's Patreon
This month I'm talking about how to Work Around Your Pillars, and I'm exploring the idea that some pillars aren't actually connected to any dreams or priorities, they're just obstacles. I would love to have you join me. Communities need people.
That's my update for now. I'll post the next one during the week of December 1-6. Thank you so much for backing this project! Sandra Tayler
