End of February General Update!

Those of you who read January's 2011 plotorama entry might be getting a little concerned. January was supposed to see the release of Birdbook and February the release of Fuselit: Contraption. The former has been delayed by a manic hunt for the right printer - the large number of images meant that our usual printers, reliable and efficient though they are, didn't have the right kind of paper, so we've had to do think carefully about where to head next, bearing in mind our limited budget. The good news is that we think we've settled on one and will be taking them the files this week.

Fuselit: Contraption, as well as being pushed back by the extra work needed on Birdbook, is in equal need of care and attention, since this time we're attempting to properly coordinate and balance an online edition with the printer version. We're at the advanced stages of both, but still wrestling with such things as embedding audio tracks, sourcing containers (the print edition will come in either a box or some kind of wallet) and Kirsty's vitally useful laptop suffering cosmetic damage.

In short, we hope to have both out in the next month. The plans for everything afterwards have been somewhat tossed about by recent revelations about how to save costs on printing, but I'll save posting on that for when we have these two beasts ready to go.

But why does it take you guys so long?

That's the question I'd be asking if I was on the outside looking in, and in many respects it's the question I ask myself anyway, watching the days fly past while I fight the limitations of technology and my own competence. Two simple answers, which I'm sure I've hinted at before:

1) Both Kirsty and I have full-time jobs. We're both working on plans that will allow us to devote more time to literary projects while still paying for bread, board and internet connection, but these plans are long-term and difficult to orchestrate. If anyone were to invest a couple of thousand pounds a month in us and our mission, why, that would undoubtedly speed up matters.

2) Producing a lit journal and books is effectively doing the work of a much larger team of people, each with specialist skills. I started off very gung-ho about the whole affair, but the more I go on, the more respect I gain for disciplines such as copy-editing, copy-writing, illustration, graphic design, web management and web design. These are all areas I could merrily spend all day attending to and still fall short of the general standard. The best I can hope for in each area is to fool non-experts. Undoubtedly the pro graphic designer would find my graphic design sloppy, the pro web designer would stare in bafflement at my rickety html, and so on. But that's what you get for following your dreams. Just ask Justin Bieber.