Lots of news on what’s happening with The Clean Daughter!

DELFT BLUE

If you aren’t familiar with the blue and white pattern on the book, it’s called Delft Blue.

It’s an age-old craft of blue and white hand painting on ceramic pieces, that dates back to 1653 in the Netherlands. Delft Blue items are iconic to the Netherlands.

If you’re interested to learn more about the art and craft of making Delft Blue, here’s a link to the Royal Delft Museum and Store.

I was told The Clean Daughter would be ‘in hand’ on February 14.

Then, all sorts of things stepped in to sidetrack that date. The first setback was that the printing press NDSU usually uses was backed up through 2022! What??!! There’s a Covid backlog of books to print, a shortage of materials (such as cardboard), a lack of employees, and two big presses have closed down in the US this past year. That all added up, and my book would have had to wait in line at the press for over a year!

NDSU staff put in a lot of time and effort and found another printing press. I had nightmares it would be some small ‘mom and pop’ press. That my book would come out printed backwards or crooked or upside down. An active imagination is not always a plus! In fact, The Clean Daughter will be printed at the 7th largest printing press in North America! Their 1.3 million square foot facility produces more than 20 million products a year. And all of that in Minnesota!!

The Clean Daughter will still be coming out in hardback edition with black and white photos. I’ve also added a Discussion Page with questions for people or book clubs to use. This is a first for NDSU Press and I’m excited about the addition. I hope it will prove to be useful.

The new release date for The Clean Daughter is April 15!

I’ve changed my blog giveaway date to April 15.

If you’ve signed up for my blog, you’ll be automatically entered to win a copy of The Clean Daughter fresh off the press.

If you haven’t signed up, it’s easy.

• Scroll down to the bottom of the Home Page

• Click on “STAY IN TOUCH”

• Fill in your name and email.

• You are entered!

I made a book trailer for my first book and wanted to make one for The Clean Daughter also.

I’ve been writing the script and then searched through all of my old photos, photobooks, letters, and paraphernalia to find pictures to go with it. A fun and also daunting project considering that, like many people, I have thousands of photos taken over my lifetime.

I hope to have the new trailer up on my blog soon. It’s thrilling to watch it all come together. The book, the script, the photos, and the music!

 If you haven’t seen the trailer for So Many Africas, have a gander HERE at the newly updated version.

NDSU Press will send me the final version of The Clean Daughter within the next three days.

I’ll get the pdf. and have the weekend to give it one last read, looking for any errors or typos etc.

It’s due at the printing press on Tuesday morning!

My book is going to the printer!! It’s going to be ‘real’.

I couldn’t be more excited that it’s actually happening!!

That’s where everything stands right now!

• Cover done.

• Printer found.

• Trailer in the works.

• Off to be printed in a few days.

• Book in hand by April 15.

 I hope to open up pre-orders within the next two weeks. More on that next time.

Thanks for reading!  

Love always,

Jill