Well this publishing project for my Writer's WORDshop is proving to be a great learning experience as we have eight different writers in our group with varying degrees of experience with computers, writing and editing skills trying to work together. It reminds me a group of dancers trying to perform together while trying not to step on each other's toes. I'm trying to guide them all while keeping an overall view of what needs to be accomplished for a pleasing final performance. I want everyone to feel valued and successful which is a tricky task for me as choreographer or editor. I feel the process is more important than the finished product but still want a wonderful collection of our writing work together.
We will have about fifty half pages divided into five areas: Nature, Family, Gospel, Humor-Miscellaneous and Self Reflections. The overall title is Voices from the Desert. It's a monumental task to gather all the poems on my computer and format them to the area alloted and calls for some collaborative editing of lines that are too long, and some deleting of excess poems, etc. We hope to have the finished project sometime before Christmas. The booklet will need to be copied, cut, collated and bound. We're thinking of making about 300+ copies to give one to each woman in the three branches of our Relief Society organization. Now is that ambitious or not?
