I often have a lot of different projects going on and sometimes it’s hard to keep track. I’m going to share what I’m working on so you might see what’s coming down the wire and also for a little accountability. I might be a little vague on a few things that I can’t share details on, so please forgive me.
Books
I have a couple of books on the go. One will become book 3 in the “Come Railfan With Me” series (Three Days in February and Lions and Lambs are the first two) and one will be a grain elevator book. There’s a third book that I plan to co-write that we are still gathering material for.
I’m hoping to get some significant work done on these over the Christmas break.
Articles
I have an article that I’ve submitted to a magazine (fingers crossed!), and another one I’m about to start editing for a different magazine.
I also intend to write one for the excellent The Trackside Photographer site, but I don’t have anything but an intention yet… what should I write about?
Other Writing
I’ve been contributing articles for Transport Action Canada. My most recent is about Winnipeg’s new transit master plan.
I have some more articles to write for the Prairie specific portion of the web site. The first step – that I am taking right after I click “Schedule” on this post – is to make a list of the articles to write.
Scanning
A while ago, I was offered the chance to scan about twenty photo albums of grain elevator photos. I gladly accepted and I’ve been picking away at that ever since. I’m on album 7 so I have a ways to go. I wrote about it here on the Grain Elevators of Canada site.
Scanning these photos is a bit tedious since they are stuck in photo albums. Fortunately, for most albums I can remove each page and scan it. A few albums are ring-bound and I have to lay the whole album on the scanner and put something heavy on top to keep it in place for the scan. It’s slow going so I try to scan a half dozen photos each day.
There’s also a small pile of slides that I’ve purchased on eBay over the past couple of months that I need to scan. These are lower priority than the grain elevator photos because I’d like to give the albums back someday. Fortunately Donald’s son Greg understands that it will take time.
How About You?
That’s what’s on my plate these days.
How about you? What are your projects?
Steve they sound an exciting array of projects, I applaud you for being able to keep the balls juggling with so many on the go! As a modeller I find my projects often combine prototype research, model making and photography and have enough to keep me out of mischief, a wonderful hobby being a modeller and rail fan can be, so many diverse avenues.
Hi James, thanks for your comment! As a modeller you know all about projects that stop and start depending on research, parts, and even just waiting for paint or glue to dry. Part of our hobbies is multitasking and that’s what keeps it fun and interesting. If it was easy, why would we do it? 🙂
Hi Steve, I am curious about the scanner you use to do albums, slides etc. What make, model do you use and are you happy with it. Any reccomendations ?
I’m using a (borrowed) Canon CanoScan 4200F. It works pretty well. I have been looking for an Epson Perfection V600 scanner. These are great but hard to find and rather expensive.
I’m glad you mentioned The Trackside Photographer. I thought the site was still on hiatus. Good luck with the projects. At least you have plenty queued up during the pandemic restrictions.
Fortunately The Trackside Photographer is back in operation.