Carpe Diem Scroto The Book blog

Well, I still have yet to get the edited book back from the Editor. He sent me a message asking to extend the deadline by 3 days, so I agreed to extend it. It was supposed to be back to me by 10/16 and I agreed to extend it to 10/20, so we'll see what is going to happen from there.

Also, I have been working on the webpage for the book www.cdsthebook.com and finishing up the ordering page, and it looks like I am going to be able to offer the book on Apple Books, Google Books, Kobo, Barns & Noble, and Amazon. Barns and Noble and Amazon will have both the eBook and the paperback, the others will only have eBook. The amount of hoop jumping I'm having to do in order to get these services setup has been interesting and can see why people suggest having a Literary Agent. But I am a hands-on type of person, and I like to figure things out the best I can, without having to pay out of pocket. That's why I use free services like Weebly, Square, Talkatone, and other such services. One, it helps me keep costs down, and two, I get to learn how to do things on my own. I can do basic HTML coding from scratch and type out the programing that I need, but when it comes to adding JAVA, CSS, and other programming languages, I rather use a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) so that way it looks more professional and not a website designed in 1996.

So, with everything else going on in my personal day to day, it's kind of nice to let things get worked on in the background so that I can focus on other projects.

Well, I just at this very moment submitted the manuscript to the editor and everything is now under review, and he will begin working on it right away.

I am so flipping excited and nervous. My whole body is buzzing right now, and I think that it's just the adrenaline of pulling the trigger and making such a large investment in myself.

Now I've got to purchase my ISBN number and get everything submitted to KDP and Barns and Noble. 

Well I've been stressing about my book as per usual and a venue for the book launch party. Well I was given a rental space for 3hrs at a local community center. 

 Well by this time I would have liked to announce that the book was submitted for its final editing and formatting. However, as luck would have it, I got a message from the illustrator that they had some technical difficulties, and needed another week or so past the deadline that I originally gave them. So, of course the final editor has been blowing up my inbox wondering where everything is, because he has other projects on his desk. So I have a meeting this coming Tuesday with the artist and we are going to discuss the new deadline and hopefully have everything turned into the editor by 10/10 and he'll hopefully have it back to me by 10/20 for the publication date of 11/15 This is why I always give myself an extra few weeks on any project that I do, especially if I'm including other people.

That aside, I have been working on getting other projects up and going, and working on promotional materials and trying to get a venue set up for the book launch party. I have a lot of money going out and not that much coming in at the moment, but hey they say "you have to spend money to make money" right? I'm just so thankful for all the help, support, and well wishes that have come along the way. And I will be making my final adjustments to the Thank You section of the book before I submit it to the editor. 

I don't think that I've been so nervous in a long time. I just hope that it all goes according to plan. 

Well, it is officially September, and the book is scheduled to be published in November. I'm sitting here going over the logistics of everything and trying to figure out what needs to be done and what needs my attention right now, and what I can put off for another week or so. I'm not typically one for procrastination, but with other people's hands in the pot, I have to await to see the final results to go from there. 

I still have tremendous faith that this is going to all somehow work itself out. I cannot allow the stress to get to me and to stop with the finish line so close at hand.

As of right now I am playing the waiting game. I have been in contact with a seller on the Fiverr platform who is going to be the one I turn to for the final editing and formatting of my book. I have used Fiverr in the past for many other projects and have come to respect and trust its users.

It's funny that someone on the other side of the world is going to be the one who helps me in bringing my creation to life. I am really getting nervous about the thought of the book being in physical form that I have goosebumps just typing this. I think its going to be a huge celebration for me when I get my first few copies in the mail and I am able to do an unboxing video, and see the culmination of all my hard work and efforts come to life.

Do you believe in or follow the Zodiac? I am one of those people who kinda do. And if one follows them, then I am a Pieces on the cusp of Aries, which means that I am both emotionally connected, and easily angered.

The reason I bring this up, is because currently we are in what is called a Mercury Retrograde. This happens several times a year where it appears that Mercury is spinning backwards. Some believe that this is a time of upset and that can cause a number of issues both good and bad to occur. Well, with the way that things have gone the last few weeks, I would be a missed if I didnt say that I have to lend some credibility to the whole superstition that goes along with it.

August seems to be the retrograde that deals with communications, business, and personal relationships. There tends to be a break down in the aforementioned. And if you think about it, most relationships tend to get really rocky around the end of summer going into fall. Well for me, things have just been kind of middle of the road. 

I have had a lot of good things happen, and a lot of things that leave me scratching my head wondering what the heck just happened. In the form of communication, there were some important e-mails that I was waiting on, and despite me adding the sender to the safe contact list, Outlook still sent the emails to the junk folder. And it was by chance that I happened to check the folder and found all of the e-mails that I had been waiting on, which to my chagrin was a to little to late situation. 

I was supposed to attend a very large community gathering to showcase the book, and well, because of "not getting the emails" I thought that I had been declined in my request. Which both is upsetting and a blessing as my promotional materials that I needed and had ordered back in July just got sent out this last Wednesday and wont be here until well after the event. So, I am unsure why I had to miss out. But I've got to trust the process, right? I wonder if The Process knows we trust it? 

But with time ticking down quickly, I am worried that pulling everything together is going to be almost impossible. I'm not trying to be negative, it's just that I'm worried. But at the same time I have this inner peace and calm about how things are going to turn out.

This is what is going on so far :)