Blog = Book?

Wow. This is just really cool!

I was reading through my blogroll the other day and was taken aback when Nicki at Borderblog mentioned that she prints her blog into book form each year for her grandmother (what a neat idea!). I had never heard of such a thing before and she was kind enough to tell me where she does it (you have to download the BookSmart software from Blurb.com).

I always figured that this blog was the ultimate reference to the time Secret & I have spent together, but even I have to admit it is sometimes tedious to try to go back and read things chronologically. To have it in book form at my fingertips just seemed like a really awesome idea.

So I did it! I spent HOURS on the silly thing, but I think it will be worth it. It didn't help that I went through and did the entire thing once and let the BookSmart software put everything together for me. I had to rearrange the photos and fix a few things, but I wasn't able to get the posts to flow together nicely and the spacing was very wonky. It was 150 pages and in my rush to get it done I uploaded it for ordering. Before I actually ordered it, Nicki made a comment about taking stuff out and doing some other editing to make it shorter, so I decided to scrap the first copy and see what I could do if I put it together manually, page by page.

Um, yeah.... I ended up with a 152 page book, but I am tickled with how it turned out. I used a different photo layout on all the pages and it really seems to flow nicely. I can't wait to get it -- some time in the beginning of December, I opted for the cheapest shipping. Plus I found a coupon code online to save 20%! So my monstrosity of a book was something like $52. Merry Christmas to me.

I lumped year one (adoption day to the end of December 2010) into the first book. I figure I'll do a new one at the end of this year for "Volume 2." :o) Imagine, some day I'll be reading about my book IN my book. lol Totally random... I expect Volume 2 is going to be longer, though...

So if anyone else thinks this is a great idea, just head on over to blurb and get started. It's a fun little project and a really neat keepsake! I'll have to take a picture of Secret with "her book" when it arrives.

We haven't done any training lately, so no real updates there. Just lots of frisbee and chuck-it! Secret thinks it's pretty great.

Thanksgiving is just two days away, but I'll be working all four days of the holiday weekend at the shelter. The dogs will probably revolt by Saturday.