Just Keep Going

When I started this writing lark, I had no idea of what was ahead of me and it’s just as well. In my innocence, I foolishly thought all (“all!”) I had to do was write a book, and if somehow or another I got it published, well, I would die happy. So earlier this year, I did indeed self-publish my first book, and have been on a Very Steep Learning Curve ever since. If the learning curve was a road, I would need a 4 wheel drive to stay on course. So since April, I have written a series of three short ebooks, complete with videos and audio recordings, about self-healing techniques. The actual writing of the books was the easy part. The challenge for me has been the technical part. Now, I am No Spring Chicken but I know my way around a computer. I have two things going for me: Firstly, I know computers are just glorified typewriters so they don’t scare me, no way, no how. Hey, I was alive before the Internet was even a glint in the eye of the guy who invented it. Secondly, when I want to do something, I simply will not give up. So I bought this Scrivener software, in an attempt to do the conversion of my ebooks myself, and then had to buy three online courses to try and find out how the hell it worked. I eventually figured it out, and then ran into technical difficulties as I tried to create a table of contents (TOC) with subheadings. I tried. I tried again. I tried a total of 4o times. It turns out that the mythical TOC with subheadings is simply not possible in Scrivener. I eventually found out that I could have used Calibre, a free software application, to convert my books – with the fabled TOC with subheadings included. I thought my head would melt with the frustration and the waste of time and energy but thankfully, it did not. My head is Unmelted. I am bloody but unbowed. What I’ve learned won’t go to waste. And one thing I’ve learned is to ask the question “Is this possible using this piece of software?” instead of just assuming that it was possible but just elusive for me. So my advice for you, if you are having similar difficulties is (a) ask for help (b) channel your inner badger and just keep at it. You’ll get there in the end – because if I can do it, you can too.