I ran into a problem....
The book was too heavy.
Now, honestly, this problem has a standard solution, that is, to trim your book down to only the pages that you will need for court, and keep the rest safely in another book. But that didn't sound like a solution for me, since, possessed with a future vision, I could see myself getting to an event after the last one I heralded, and realizing that I hadn't put some critical pages back. Bad herald, not prepared!
I wanted something that was everything I needed, and nothing I didn't. I didn't need the whole Protocol Book. I didn't need the whole Pursuivant's Handbook. I didn't need the entire Boke of Ceremonies. Three books, and I only wanted part of each of them. PLUS, those books are all in standard letter format, and I wanted something that wouldn't throw my back out if I carried it all day long in my basket.
Clearly, I needed to make myself a Field Manual!
I decided it should be half-letter size. That's a very convenient size for printing, and I already had a nice, unused planner cover that it would fit in.
My plan had begun to coalesce. I sat down with myself, and thought about all the things that a vocal herald might do, or need to reference. It should have all the things I'd desperately needed at an event. Scroll texts. The Order of Baronial Precedence. How to order the thrones on the dais. The Oaths of Fealty.
It should be easy for me to read in low light at nearly an arm's length, because rule number one about vocal projection is "point your mouth at the people who need to hear you", and if the book was too close to my face, it would hinder my audibility.
And finally, I wanted a worksheet that I could write up the things I wanted to remember when I was sitting down after the event to write my Court Report.
(to be continued...)
