Tuesday 10 February 2015

FriesenPress - Best Field Trip. Ever.

What a way to be welcomed! And what a way to make your guests feel important.

Last week, the girls, my step-mom and I hopped in Lexie and crawled along the ice-covered highway to FriesenPress in Altona, Manitoba to see Forever Julia fly off the presses!

Best Field Trip. Ever.

My 14 year old was the official photographer and she did an outstanding job. My job was to take copious notes about each station in the printing plant.
Outstanding Work, Daughter!


Ahem. 


I did not do such an outstanding job. 

Apparently it is 100% impossible to keep focused on note taking when you see your book chapters zoom by on a bigger than your 10-year-old roll of paper. See Exhibit A.

Therefore, notes were not in aplenty. One could say there was no unnecessary use of paper. Yes, or one could admit there were, in fact, exactly zero notes taken.


Instead see Exhibit B for my visual summary of the printing process.

The machine below is the Commander 240 and it prints, folds, slices, and dices your manuscript into book form. It is like the Slap Chop for writers.

It may possibly be more than one machine, linked together by some magical force similar to electricity, but I cannot be sure of that because I lost track of those details when I saw my Chapter 31; "Signs and boobs, and thigh-high boots. Oh my." - rush past me on that massive conveyor belt. (Plus, I had long since forgotten to take notes. See Exhibit A for a refresher.)

All I know for sure is when you look at this photo montage, you should begin at number 1 and finish at 7. I think.

Exhibit B
Our tour guide and one of Friesens' account managers, Aaron, made the trip absolutely unforgettable when he gave us the metal book plate for the cover of Forever Julia over coffee and cookies. Yes, I said cookies. Can you imagine this happening with any other printer?

The whole experience made me as wide-as-the-prairies, Manitoba proud. Yes, I went there. I referenced the prairies.

My thanks to FriesenPress. You are a class, Manitoban, act!

http://friesenpress.com/











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