Red means you need to look at it.
Schedule
Blue is All Group Meetings.
We will work on the agreements and try to have them ready by February 1
Emails. Please do not share or use these emails for anything except this project. They are to be used to communicate with your assigned partners and share your work with the group. Our commitment is to lift each other up, have fun and create art! Please see our ACW rules of engagement. https://www.arttochangetheworld.org/communications-and-conflict-resolution-protocols
January 11 All
Introductions Meeting Sundays from 4-6
½ hour overview from Barbara regarding overarching goals
- Do we want to publish this as an ebook? Yes
- Do we want to make the print version available for sale on online retailers? Proceeds go to ACW
- Do we want to make it available for local bookstores to order? Yes
- What is the timeframe over which ACW can continue to sell this book? A grant of rights usually has a limited time frame: 2 years,
- Contractual language: Bree advises that ACW be granted non-exclusive first publication rights in digital and print. Practically this means that no one can publish their story anywhere else before the ACW book releases, but they will have the right to publish their story and artwork on their own in other formats or on other websites after a certain agreed upon waiting period. 2 months
It was voted to have the book be 6 x 9 with a dust cover. The writing credits will be: Front Cover: Curated by Barbara Rogers Bridges , PhD, Founder and Artistic Director of Art To Change the World. Contributors go inside with short bio and picture.
We will try to print 100 books. Any profits will go to ACW. They will be distributed to at least 25 elder communities and local book stores. Each Author will get two free books and can buy other copies at cost. Plan for $20 a book to print.
Week of Jan 18 All
Topic: GOWTE
Zoom: Time: Jan 18, 2026 04:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88688324032?pwd=5dbV7xeR9xwaGMU0UErXO9dzte8bo4.1 Meeting ID: 886 8832 4032 Passcode: 210094
After consideration… we have decided to expand the word count up to 1500 – optional.
Discuss Comedic Writing:
Prompt: (See choices below) Share if moved to.
Define Creative Non-Fiction. Think of it as turning your real life, or a true event you’ve not been able to forget into a story that the reader cannot put down because they feel the emotion of the recounting as if they were there. Use elements like character, setting, and mood, and possibly dialogue, keeping everything real. Use of language, which ranges from vernacular speech to puns and wordplay, its use of taboo subjects, and its use of incongruence and juxtaposition
Guidelines for illustrations. No boundaries.
DRAFT: Suggested Feedback Guidelines:
PUT YOUR FEEDBACK DIRECTIVE ON THE TOP OF THE PAGE FOR YOUR READERS.
#1 whole non sugar-coated feedback on content, impact, writing style
#2 just structural feedback or grammar corrections,
#3 specific requested question feedback
#4 feedback on illustration integration with essay
#5 (Kind, considerate, specific – addressing writing not writer)
#6 Did you feel engaged by the story? Why/why not?
#7 What do you feel is particularly well done in this draft. Identify at least two moments/images/lines, etc.
#8 Is there anything you wanted to see more of? Any themes you think should be expanded?
#9 Does the piece raise any questions for you? Is anything unclear or confusing
Week of Jan 25
Read Resources which will be deposited on our Project Page.
Work on the DRAFT 1 of your essay.
Week of February 1
Whole Group Meets on Zoom to report progress and challenges.
Week of February 8
#1 Level Alike Pair Groups meet. They choose the day, venue and time. Share documents and get on the phone? Put your own zoom up? Pairs choose.Participants
Holly Tappen, Bree Bridges
Kelly Frankenberg, Linda Fox,
Craig Harris, Barbara Bridges,
Liisa Le, Pat Rogers
Freya Hanson, Karen McDonald,Each group chooses one piece to share with group, even if it’s something found that might inspire others.
Week of February 15
Whole Group Meets
Prompt? Choose from Below
Everyone shares their working title and their elevator pitch. (Think: if you were in an elevator with someone and had to convince them to read your story before they reach their floor, what would you tell them it’s about?)
Week of February 22
#1 Mentor Pairs Meet. Share DRAFT works and give feedback. They choose. Share documents and get on the phone? Put your own zoom up? Pairs choose.
