Showing Off My New Book Baby with Formatting Tips

Lookie...my teenage girl is reading BOUND. I received my first set of author copies yesterday and can't get over seeing the product of my imagination in such a tangible manner. It's got weight. I have to share some pictures for those of you who won't get to see the paperback. The kindle version looks good too, but it's just not the same. 

You don't have to fiddle with the formatting as much with the kindle. The software takes care of most of it if you've used Styles to format your Word document. It's a trick I learned way back when I used WordPerfect for writing my PhD thesis. It made the document navigable on the computer. Of course, back then, there were no kindles, but it makes revising so much easier, and when you're keeping track of a hundred details like tables and graphs and pictures and footnotes, being able to link all these things makes life easier. Of course, the learning wasn't smooth. Just ask Michael. I wanted to smash the computer more than once when it didn't do what I wanted it to do. Does anyone here remember Sigma Plot or Corel Draw? I'm getting flashbacks. Anyway. If you have to learn the most useful feature of Word, it's Styles. And if I can do this, so can you.  

I made the kindle version navigable and had chapter titles so that if readers lose their place, they can easily find it again. This happens to me often--I blame the cats--and hate having to scroll. But for the print version, I got rid of anything that might distract from the story. So, no table of contents, chapter titles, headers of any kind. Just page numbers (and what a headache it was trying to number just the main part of the book, lol, but I done did good). I want the magic to happen, for the pages to disappear. I want the reader to be lost in the story, for time to disappear. I also made it easier to read by adding just 0.1 more to the spacing between the lines. There's just that extra breathing space. I love Georgia (the font I use on this blog) for it's roundedness but that would've put the book in excess of 300 pages and page count matters for pricing. So I switched to Times New Roman. The default for many paperbacks is Garamond but it is harder on the eyes. Once I settled on these things, I had so much fun making the pages look good. It's what makes holding the book such a pleasure. 

  


These first five copies will disappear quickly. I just know it. But for now I've placed them on *my* shelf. Don't I look like a new mother with her bookbaby?  It was a tough day with a rotten migraine but it was so great to just hold the book and flip through the pages. I spent a couple of hours reading my favorite bits. I would love to see pictures of BOUND being read by teenagers or even adults, so pretty please share.

 

The Gut-Punching Things Teenagers Say

 


My husband and I are forever indebted to our two children for leading us to God. I look at them in wonder and amazement. It's hard to believe how quickly they are growing up ... and contrary to popular notions, teenagers are incredible!

We were celebrating my daughter's 13th birthday and as we usually do, we thanked her for having a birthday so that we can splurge on eating out, and she thanked me for having her. It was almost a punch in the gut. It was a given ...

Abortion was never an option, but I wonder about their missing siblings. Given my natural cycle and fertility, without contraception, I can imagine having at least half a dozen kids. The thought frightened me at the time. I felt overwhelmed. But now we miss them, the love and life, the chaos and graces they would've brought into our family. I wonder whether my children miss them. I think deep down they must, especially my daughter, who has always wanted more little ones. And if we look beyond our own family, a contraceptive culture means we have a couple of generations of children who are missing not just their siblings, but their friends, and future spouses. It is incredibly sad.

So imagine my horror when I learned that a woman, Emily Letts, posted a video of herself having an abortion. This is terrible on so many levels. First of all, when does filming murder become art? I can only hope she is acting. However, her dead eyes reveal the truth. Watch the video without the sound. Elizabeth Scalia does a brilliant analysis. This is a  woman in grief, her body mourning her dead child, even if she refuses to see it herself, even if the abortion industry will use it to lure mothers to kill their babies. Second, what kind of people are we to award her a prize for it? Why do we call this evil a good thing? Emily calls herself "a lucky girl." She thinks the abortion was "cool." Third, she is in awe ... of making a baby, of having life ... but if she truly understands this, how could she kill her baby?

Her poor, poor baby.

Emily said she is not ready to be a mother. But she already is. Now she's the mother of a dead baby.

Can any good come out of this? God only knows. Pray for all mothers to listen to their consciences, to return to God. Our  heavenly Father always gazes upon us. We only need to repent our sinful ways, amend our lives, come running to Him, and He will take us up into His arms. He renews us.

Parce Domine!

 

Raising Moral Teens

Last night we had the opportunity to hear a talk about raising moral teens by Chris Stefanick. If he's anywhere near your area, don't miss out. We already have one of his CDs and I'm looking forward to his new one on moral relativism, which is really what we're fighting in our culture, as though there are no absolute truths.

But I digress. I want to give you some of the same hope that Chris gave us. As parents we do worry about the opposing influences of the very loud culture we live in, but Chris said a brook can also be very noisy. But the Mississippi runs deep and quiet, so trust that what you teach your children will run deeply in their hearts and resonate.

And what resonates with teens is authentic love. Love that doesn't say, "I want you," but love that says, "I want what is best for you." This is the heart of chastity. It's not just saying no to premarital sex and surging hormones, but chastity and purity is about controlling desire and putting it in its proper context (marriage) and saying yes to their dignity and the love they were made for.

All the statistics (I'm sorry I didn't take notes, but I only grabbed my jacket on my way out) show that kids who engage premarital sex are more depressed, earn consistently less money (the number 15% sticks out), get sexually transmitted diseases that have a whole host of other side-effects including infertility, and if they do get married, end up divorced (50% higher rate). This one choice can affect so many areas in their lives, it is madness not to teach our children to wait to have sex until they marry.

So what can we do?

Love unconditionally (love them always, no matter what they do, even if they hurt you).
Model authentic love ourselves (we are our children's first teachers and from the moment they are born, they are watching us).
Protect our children (the biggest threat is not from people on the street, but what comes into your home via television and the Internet).
Expect greatness (some of the most courageous and passionate saints were teens).
Talk to them (sex-education is one area where everybody ought to home school).
And never give up hope (because Truth, Goodness, & Beauty is on our side).

Do you have some tips to share? Please do.


This is a picture taken after receiving our Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, fifteen years after we took our wedding vows. We didn't do things in the right order, and I'm always thankful God doesn't give us what we deserve, rather pours out His love and grace and mercy upon us.