things have been going okay. sugar's been holding, had a 138 this morning. house is almost clean today. i did pray, ate right, got to my meeting, did my meditation book reading, i was a participant in things and i have avoided the sense that i need to fix what is broken in other people. from not being lenient on Heather and feeling sorry for her plight, because that's not going to aid her in developing a working recovery program, to not running to TF's rescue about her phone situation. i have a self to take care of, a child and a home as well. anything else happens as i go into my day to do my Father's will.
but i am tired. tired through and through.
here's the thing. the pre-sale stuff is moving slow, and i knew it would but i also know, or believe, that 'way leads on to way', paraphrasing Frost. I got the process started. i have people interested. i've been using the social media thing, and i've been doing the video thing. i've been learning, such as how better to price the services for putting someone's book into working order, getting it formatted for publishing. i am still in a learning curve and have no problem with that at all.
but the slowness denotes the same thing that it's been all along. there are a handful of individuals who are going to help me just because i ask. there is a handful of people that i can cajole into helping me somewhat, until they duck and cover when they sense i'm near. and there are whole forest-fuls of individuals who have no interest in helping at all. people that i know, mind you. and i can't be upset about that, because i already know it.
something new needs word to get out about it. at the very least, it needs to have a presence in someone's mind, and that happens by effort, not chance. people tend to think that those who succeed have a magic formula for their success, because the media presents it that way. but magic is just well-arranged circumstances and a lot of work ahead of time. and so, i decided to investigate Create Space, another Amazon service.
from what i can tell, it works just like Kindle, except for books in print. so what it enables me to do is to get my book printed, AS MY BOOK, MY PUBLISHING, get it out to people through their distribution, and while the royalties are slimmer than i'd prefer, it saves me the hunt and hassle of doing the actual printing through someone who is going to gouge me for the service. now, this is a temporary thing, but to get started, i have to get a book out. and that book will be out much sooner than expected. and i am grateful to God for that.
but the formatting of the book was the real lesson. margins have to be a certain measurement, illustrations have to be a certain dot per inch (DPI), the cover has to be in pdf format and has to match the dimensions of your manuscript in its print-ready form, including the thickness of the spine cover. it is learning, it is work, and it's fun but a stress. and i was up all night working on it, and i was up early working on it too.
the book is wonderful. i am biased, but i am also enjoying the story. i've run through it four times in editing and each time my emotional ride has been the same. i just hope people dig it the way i do, but that's not up to me.
i'm baking chicken breasts stuffed with a ricotta/feta/spinach/red onion/mushroom filling, wrapped in bacon. i'm making broccoli with it, and maybe rice. i had two small pieces of cod, three wings and about six fries for lunch. i am finishing the chicken so i can sit back for a bit and reflect. i feel good. i can feel the depression all around me, but i'm going to keep moving. thank you, Jehovah, for the blessing of creativity and satisfaction.
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