A Difficult Week That Isn’t So Bad

My writing life has been busy. Marketing, last minute publishing snafus, outlining, planning, my list of things to do is unending. My personal life has been busy, too. This has been a difficult week that isn’t so bad.

photo of a rainbow in a cloudy sky--a symbol of a difficult week that isn't so bad

The Good

Much of the week was good. I finished creating bookmarks, images for ads, prizes for an online launch party, approved back covers, loaded paperback books into various software programs, and prepared twitter and Facebook posts. It was part of my difficult week but a planned part of launching my new book. Fellowship went live on Monday–on Amazon and a few other sites. Apple and a few other sites had delays but are up now. Sales are slow, but trickling in. (If you’d like to attend my online launch party see the post on my Facebook page.)

Book two for the My Soul to Keep series is in the final planning stages. Writing will begin next week.

I started planning two very different non-fiction books.

My weekly visit from my grandson was full of play and reading aloud and fun. I love that he brings me books he wants to read to me. This week, I read the first chapter of Diana Wynne Jones’s Howl’s Moving Castle to him.

It’s getting very close to the day when my new grandson will be born. And I’ll end the week at a baby shower celebrating with my son and daughter-in-law.

The Challenges

The Challenges during this difficult week were many. Some came in the form of three medical appointments for my husband and new medical issues.

An inkjet printer failure had me YouTubing information, then digging into the interior of the printer. Unfortunately, I couldn’t fix it. (It was almost fifteen years old.)

Removing the no longer functioning printer wound up spurring me to rearrange a few shelves. Half-an-hour tops, I thought. Ha! A broken shelf spud and two hours later I finished.

After that I spent a little time setting up a new printer.

Plotting on my plot board by the light of the gray sky through my dining room windows--it's been a difficult week.

On Wednesday, there was a powerful wind and rain storm that knocked out power out for an hour. Writing during that power outage meant taking my plotting board into another room and working by candle light for a short while. The storm also knocked down a lot of tree branches. That meant I had an unscheduled half-day raking and bagging and cutting up branches to clear the lawn so it could be mowed. 

A photo of a large branch with dead leaves lying on the ground after the storm during a difficult week.
The storms are keeping my tree man from being able to trim this tree. With luck, he might be able to get to it next week.

The Result

I’m exhausted and distracted and happy and frustrated and wishing I were twenty people instead of one. Lol This is the life of a self-published author. Writing is only half the job. It’s got to be done or none of the rest of it matters. The writing is what I love doing. I even love the editing phase. Marketing is something new and foreign to me (so it takes me three times as long as it will when I get more practiced.) And life goes on no matter what. There are still all the mundane details of daily life that need some attention. This is no more difficult than any self-employment endeavor. But this writing gig fills my soul in such a way that even this difficult week isn’t so bad. 

3 comments

  1. Even a bad day writing is better than a good day at the day job, right? (I know you’re retired from the latter, but I had to say it!) Congrats on the new release, I’ll have to check it out! And hope all continues to go well for your husband.

    1. Yup. You got it, Jennette. I can’t believe how my life has changed. Any day I get writing done is a good day. And I’m managing to do that most days so it’s a win!

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