Earlier today, I was queuing up dgp social media posts for the coming week (I usually like to schedule a few snippets of older titles) and decided this week to spotlight 2008 books , books celebrating their 10th birthday this year. I was struck how that seemed to be a sort of pivotal year for the press, in terms of logistics and what we were publishing. I had just moved into the studio space. I finally had a decent paper trimmer and the room to spread the whole operation out--a place to store paper and envelopes and supplies. I also had, after a few years in which we just published a handful of books, the opportunity to bump things up in terms of accepted titles from 10 to nearly 20. Of course, right around then was when things got crazy with etsy shop and selling vintage as well (and one could argue that I may very well have never been able to catch my breath since 2008). But it was a good year, even so, one in which I struggled to make sure I could pay the rent on the new space and not have to move everything back home.
Today, I contently spent some hours there proofing and finalizing some chaps from December and laying out some books due out in the next month and thinking about process.. Some books take longer, some shorter, depending on the formatting demands inherent in the manuscript. Some covers are easy (or really easy when someone else designs it or we use another artist/designer (see that beauty above)) but some take a little wiggling to get just right..fonts and placements and such. Thursday, I will start work on designing the covers for the books I began to layout today, (mostly March book--a couple of them due to release before AWP. ) I also need to begin assembling my stash of books for Whale Prom and deciding what I can possibly bring with and fit on a half table. (also finagling how to actually afford the trip and not strand myself penniless in Florida.)
Again I am continually delighted by the work I get to do, by the books I get to help bring into the world. Probably more than I ever imagined I would be. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I've been thinking alot about twenty years ago. Early 1998 was a rough patch, so much confusion over what I wanted to do with this life, what I was capable of doing. By that fall, I was beginning to write with a more serious bent, but even then, as I sort of dedicated myself to writing, I never imagined the other sort of work I would do in the future after I founded dgp. It wasn't even something that would have occured to me as a possibility (that came later, after running a litzine for awhile, after uncovering all the chapbook presses springing up.) The way it seemed very much the thing I should be doing with my life.
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