The Picking Bag

Before this January, I had never heard the term "picking bag." By this day in January, however, I not only know the term, but I can relate stories about it. I'm not a farm girl, but I can imagine workers in the field picking cotton and stuffing soft whites into the bags hanging over their shoulders.

The closest I came personally to a picking bag was my mother's (and later my own) clothes pin bag, back when clothes were hung on the line to dry. The diaper days. The clean sheets in the breeze days.

But that changed when I volunteered along with my friend, Sandra Warren to help a fellow children's author self publish a book. Not just any book, but a book titled, The Picking Bag.  Designed for the middle grade reader, this book speaks to all levels about determination and grit and overcoming odds. Getting it published was a lesson in determination and grit and overcoming odds for not only its author, Debbra Beecher Nance, but for Sandra and me. We thought we knew what we were doing. No, wait, I thought I knew what I was doing since I had earlier self published a children's picture book. And it all came back, after many days of trial and error. Doing something once does not an expert make. Lesson Learned!

Many lessons learned, as a matter of fact. Sandra and I spent hours on dead ends, and in that process we learned what not to do. Turns out, the "what to do" wasn't all that difficult. We were just uploading the wrong template option that createspace provided. Once that was dealt with, only small issues remained, like single vs double spacing, like font size to fit the page limit parameters, like widows and orphans left over text. The best message ever from createspace? No issues noted!

In the end, there is a beautiful faith based book about a Mormon boy in 1846 as he struggled to survive family tragedies as well as society's misunderstandings. This book is not for the faint of heart, but well worth the read for those who are searching for historical reality. Here, let the blurb on the back tell you more:

And now for the front cover:

Click here to read details on Amazon.

The covers were designed by Tom Sjoerdsma of Art Attack Greetings.  Thank you Tom for your excellent creation. The bag is one Sandra found searching for "antique picking bags." There really is such a thing! We found it and used it with permission from a company called Peg and Awl that specializes in finding and restoring (or creating) treasures from past use. Recognize the bag from their website? It's called a croaker bag. And it was perfect for our cover. Thank you husband and wife team Margaux and Walter Kent. Check out what they have to offer!

What I learned most from this experience is that it takes a community to publish a book. This small community of authors, artists and craftsmen joined forces for a common good. Starting with an excellent manuscript by Debbra Nance, together we accomplished the near impossible. Good job, everyone!

Catch of the day,

Gretchen