Enjoying the satisfaction of achievement.

In August 2012, I published this, the first post of what would become content for a book. I had the achievement of a finished book in mind. But I did not have the commitment or drive to get it done.

Over the following 22 months, I added a few more posts.

In June 2014, I got serious, started getting up at 5 every weekday morning and writing for one hour or 1000 words whichever came first. A harvest project, Christmas and the need to cut wood to keep warm slowed me down for a few months. By the end of April 2015, I had written 125 000 words and done a fair bit of editing.

I had the manuscript for a book, still raw and unfinished but the result of a considerable investment in time and effort. An achievement in itself.

I had no illusions that I would find a publisher eager to publish my book. I knew that I would have to either self-publish or find a coop publisher.

Either way, I accepted that I would have to do a lot more work and invest money to see my literary masterpiece in print.

Then came the interesting part – talking to editors. I had been advised to write about 200 pages, I did, but in a standard word document which translated to over 400 pages in paperback book format.

The book was too big, twice as big as it should be. I was told to cut it in half – a difficult task.

I was referred to Ann Sheybani, a very smart book coach who suggested that I use some of the content to produce a shorter book in a different genre.

That’s what I did.

Today I signed off on the cover design and the book layout. My printer Art Bookbindery inc are printing the first copy for my approval, I will have it next week.

The last three weeks have been a steep learning curve to get to grips with e-commerce options, merchant services, the many selling and distribution channels for books, shipping costs and more.

It’s all coming together.

As soon as this book is printed and selling, it will be back to work on the original, it will probably be split into two or possibly three books, with the first ready for printing by Christmas this year.

Many authors pre-sell books. Being old school, I prefer to have the finished product in stock and ready to ship before I take your money.

The book will be promoted on social media, it will be listed on Amazon and other platforms, sold at events. There will be a website for ordering on-line.

All that will be rolled out in the next two weeks.

Here’s a preview of the cover:

The book will sell for US$12.50 plus shipping. Readers of this blog can reserve a copy at the special price of US$9.50 plus shipping by sending an email to: 

with 5 Steps @ $9.50 in the subject line. As soon as the book is available, I will email you a link to buy the book at the special reader price.

It has been a long journey, almost four years. But the achievement is worth it.

What are some of your achievements that have taken years of effort? Leave a comment, your words will inspire others.

p.s the email address is deliberately inserted as a graphic in an attempt to foil spammer bots which harvest live email links from websites and flood in boxes with junk emails.