Delayed Gratification???

Beginning somewhere in the mid-nineties, the "Jill and Alice" show became a staple at our Illinois Foreign Language teachers' conferences. We gave seminars on all sorts of things that we did in our classes at NBJH and actually developed a small "following". Somewhere around 2000 the conference title was something like "Languages...and Beyond". At that time we both were doing a lot with projects in our classes and had developed all sorts of ideas for follow-up activities to use when the students finished their projects. It made total sense to give a seminar on the projects and, so, "Projects....and Beyond" was born.

Fast forward to 2005. I was thinking about what I'd do when I retired the next year and we both were thinking that maybe there was a market for selling "Projects...and Beyond." We spent a lot of time that summer of 2005 writing up projects for possible publication. In August we sent them off to a company that sells all sorts of supplementary classroom materials. Then began the wait...and the wait....and the wait. In the past four years we have gone through something like ten different editors...some who wanted to move on the project immediately but then were transferred or something else took precedence.....some who had it on a back burner....some who quit or changed positions seemingly within weeks of getting the job. It was frustrating to say the least.

About a year ago, another new editor came on. She actually got us contracts...finally...and was excited about the project. But again, we'd have contact with her and then six months would go by without contact. Would these projects ever get published?

Seemingly out of the blue a couple of months ago, the editor contacts us with the information that "Projects...and Beyond" is ready to be published and that it will be published as individual downloads. That means that rather than producing a book of projects, the individual projects will be sold on-line for a small fee per project. That seemed like a good idea....and we waited some more.

Last week we heard that the projects are ready to go and are excited but feel strange at the same time. In my former writing life in the 70's, I always got "galleys" - actual paper copies of the book which I looked over and corrected if necessary. In this new modern age, we haven't seen anything! They have done all the proofing.

Yesterday, I finally saw the projects on line...but really didn't see them because only a few are actually pictured when you click on "preview". They are still coming.
The weird thing is that all they show on the website is the title page. There is no information about the actual project. In e-mail conversation with the editor she said that they can't show the actual project because people will just copy it and not buy it. I totally understand that. I did ask her, however, if they could add some information in addition to the word "project" so that people would know what they were buying...maybe just "project with rubric and follow-up activity". I haven't heard back from her on that. I don't think I'd buy something that just said "House project".

The other weird feeling is that so much has changed since we submitted the manuscript four years ago. Jill, still in the classroom, has incorporated much technology into these projects. In my BER seminars I also have talked about incorporated technology and have expanded upon the follow-up activities.

So while it is very exciting for our "baby" to finally be born, it is sort of like developing the newest I-Phone but selling the old model. Our names are going out there on work that was the "new model" in 2005 and, at the moment, I feel a little weird about that. The editor is sending us a CD so we can see all the finished products. I hope I feel better after I see them!

Meanwhile, our baby is finally born and maybe you'll soon be able to buy some neat projects for Christmas gifts for family and friends!