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Falling Behind

In January I set a target for the end of September for the completion of a project I had started work on. However targets and actually accomplishing them are two different things. One of the benefits of ageing and having retired is that I am not unduly worried about it, but I do realise how difficult meeting targets must be for people in full time occupations who are trying to progress an online business.

I am way behind schedule for my new project ‘Walks In Tameside’. Originally I thought it would include a maximum of 25 walks but some intensive research on maps means I am now up to 37 walks and hoping to make it a round 40 before it’s completed.

Each walk obviously has to be physically walked and also recorded, both by direction finding and tracking on GPS. Next it has to be typed into a document and the track downloaded into the relevent software and annotated onto a digital Ordnance Survey map. While I am no expert on photography, reasonable photographs also have to be taken to enhance the text and some days the cloud prevents this. Finally the track has to be walked again to check that the text on route finding is accurate and does not lead to any misunderstanding.

Out of the 37 walks, 3 have to be started and to make the 40 that makes it 6. Virtually all have to be re-walked and I have already covered almost 1000 miles todate. 17 have yet to be photographed, plus the extra 3 to make the 40. I am also adding information or links to local history and landmarks so I still have a ton of work to complete.

As an example of one walk that is completed I have converted it to PDF but unfortunately WordPress have an 8MB limit on downloading PDF’s and due to the 7 photographs included in it my file is almost 11MB. So I have had to split the PDF into 3 parts. I realise that you probably have no interest whatsoever in walking or trekking but I would still value your opinion on the layout.

File 1 walk 28 no pics File 2 walk 28 pics 1  File 3 walk 28 pics 2

 

 

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 20th, 2011 at 5:50 pm and is filed under General Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

15 Responses to “Falling Behind”

  1. You’ve put a lot of work into this, well done Bill. The walks seem detailed enough to follow, with the text and maps complimenting each other. I just wondered why the map references are “WP”?, is that an abbreviated walk name? Couldn’t you have numbers on their own? Have you named each walk, or just given the routings? You would need a short name for the book index. Just a thought, hope this helps……

    John
    Leamington Spa, England
    John McNally recently posted..What % is a Good Bounce Rate?

    [Reply]

    Bill MurneyNo Gravatar Reply:
    October 21st, 2011 at 9:09 am

    Good point John on the WP’s – they stand for waypoint and I wrongly assumed people would know what the abbreviation stands for. In the text WP1 refers to the WP1 symbol on the map (where you actually are at that time) and so on with all the waypoint numbers. I will put a short explanation at the begining so people understand the meaning.

    All the walks are numbered and a summary of locations visited as well as a brief route description are given before each walk. All the walks numbers and locations will be listed at the beginning of the book. Thanks for your input John, it’s appreciated. Bill

    [Reply]

  2. Wow…that’s some beautiful country. Wonder if marketing your book to American or foreign trekkers would be a way to go: Fly to the UK and take all these obscure yet beautiful hike/treks.
    Don’t worry about falling behind. As long as you’re ahead of the Grim Reaper, you’re doing just fine.
    hansi recently posted..New Themes: iTheme 2 and Bold News

    [Reply]

    Bill MurneyNo Gravatar Reply:
    October 21st, 2011 at 5:28 pm

    Hansi, sometimes we don’t appreciate what we have on our own doorstep, I can walk out of my house and in a few minutes I am in countryside. When the book is finished I will start locally and see how it goes first of all. I am ahead of the Grim Reaper but only just. Bill

    [Reply]

  3. Bill,
    Why don’t you break it up into two books? And start a Facebook Fan page to peak people’s interest? Then get us all to visit and like your Fan page.
    Ralph@Retirement Lifestyle recently posted..Me and Social Media

    [Reply]

    Bill MurneyNo Gravatar Reply:
    October 25th, 2011 at 7:39 pm

    You know Ralph that’s a great idea and one I never thought of. That way I could get one book online quicker and if people like Volume 1 then there’s a good chance they might buy volume 2. I had always intended to set up a Facebook page with the project, at least the people interested would be making genuine sensible comments. Thanks for the 2 book idea Ralph, it just shows how someone else’s input can have a benefit. Bill

