Learning by Doing and Living the Dream

Living the dream and Learning new things. 
 
 
So, in preparation for the release of my novel, ​The Last Good Day, I've released a little book called The Best of Aloha Kugs, Volume I​.  It's currently available as a free eBook on Amazon. I hope you'll check it out as it's part of my mission to learn all I can about releasing a book, you know, since I'm new at this.

​Learning the business side of things has been both interesting and intimidating at times.  There’s a lot to learn and I’m in my forties.  I have loads of responsibility in my life.  I have three active children, a loving wife and a very nice dog.  I have to juggle the schedules of every one of those lives.  I have a part-time job that I really love.  I have, on a daily basis, mountains of laundry and dishes to wash and meals to make.  I teach Sunday School.  I write.  I tried to publish traditionally.  I vacuum.  I dust, occasionally.  I wake up early and I go to be late.
A lot of days I wake up tired and go to bed the same way.
I love my life.  In many ways, I’m exactly where I want to be.  We spend a lot of time together as a family.  We spend as much time as possible at the Jersey Shore, which makes navigating the stress of living in Northern Virginia much easier.  We’ve been in a good groove as a family for a while now.  It’s never without its hiccups and wrinkles, but as someone recently wrote, “If you’re lucky, you’ll live long enough to learn that the ravages of time are the reward for making it through.”
           
            “Dude, what are you doing, exactly?”
 
A friend of mine recently asked me this in light of my just starting a publishing company, building a new website, planning multiple book launches, and learning a whole new side to an industry I’ve been on the outside of for many years.  I’ve added all that to my other responsibilities.  It’s been a lot to take on.  There have been a few nights where I’ve wondered myself, “What am I doing?” 
And I know now.  I’m living the dream.  When people ask how I’m doing, especially at work, this is my go-to answer.  “I’m living the dream.  All day long, that’s all I do.”  It usually gets a chuckle or a “Really?”  or a “How do you do that?”  Honestly, I used to say it somewhat flippantly.  It was a goof.  I don’t mean it that way anymore.
I used to joke about how the last thing I needed was more to do.  It turns out I was a little wrong.  I just needed to change how I do things.  I needed to go to work for myself.  So, with no business experience, no marketing experience, and limited time and capital to invest, that’s exactly what I did. 
            And as Robert Frost once said, “That has made all the difference.”
Let me explain: I put myself to work. Yes, I’m essentially working for myself, but there has been a dramatic change in the way I write, the way I move the books closer to launch, and way I feel about what I’m doing.  I’ve given myself deadlines and daily assignments, and apparently, as a boss, I don’t screw around. 
I’m motivated.  I’m learning.  I’m working harder than ever.  And I am loving it.  I’m more productive than I’ve ever been.  I’m more efficient and I’m treating my work as a writer in a whole new way.  It’s still art.  It’s still a craft but I have my own money invested in this thing now and I find that opening the business has unleashed something in me that I never thought was there, especially at this stage of my life.
Yes, I know 40’s is not old, but starting something new and risky at this age is just that, a risk.  While I’m enjoying the process, I might fail.  I have to acknowledge the fact that this could all turn out to be a failure.  It certainly won’t be from lack of work or a dearth of motivation, but there are a lot of books out there. 
I have to learn how to get my own work in front of the audience that is likely to enjoy it.  I’m open to advice and am appreciative to people in the industry like my friends at https://createifwriting.com/ and https://www.thecreativepenn.com/ for their advice and guidance and amazing content along the way.  I’m grateful to my beta readers, including my friends at https://www.mothernova.com/ and https://www.notsoformulaic.com/ among others.  Their sites are way cooler than mine so you should check them out.
So, we’re living the dream, one day and one lesson at a time.  There’s still a lot to learn but it’s fun to learn new things and it’s kinda fun to be a little scared of it all too.  Certainly gets one moving in the morning…
Thanks for reading.  If you’d like to check out the eBook for free, please click here, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BWG2GT3/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1 or just click above on the Books link.  Feel free to write a fabulous review on Amazon or Goodreads too.  :)  Aloha for now!