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My girlfriend Randi was a huge help in the creation of the 1991 Queen Creek Canyon guidebook. I had no idea on how books were even given to the publisher to be printed. She knew the whole process and helped throughout. Back in 1991 books were not done digitally on computers so all pages of the book had to be given to the publisher on individual card stock paper plates and the text, drawings and photos were attached using a wax machine that coated the backside of the individual papers. The papers were then lined up perfectly and stuck onto the paper plates. What a huge process!!! Luckily for me
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Randi was already working for a magazine publishing company and I was allowed to use their wax machine to create the publishing plates. November 1991 the book was completed and was ready to be distributed to climbing stores all over AZ. It was really exciting to be involved in the whole process of creating a large guidebook. Scott shared in collecting the overall route information and wrote many of the area information tidbits in Scotty lingo. My part was creating the one hundred or so drawings, the layout, the wax plates and learning to not get frustrated with Scott's silly demands. One dollar from each book sold went as a donation to the Access Fund. Overall 1000 books were printed and it came to a total of 198 pages. As simple as the book turned out, it to me was the first stage to a upcoming second Queen Creek Canyon guidebook that I already could see was going to be a masterpiece. The printing of the book is the first stage of the book process. Then comes the second stage of making sure the books sell and don't sit around as they become outdated.
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Honestly as the book started coming into view things changed between Scott and I. At first we were just gathering information and climbing all of the routes to dial in the ratings so it was a fun partnership. But when it came time to actually put together the book pages, Scott disappeared and the project was thrown entirely into my lap. Scott at the same time insisted that his name was mentioned first since this was "his" book. In the inner opening page at the last minute I switched the names around placing my name first since I created 90% of the entire book. Scott had a friend that owned a printing company in Phoenix named Terra Communications Group, and he gave us a good deal on the cost of the printing. Scott and I decided on the color of the book cover and chose turquoise ink for my art drawings. Over time unfortunately the Turquoise ink began to bleed off of the cover. The books finally went into print and it was a awesome time for sure! I was very excited to finally be holding the final product! Both Scott and I were to split the cost of the printing which was close to $3500. But when it came time to pick up the finalized books from the printer, Scott showed up with only $200. The printer held onto the many boxes of books until I could find more cash to pay for the printing in full. At that time I got to see the book, but not hold it. Randi in the end came forward draining her bank account and paid for Scotts portion of the book cost.
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Since I was so deep within the project and my name was on the book, I poured my heart into the drawings. The book needed to have its own personality different than the other guidebooks already being sold on the market. I was able to produce all of the art and drawings in a short few months sitting at the drawing table every night coming up with different ideas. Besides the simple topo drawings, I produced comic strips to place in the book as well. On the outside back cover is one of my mandala art pieces I created in 1984. I was psyched that my art was going into other peoples households.
Scott took a dozen books and the rest went into storage at my house where over the next few years I set up accounts at the local climbing stores in Arizona and distributed the books. The monies for the book printing costs came back quickly so I didn't make a big deal of the situation with Scott, and tried my best to still remain on some level of friendship with him. Scott eventually got married and moved to Italy where he was father to two kids. Upon returning to the USA his marriage fell into divorce and shortly afterwards Scott in 2003 took his own life. I scattered some of his ashes in the Zonerland area in the Superstition Mountains. Scott was a interesting character, different than anybody else I know. To me what I learned from this guidebook experience is what it really takes to create a major guidebook. Thousands of constant decisions. The downfalls I went through with Scott actually lifted my strength as a artist to a new level. Already my mind was being prepared for the grand masterpiece that was to be my next major guidebook. The Rock Jock's guide to Queen Creek Canyon. |
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Five Gold Certificates were given out at the 1991 Phoenix Bouldering Contest as a winning prize.
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