Was finally able to get my techie ducks in a row--Skype on the computer (installing was no problem; finding a way to fuel it with credit here in Japan was the tricky part), and an MD recorder at the speaker--so the phone interviews are at last underway!
The first was today, with Julie. She's difficult to catch at home, so when we'd last spoken, about a month ago, we set a specific date and time--5pm on June 5 for Julie, which is 7am on June 6 for me--to do this phone interview. This would give time for a box of photos from Julie to get here first. Well, Real Life happens, and the interview day beat the photos here...but that's okay; they're on their way, and it's great to have something to look forward to in the mail this week!
The interview was a six-hour session, with laughs galore and even more history learned than we'd ever talked about before! This was the first of two recorded interviews planned with Julie; we've discussed the book and its makings for almost exactly a year now, but this was the first formal for-print interview (and I'm so tickled that the quotes this go-round are every bit as fun as our informal discussions over the years!). After I transcribe this one, we'll cover the rest in the second recorded session July 1. In the meantime, there are four other folks I'll be interviewing by phone (don't worry, it won't take six hours! LOL).
Earlier, Corky and I had been hoping to be able to debut the book at BreyerFest 2010--but to do that, we'd need to go to press, like, now. We've resigned ourselves to the fact that it's not going to happen. We'd both love to go to BreyerFest, which also isn't possible this year (I was the only one able to get the time off work, so it would just be me), and Julie can't go this year, either.
That makes it very tempting to change the target for the book's release to BreyerFest 2011. I think there's a chance it could be ready by this Christmas, though, if problems we've run into with photos can be solved by this fall. Julie is searching for the bulk of her photo stash, which has been packed away for more than a decade--but she injured an ankle badly and is currently getting around with two canes. And photos of about 40 of me and Corky's own Froelich horses were lost when the SD card they were on went defective, so we're debating whether to go without (which would be depressing) or for me to make a trip back to the U.S., fish the horses out of storage and reshoot (which would be expensive, to put it mildly)...still chewing that one over.
So for now, we're going to say "RM for Riddermark" will be coming in 2011...and if it's able to happen a little earlier, that'll be a nice surprise.
If you haven't yet submitted photos of your own Froelich creation or any you happen to have photos of, here's your chance to have them appear in this epic book! We've reopened photo submissions until September 30, and here are the submission guidelines. (And if the photo situation on this end improves by then, this holiday season will be a special one for Froelich fans and hobby history buffs! :^) )
Thanks so much for your patience! I'll post another progress report soon.