Holly Tappen, Craig Harris
Bree Bridges, Karen McDonald
Linda Fox, Pat Rogers,
Freya Hanson , Barbara Bridges,
Kelly Frankenberg, Liisa Le,
Week of March 1
Whole Group Meets
Prompt? Choose from Below
Everyone shares a Paragraph.
Week of March 8
Work Week – Illustration final drafts
Level Alike Pairs Share final Essays and give feedback to each other .
Attach and email their final essay to the group.
Week of March 15
Whole Group Meets
Share illustrations and final essays digitally pre-class. Read essays and give feedback?
Guidelines for illustration rubric. Hire an outsider for a review?
1. Composition: Does it look artistically designed and pleasing on the page?
- Comprehension: Does the illustration illustrate/relate to/help explain the essay theme?
- Quality: Does it look professional to be in a book?
- Color balance: Do the colors create the correct mood of the intention of the illustration?
They can be rated (excellent 3, developing 2, beginning 1)
Vote on flow for the essays.
Week of March 22
Bree: Send final copy out to a copy editor
Week of March 29
Whole Group Meets
Speaker: Bree reports on plans for publishing.
Group votes on final book layout.
April 5
Bree Approves/Review Final Copy
Send to Printer
Week of May 3 (tentative)
Face to Face Celebration . See the books.
__________________________________________
PROMPT IDEAS
1. Write a list of people or memories you might want to expand on.
- List some funny moments or a few sentences about them.
- Make a timeline of events and try moving them around.
- Fear of growing older? Health worries? What’s joyful, funny, inspiring?
- How do you feel when you walk into a nursing home or an elder’s house? Use the senses, smell, touch, taste, feel, see, hear.
- Take something you’ve written and replace “being” verbs. She was sad. (she felt sad). They were hungry. (they needed food). She was pretty. (Her looks turned heads).
- As I look back at the period of life I’m writing about, I now realize that..
- Ponder where, in your account, you reveal qualities of self compassion or tenderness.
- You can look back and laugh, but what emotions underlay your initial reaction in the scenes you’re writing about?
- Write about how your visual illustration contributes to the reader’s understanding of your story.
- Tell about any ways in which your response to the event or situation spurred expansion or change in you.
- MAKE YOUR OWN.
- Tell about any ways in which your response to the event or situation spurred expansion or change in you.
However, since this is a group of artists, you have the option of designing a piece of art to serve as the full cover wrap (that means the front, spine, and back) that incorporates the title and some form of credit, and then works the various writer names into it.
Book Design and Layout
Bree will donate her time to doing final cover preparation and interior layout design for the book. Because of this the layout can be extremely flexible, with multiple images interspersed with text.
Here is some information on terms used with print books.
Recommendation on sizing:
- After doing some research on recommended sizes for image-heavy books, I recommend 8.5”x8.5” as the trim size. Because the stories are comparatively short, we can still use a larger print to make it accessible for tired eyes. The goal would for each story + images + front page + author bio to cover between 6-12 pages per writer, resulting in a book that is hopefully 100-150 pages long. That will be thick enough to make it feel solid, but still have enough room on the pages for flexible art.
- I recommend publishing the print version through IngramSpark, which will allow local bookstores to order copies, as well as allowing ACW to order copies at cost in bulk.
Costs:
There are 3 color qualities available at IngramSpark. Matte & gloss covers cost the same, and are a matter of preference. Gloss will make your colors pop more, matte can feel more professional sometimes but it also dulls the color somewhat. I would likely recommend glossy!
Standard Color: $12.27/book for 100 pages, $15.13/book for 150 pages
Premium Color: $16.72/book for 100 pages, $21.74/book for 150 pages
Ultra Premium Color: $18.31/book for 100 pages, $23.62/book for 150 pages
(I have not seen anyone say that Ultra Premium is enough of an improvement to be worth the additional cost!)
Book Distribution:
Nicole Buchholz
Director of Lifelong Learning & the Arts
Lyngblomsten 651.632.5459
nbuchholz@lyngblomsten.org
www.lyngblomsten.org