The Videos are Up!

The Videos for the book, The Jagged Years of Ruthie J. are up. Finally. I can’t tell you how exciting it was to put them up on YouTube and on both my web sites (www.ruthsimkin.ca; www.jaggedyears.ca). My friend Chris Wilson and I worked long and hard on them, and to tell you the truth, the net result is very different from what I had initially pictured in my brain. Not worse, by a long shot – better in fact, but different. Things evolved, and we had fun sneaking around different locations taking shots where we figured it was just better not to ask for permission (as we likely would never have received it). So we just shot a bit here, a bit there, and put it all together.

My friend Phyllis Goldin, who besides being a psychiatrist, is a superb composer and performer, did the music for the videos and I think they added to them immeasurably. At times I feel confused – why would someone as talented as Phyllis do this for me? Why would someone as talented as Chris work so much with me? Why would my friends Derek and Estelle give up whole days of their lives to do things to help us make the video? Yet everyone did a wonderful job and the net result, if I do say so myself, is pretty darned good. Friends are amazing – the best. Without friends, none of this would every have happened, and then you wouldn’t have been able to see the videos.

Now hopefully a lot of people will be able to see them. Naturally, I’d like them to go viral, but that’s a pretty big and unrealistic wish, but one I wish for nevertheless. I will think viral – not the doctor kind – the YouTube kind – and who knows what life will bring. Life has already brought me many surprises, and I am always open for more.

Slogging in the Swamp

My dog loves mud. If there is a tiny little puddle of the stuff tucked away in a huge field, not only will she make sure to splash in it, but she will get every one of her four paws thoroughly infused with the muck. She goes out of her way to find even the teeniest bit of wet mud in which to dip all her extremities, and often, will lie down in it so her belly gets covered with the slime.

Of all the mud puddles she has loves, nothing pleases her more than swimming in the swamp. In the summertime, I take her to the beach where the Pacific Ocean beckons. She looks upon it with disinterest and even on the hottest days she is disdainful of all the other dog swimmers. But in the wintertime, when the woods where we walk are wet and swamps and waterways form from all the rain, she couldn’t be happier. On even the coldest days, she jumps into the swamp, water coming up to her neck, a smile forming on her face. She doesn’t even like to swim. She just likes to jump around in the mire. It is murky and muddy and generally pretty yucky. That keeps her very happy. In she goes, tail up high, sniffing all the reeds and wandering about exploring the waterways. Just what she is looking for, I have no idea. I know that two ducks live there at times, but I never let her near them. In fact, we’ve only even seen them once this winter; I make sure they have flown out of the water and are safe high above the wolf dog in the water. I know there are mink and other critters who live in the woods and water, but I don’t think she cares. She just likes walking along, body submerged up to her neck, happy as a clam (how do we know clams are happy?). She dives in too. She likes to go to the deepest place in the swamp and jump. I fret at times that the water level has come up higher than her head, because she does not really swim. But off she goes into the deep end. So far, so good. I am terrified that one day I am going to have to go in after her to rescue her from something or other. And yet, she has been doing it for years, enjoying every slog in the swamp free of any kind of problems. It is a true swamp, reeds floating about, trees growing out of the water, god knows what growing and living under the water. But it’s her swamp and she loves it. In the summer, when there is no wet mud to jump into, she patiently walks down the trail waiting for the winter time, when the water forms once more. Then she gets a spring in her step, tail head high, and at the first opportunity, jumps in.

Galleys

Today I’m writing about galleys. This is a really pretty picture of galleys, but they're not the kind of galleys I mean. I thought a picture of ships would be more interesting to look at than one of pieces of paper with words on them. But it’s the pieces of paper with which I am currently involved.

Galleys are proofs that the publisher and author look at to correct any errors prior to publication. The publishers lay out the manuscript in the form that eventually will be sent to the printer who prints out the actual book. They are also called galley proofs; preliminary versions of the book-to-be. Because all of this is very new to me, I decided to find out why galleys are called galleys.

In the old days, books used to be set by hand. The printers had metal type which was laid down. A printer would then set the page into metal trays where the type was actually tightened into place; these trays were called galleys. A very limited number of copies for “editing mark-up” were produced - when the corrections were received, the type would be rearranged appropriately and the final book would be printed.

Nowadays, we use computers for everything, so there are no metal trays or metal pieces of type involved as everything is done electronically. It makes me wonder what people who used to do typesetting do now – have they all switched over to computers or is somebody out there still doing things the “old way”?

A few years ago I was in Germany where I was privileged to see a printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg. He was the one who started the whole printing revolution, one which had a huge impact on the culture of the world. His invention occurred in the middle of the 15^th Century, at the time of the Renaissance. One of the first books printed: The Bible. There are still about fifty copies of the Gutenberg Bible in existence today.

The Chinese actually developed the concept of moveable type in the 11^th century. They used wood. Metal was likely used for the first time in Korea in the 13^th century. The oldest moveable metal print book in the world is a Korean Buddhist document called Jikji which was printed in 1377. For some reason, I find these facts fascinating.

Back to galleys. That’s the stage we’re at right now – the publishers give me the galleys which they have carefully laid out, I read the manuscript, and we all look for errors that need correcting before the final book is printed. We are getting close, and I find this process to be very exciting. I actually love looking at the galleys. Some people may find it tedious work, but not me – it energizes me, and when I go over the galleys, I can feel my book coming to life. It won’t be very long until it is actually a real book, but I’m loving all the steps we have to do to make that happen.