A Year Ago

One year ago, I was getting ready for my sister's wedding. Valerie was down. We had just moved to Palacios. I didn't know how long I'd be living in Palacios. I was editing the final proof of "The Calling."
So much has happened in a year.
I still miss Palacios, but I love being here with my grandparents. I love working in the theater again. And my books.
A year ago I was writing Swing and editing "Across the Distance." Now "Across the Distance" is published on Kindle and Swing is in the final editing stages. A year ago, I didn't know much about professional editing. I had no idea what HTML meant. I was just learning to format books on Word.
Now. I can look and say, "It's been a year. "The Captive" is still not edited. "Swing" and "Across the Distance" should have been published long ago. I haven't made much money on the books - in fact, I've put in more money than I've made.
A lot more.
Or I can say. Look how far I've come.
A year ago, I was depending on a publishing company to do what I didn't know how. I had no way of telling if their work was good or correct. In one year, I've learned that if I don't know something, I can learn it. I've learned that it's not as hard to get into the film industry as I thought. I've learned that if I write down that painful experiance of my past, it suddenly stops pleaguing me. I've learned to give people a chance to be themselves without prejudging them.
I've performed in plays. I've taught acting classes. I've learned to set goals and work toward them. I've learned that I can be anything I want, so long as I have the courage and grit to keep after it.
Every step of publishing my own work has had a steep learning curve with it - and I'm by no means an expert in editing, formatting for kindle, or laying out a physical page with InDesign. I've held a few book signings and set up my first book tour.
I'm no longer just the author. I'm the editor, the typesetter, the producer, the sales managers, the accountant, the secretary, the proof-reader and the cover designer all rolled into one. Some of these steps, I've had outside help with and want to get more - especially in the editing department.
But I've learned so much since a year ago. I've even learned enough to realize there's more I don't know.
So I keep plugging away, knowing that after I learn this stuff, things will go faster, smoother and I won't have to redo things over and over again. If I can get these books out - I can get any books out. My goal is to make every book better than the last.