Jerusalem Greer

The Theology of Place, Liturgical Shenanigans, Farm Living

Guess what? It’s a BOOK!

By 18 Comments

Good morning friends! Happy Monday to you all! Well, guess what? It’s finally official. I have a book. A real -life-I-can- hold- it-in-my-hands book. So let’s have some cake and celebrate, shall we?

This book is a dream come true. A dream fought for, a dream worked for, cried for, prayed for, blood, sweat and teared for. And now it is here. In my kitchen. It really happened. I, Jerusalem Jackson Greer, wrote a book. Sometimes, okay a mostly, I have to pinch myself.  For the first half hour that this book was in my possession I just hugged it to my chest. My book.

I feel like Jo in Little Women. I want to run through the house yelling “I’m an author!!”

So find your favorite tea cup (isn’t my new blue bird cup adorable? A dear friend gifted me with this little bit of happy the other day and I cannot get enough of it.)  fill it with your favorite brew, grab a piece of a sweet treat and get ready for the fun. Because for the rest of March, let me tell you friends, we are going to have some fun!
To begin with I thought I would take you on a little tour of the book’s design.

A Homemade Year is published by Paraclete Press and I cannot say enough about how generous, kind and helpful the entire Paraclete team has been throughout this entire process. Truly. Everyone went above and beyond to make this book the beautiful gift that it is. My editors were, honest, forthright and extremely patient as they helped me pair the book down (I wrote an extra 30K words…whoops!)  Then the designers took my ideas, my color pallet, and Judea’s images and created what I think is one of the loveliest books I have ever seen. Of course I am prejudice, but I cannot overstate what a wonderful job the designers at Paraclete did. As a publisher they have never published a book like this before- so richly saturated with color and images- and I think they hit it out of the park.

I had an inkling that things might turn out okay when the designers requested that I send some of my favorite papers and fabrics to their offices. You should have heard my squeals when I noticed that my three most favorite fabrics of all time – one a pink and red gingham, one vintage bed sheet with a blue flower pattern and another vintage bed sheet with a small pastel flower pattern – were gracing the cover and backside of the book. Even the spine was “wrapped” with my fabric! Absolutely beautiful.
They even Incorporated my love of legal pad’s into the equation, and added little flourishes to the back design. So cute.

The layout inside the book is even more amazing and Judea’s photographs look stunning. I love being able to see them all together in one place. Each image a visual record of moments of inspiration, crafts and recipes brought to life, and of all our sweet friends and family members who were our very willing “models” time and time again.

There are four sections of the book, divided along the lines of the seasons, and each season carries a central theme. Top open each season there is a photo collage like the one above that gives a preview of what is ahead in the following chapters. This is the preview for Autumn. You will see that each season also has a visual theme that is represented on the pages. Little reminders of Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.

In the coming days and weeks I will have even more fun things to share -book signing times and places, as well as events and giveaways.  I will also be visiting some very kind and generous friends who are hosting  A Homemade Year for the blog tour for the official release.

But today what I want to say most of all is this: Thank you. Thank you to everyone who is here today and everyone who has visited this blog over the past 8 years. Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me and everyone who has stuck by me as this blog -and my life – has undergone so many changes. Not everything I have set out to do over the past 8 years has happened, but this did. This little idea that is now a book, it happened. And it happened in large part because you keep showing up here- whether I have anything interesting to share or not- to say hello, to remind me not to give up, to laugh and cry and cheer me on and to just hang out. You have made a HUGE difference in my life. This blog, is at the heart, primarily a way to tell my story and the story of our family, and our life.  But it has also become a place where I have found community and friendship – specifically your friendship- day after day, through good times and bad. So thank you my friends. For being here, through it all, no matter what.

Now, go find some cake or a cookie or a healthy smoothie and celebrate the wonderfulness that is YOU!

Comments

  2. Big, huge, jumbo congratulations, Jerusalem! I cannot wait to order my copy of A Homemade Year and soak it all in. Any plans on coming to North Carolina for your book tour? 🙂

    Erin
    Carolina Country Living

    Reply

Leave a Reply to BethandCo Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Previous Next
Close
Test Caption
Test Description goes like this