For years in my career as a medical illustrator I noticed when researching assignments that it was hard find illustrations that show the origins and insertions of the muscles. In most anatomy books they are drawn in situ--all of them are shown together so that the origins and insertions are hidden. The origins and insertions are usually shown as marked areas on the bones in separate illustrations, or even in another chapter or section of the book.

     It seemed to me that this information was important and should be presented in a way that would be easier to learn. If anatomy students knew where a muscle begins and where it ends, and the direction in which fibers shorten when contracted, they could understand the action of the muscle and easily visualize what would happen if the muscle shortened.

     I got started on Bones and Muscles when a friend who was studying to become a massage therapist needed to learn the muscles and their origins and insertions. I did some quick sketches for her of the bones involved and drew the muscles on tracing paper that she could put them over the bones. It occurred to me that I could do this as a book.

     I had started medical illustrating 32 years ago when I was in my twenties when my ophthalmologist asked me to do some drawings for him. He was so happy with my drawings that he introduced me to his colleague, Richard Troutman, the world-renowned corneal surgeon who introduced microsurgery to the United States, changing all ophthalmic surgery forever. I had the privilege of illustrating his three books. Because I did the illustrations for Troutman I soon became recognized as an illustrator of ophthalmic surgery. Other ophthalmic surgeons, and then ophthalmic plastic surgeons, asked me to illustrate their books. I worked for 25 years in the field, doing over 20 major texts, not only in ophthalmic and ophthalmic plastic surgery but also in plastic and reconstructive surgery of the whole body and dermatological surgery, working with some of the finest surgeons in the country.

     I had recently been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was depressed about my physical deterioration. Drawing has always been my escape. I am a painter as well as a medical illustrator. Starting on my book was a good way to get involved with something outside myself, something that I could handle, that would keep me busy. I had no idea of what would become of it. That was over six years ago.

     Bones and Muscles was to be my first text, both written and drawn on my own. I was daunted by enormity of the project I'd taken on, but I had to start somewhere, so I began by drawing the bones on paper. I then experimented with doing the muscles on acetate overlays and found that this technique worked. I didn't have to redraw the bones with each muscle and I could show each muscle separately.

     Two and a half years ago tragedy struck again. My husband had a stroke and even though I was disabled myself, I had to become his caretaker. Again, I needed something to distract me, to get outside of myself. I worked on the book whenever I had a chance, losing myself in the intricacy of the drawings and the enormous amount of research I felt this project required. .

     After I finished the book I tried to find a publisher, assuming that task would be easy since all my previous work was published. They all responded that the project was gorgeous, but just too expensive to publish. It seemed that in the years since I'd illustrated my last book, the medical textbook business, like the rest of the publishing business, was now focussing only on the bottom line, not on what was actually needed by students. If it was too expensive to print, it didn't get published, no matter how worthy the project.

     A web savvy friend suggested I publish Bones and Muscles as an ebook to circumvent the expense problem. The illustrations could be downloaded and printed out as needed, rather than an entire book having to be printed on paper. Voila! An elegant, high-tech solution to what seemed an insoluble problem.

     My problem now became how to actually transfer the book to the web. I'm not of the generation that grew up with computers and could pick up new software easily. However, I was lucky to find Laurie Burke, who taught me how to do the layout work on the computer. I decided to do the work myself so that I could learn a new skill.

     Another friend, Marilyn Hagberg, fellow artist and journalist, offered to edit the text for me, a monumental task. She taught me much about grammar and punctuation that I had long forgotten. She also cleaned up the text, and made sure what it was I was trying to say was understandable.

     I found I liked about the idea of self-publishing the book as an ebook because it it would be accessible to many more people. Students wouldn't have to spend over $200 to buy the book, or spend hours poring over it in the library. They could study the muscles in their own time, one page at a time, without lugging around a big book.

     I believe this is the first ebook of its kind to appear on the web. I'm sure it won't be the last. I hope students find it as helpful to study as I found it to draw and write.