Longest Covered Bridge in Ohio--"Bridge of Dreams"

 On our way Friday morning to Salem, OH, we visited the longest covered bridge in Ohio, which was only 500 feet off the road we were traveling.

It was called "Bridge of Dreams."

 Some sort of rubber matting was along one side apparently for horses and buggies to use. The leftovers from horses trotting through this bridge were easy to see!

Mennonites or Amish on bikes passed us more than once as we walked along the straight path a ways.

 

"Bridge of Dreams," I pondered as we enjoyed our walk in the autumn air,

with enormous sycamore leaves piled up along the side of the road, and more leaves floating down every time a breeze rustled through the trees. (Sorry these particular photos of me and aspen are in Colorado, where Jonathan was trying to get a mug of me for the author blurb on the back cover of my next book.)

And I marveled at how God had allowed another dream of mine to come true--to write and publish books.

Here are three versions of the front cover of the next book--trying to decide which colors were best.

That took hours for Ezra to work through different colors and fonts.

 While I, meantime, tried to get a nice mug with yellow aspen, "sunshine and shadows," for the author blurb photo.

That one was from the side and too shadowed.


This one did not have correct lighting, either.

I had to give up and use the same photo I used for the first book. 

Not every single dream comes true!

There are so many details to consider when you want to publish a book. 

 

It's not just about a great story that someone writes. 

It's also about the publishing details--the cover, the font, the headers, the spine, the author blurb, the mug of the author.

The back cover, the preface, the illustrations or photos, the foreword, or the preface. And do you know the difference? (I didn't. Not even until after I wrote my first book.)

It takes hard work and time nearly every day dedicated to your passion to build "The Bridge of Dreams Come True."

If you want your dreams to come true, you can't just sip tea in your little Teegarden Bridge like this one near Salem. You have to set a goal, then do something each day toward that goal. 

"Anya," my former coworker in Ukraine wrote to me a few days ago after I had gifted her with one of my books of Roses in Kiev, "Wanted to let you know that I am proud of you (in the right way). You sat down, wrote that book (and others), got it published, and there are more to come...God bless your tappings--yours on the keyboard and Jonathan's with a hammer."

Walking through two different covered bridges in Ohio, I ponder how I walk through dreams both unfulfilled and others come true, while I continue to tap away!