Category: Book updates

I have been working on translating research information to chapters. As information comes to light, I categorize documents, images, and other data into a topic folder. I have a folder for each chapter and some sub-topics. As I review data contents, I translate the information to a text file. I do not worry about spelling or where images are going. The written content is the most important piece. Adding images is one of the last parts of the book.

I have spent the last 2 weeks focusing on the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line, Camp Tuto, Thule Air Force Base, Camp Century, and a chapter on a non-LeTourneau equipment piece that fits into the Overland Trains story. I have collected 5.7GB of information, which includes videos, images, audio files, and documents. I have interviewed around a dozen people that had direct experience or families with direct experience in the Arctic.

Data backups are critical. I use OneDrive to sync local data to the cloud. At the end of the day, I copy that folder to a thumb drive for a local backup. Lastly, I sync another backup copy to my NextCloud instance.

Just as I think that I am ahead of translating the Overland Trains story to a document, more information comes into action. I can not complain about this! I am on track for publishing the book in mid-2021.

I had originally planned on a published date sometime before the end of 2020. Covid travel restrictions to Canada and an influx of new information and contacts have delayed the time frame to the second or third quarter of 2021.

Writing a book of this nature requires attention to detail, data analysis skills, and the ability to effectively organize information. As I research and collect data, it’s become apparent that I need to come up with an organization system for media. It’s important for me to keep metadata, and sources in tact, in addition to having a naming scheme that is recognizable and scriptable if necessary.

For example, the image below is now named vc12-img-L3951-dh. I chose to define my media by topic (Overland Train type), the media type (e.g. image (img), document (doc)), a number system using the original filename if applicable, and the source. In this case, I have a separate tab showing source values.