DWYSYWD

I sat across from the publisher's desk, portfolio in hand, a little nervous, and saw one of those wooden desk nameplate signs. Except it wasn't the publisher's name. The letters displayed were these:

(Forgive me, I guess I'm on a Scrabble kick. Heh.)

We exchanged pleasantries and I then asked, nodding toward the sign, "Do what you said you would do?" Bingo!

I got the job. Not so much for my intuitive skills. I was a pretty good designer.

Those were the days ... we built our
newspapers on an early '90s Macintosh Pro.

A month later I wasn't so sure I wanted it. We were launching a series of weekly newspapers, rolling out community tabloids over several months. My job was to design ads. The technology was brand-new-and-shiny, and the learning curve was, um, steep. We worked 70 hours a week for two weeks straight to meet our first deadline.

Holding that first paper in my hand was pretty sweet, though. And I stayed with that firm, working my way up to Senior Ad Designer, for more than seven years, until I moved from Ohio to West Virginia.

The reason I bring this up is because I wrote yesterday that I would post photos of the journals today. And I can't. I've made journals before, but I forgot that the book covers need an overnight to dry. So. DWYSYWD fail!

If I were really compulsive about D-ing WISIWD, I'd be finishing them up RIGHT NOW, but there's another drying period after you glue the pages into the covers and then you have to add some pretty endpapers inside the front and back covers. I've used most of a container of ModPodge on this and the coaster projects so far. Good thing the rest of my gifts involve knitting needles and a sewing machine.

So. Tomorrow. I promise. I know you're both sitting on the very edges of your chairs in anticipation. Heh.