Where to begin? The first of August I started down the road to do something about my health. With my doctor’s support I started a detox/hormone balance program that included a very unique diet; however, I can’t argue with success. I’ve lost over 30 pounds and feel great.  It wasn’t all smooth sailing. I nearly caved when life interfered with my structured plans.

My family was settled into a nice, orderly life. My husband retired and returned to tennis and expanded his chess playing… and, because he’s a great man, took over more chores to free up some time for me to work on books and publishing. I worked during the day and wrote/proofed/drew maps/prepped-for-publishing at night.  Right in the middle of setting up my web site and my daughter’s web site, life threw a curve ball.

My daughter had a major medical event. After a week in the hospital and post surgery recovery we are looking at a year and a half of post op activities. Our lives turned upside down. My husband is now driving her to daily medical appointments, but my daughter is able to work on her business even though she misses her day job. I’m so thankful that she has her art to support her right now. I didn’t have time for anything except my day job and dealing with life.

Now that we are settled into our new routine I’m hoping to get back in the publishing swing of things.  It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written (blog or books) and I’ve missed the deadlines I set for myself in regards to publishing, but it’s not all gloom and doom.

I’ve turned the first book, Deceived, over for what I hope is the final check and I’ve made progress on doing the cover art.  I don’t consider myself to be artistic but it’s been fun playing with a new program and learning new things.  My daughter was going to do the cover art but she’s behind in her business now and I decided to take it upon myself and learn a new skill.  (I will never critique another book cover again!  It’s hard to get everything looking just the way you want it.)

Helpful publishing hint:  Unless you have a strong desire to stretch your artistic muscles, I recommend paying someone with the appropriate skills and talent to design your cover art.  In the 3 months I spent learning a new program and creating the cover art I frequently wondered why I didn’t pay someone to design the cover for me.  It would have saved a lot of time and effort that I could have spent on finalizing the book.

I still have work to do.

  • The book description needs to be written.
  • A short bio on me for various venues is in the works.
  • The mundane tasks needed to self-publish, like
    • identifying key words for online searches.
    • syncing up ISBNs to book options (ebook, paperback, etc.).
    • copyright process.
    • understanding Kindle Direct Publishing, CreateSpace, Look Inside, and Author Central, since I’m going to publish through Amazon.
  • And of course, I need to put the final touches on the book.  (Isn’t it amazing that this is the last task on my list?)

My plan is still to have my first ebook for sale by the end of the year.