    [Reply]

    Ralph@Retirement LifestyleNo Gravatar Reply:
    October 25th, 2011 at 7:47 pm

    Bill,
    37 walks seems overwhelming anyway. Twenty or even 15 is plenty at one time. Maybe you can organize it regionally or by terrain type or maybe it’s better to have a variety. I’ve never considered this so your gut is probably the best judge. Glad my suggestion helped. It’s easy to get to close to something and lose perspective. I know that the hard way.
    Ralph@Retirement Lifestyle recently posted..Me and Social Media

    [Reply]

    Bill MurneyNo Gravatar Reply:
    October 25th, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    Ralph, the area the book(s) covers is only 40 square miles, so all the walks are closely packed together. It’s a popular area for walkers and the only publication is a physical book by the local authority, and that was published in 2003 so is a little outdated in this digital age.

    [Reply]

    Ralph@Retirement LifestyleNo Gravatar Reply:
    October 25th, 2011 at 9:21 pm

    Way back in ought 4. That’s ancient history.
    Ralph@Retirement Lifestyle recently posted..Me and Social Media

    [Reply]

  4. Hi Bill,

    What you need is a “proof walker”, like a proof reader only to make sure you’re on the right track (so to speak). If you had a few of them, you could get all the walks done fairly quickly and published in quick time. I’m sure this is a fantastic niche for you and you should actually make good money out of it.

    Best of luck.

    Don
    Don recently posted..My National Anthem

    [Reply]

    Bill MurneyNo Gravatar Reply:
    October 26th, 2011 at 10:35 am

    Don, my wife is the ‘proof reader’ and an experienced walker so if she says something is wrong, I listen. It would be nice to think I might make a pound or two from it. Bill

    [Reply]

  5. Hi Bill, what stunning views. No wonder you enjoy walking through them as much as you do. It’s just a shame you have to come away from them mate.

    I agree with John, the text, pictures and photos all compliment each other. You’re doing a great job Bill. I was also a little miffed at what WP meant but see you’re now covering that aspect ;)

    I wouldn’t say you’re falling behind mate. You’ve moved the goal posts by adding more walks and detail to the existing ones you’ve done. It’s such a shame that you have to go and walk them again for the photos, you need one of those hidden cameras Bill, where you park them up for a week or so and take the best pictures from the collection. Mind you I dread to think how much they cost.

    Best of luck with it all Bill. Have you thought of using Amazon s3 to store your files? I think they’ll allow a larger file size than WordPress.

    Take care,
    Barry

    Barry Wells recently posted..Journey To Success Part 7: Focus, Time and Money

    [Reply]

    Bill MurneyNo Gravatar Reply:
    October 28th, 2011 at 7:57 pm

    Hi Barry, thanks for the encouraging comments. Yes it’s a labour of love, it doesn’t feel like work at all. If it takes off I have enough neighbouring areas to last me till I can’t physically do it anymore.

    I take lots of photos on the principle that 1 in 4 will be acceptable and it seems to work. I am taking Ralph’s advice and making it 2 volumes, so hopefully I will have the first one finished before the year end. I have cropped the photos on my techie friend Adrian’s suggestion so that a page now contains two photos, and obviously being smaller reduces the file size – I hope. If I get stuck I will look at the Amazon option. Bill

    [Reply]

  6. Wow Bill,

    Those are some really LONG walking points there my friend!

    I can only wish I could do that and you have some beautiful snapshots as well.

    Here in Mexico, we DO have some great landscapes but unfortunately not on my city.

    Besides there is a lot of violence here on the lonely zones, so it’s definitely a no no for me.

    Enjoyed watching your PDFs and I think that Amazon Storage Services are free until you start storing really big files or something like that.

    Cheers,
    Sergio
    Sergio Felix recently posted..Getting a Mentor, Gurus and Flying Solo

    [Reply]

    Bill MurneyNo Gravatar Reply:
    December 2nd, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    Thanks for the visit Sergio. What a shame that you have problems with violence on what you call the lonely zones. Fortunately, here we don’t seem to have that problem in the countryside, although we do in the cities like eveywhere else. Bill

    [Reply]

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