The Locust Queen's Feast

Thinking about going the self-publishing option. I've been trying to get an agent to look at my book for a couple of months now. It appears that it's not even interesting enough to consider, as most will not even respond to my queries. Pretty weird. It doesn't seem that bad to me.

Angel says I should go ahead with self-publishing. CreateSpace.com offers lots of services. You can spend a lot of money and get a lot of help or you can spend a tiny bit of money and do it all yourself. It's clear that per-volume charges are better with them than with Lulu.com

Some of the the stuff looks do-able. Fun, even. The whole business of doing the layout and providing print-ready PDF myself seems a little daunting, however. I think I can do it, but I'm not even sure what the standards are:

6"x9"? 5.5" x 8.5"? New Times Roman, 12 Pt? Wingbats 11? (I just made that up). And what about margins?

And should I pay someone to do a professional editing job on it? How do I find somebody to do that? Don't even get me started on cover art! My abilities there run somewhere between juvenile and pathetic.

Multilayered Mulching & Drip System

Here is a sketch that shows the way we've layered the mulching system. The drip tube, with its in-line emitters, lies directly on the topsoil. We amended the topsoil earlier in the year. We layered straw (untreated w/ fungicides or any other nasties) above the drip tubes. Then we laid several sheets of newspapers down on the straw and wet it to hold it down. Finally we added a layer of organic compost from the garden store. The compost is heavy and holds everything else in place.

So far I've got about half the garden mulched. Angel has started planting in that half. We had a late (and very strong) storm blast through starting Thursday night. While the layering was perturbed by the high winds, the overall mulching system mostly stayed in place.

To keep down costs, I've piled most of the top layer of mulch in rows above the drip tubes. All you have to do to plant is poke through the newspaper and push the straw aside. I've saved some big pieces of cardboard that we can use to cover the paths between the rows.

This should keep the weeds under control while it helps maintain soil moisture. We'll see how it works.