Tag Archives: self-publishing

Update: It’s update time

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I’ve been struggling again with my perfection thing. Lately it’s been with my latest book publishing project—with getting the book cover perfect, centered. Now I’m trying decide whether I will just leave it, or send it back to the printer and try again. I will take another day or two to make my decision. But I just hate to be delayed again. This is why I hate publishing—delay, delay, delay. My painting is somewhat the same. I mean, I am a perfectionist on that too. I don’t want to see any mistakes. Oh, I long for my perfect, redeemed body when I shall see Him face to face and be like Him.

It’s Monday—new beginnings. A day when I like to read the comic Garfield. A day to be lazy and need my coffee. Laughing helps. I also have found some help this morning reading an article in the sports section of the newspaper about how my baseball team did. I enjoy reading how our newest pitcher, Keuchel, did—so encouraging to hear his positive words as to how he went about his pitching.

I’ve been reading the book Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick. There is so much in this book that I didn’t know about how or country got started. There was so much tragedy and death that I had no idea about. And most people know hardly anything about what is called King Philip’s war in 1675-1676. This war, the English against the Indians, was so very brutal—even worse than the Civil War, but thank God it was short. This was all before the better things happened—like the writing of the Constitution, etc. But overall, our country still was born of much blood and strife and prayer.

And now it seems that our country is on the edge of great disaster and ruin. Much prayer is needed. We need to turn to 2 Chron. 7:14, to find the promise of God if we will pray. We who are Christians need to pray.

Things to stay away from:

  • All new age rainbow stuff.
  • AI-Jesus. If asked about this, point them to the true Jesus in the Gospels.
  • AI-bible. It is false.

Perfection

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Been thinking about perfection. I always try to be perfect at my job—house painting. And at my publishing—getting things just right. But at other things like house cleaning, I know I am not too perfect at. My driving could use some improvement too.

I’m going through a real tragedy right now. The title of my new book is not perfectly centered. It’s driving me up the wall. And if I want to fix it, it will take two or three weeks for the approval process to go through. Should I fix it or just leave it be imperfect? Will anybody really notice—or care? Probably not, except me. Funny, that’s the same with my painting. If I make a small mistake nobody will notice except me—unless I point it out.

Some people are so meticulous at house cleaning and at the way they look. Everything looks perfect. But those same people might not be so perfect in their thoughts—in their moral purity. For them it’s all a matter of what people see. I think this is true for me too. People will see my book covers and my paint job, but they can’t see my heart. But God sees my heart and He is very concerned about what I think. All my sins are against Him. And that is the greatest tragedy!

How will I clean up my heart, make my heart more perfect? That was the concern and the prayer David had. He knew he had sinned against God and he knew his heart was unclean. So, he prayed for a clean heart (Ps 51).

Only God can clean our heart and make us more perfect, because he is perfect. He is absolutely perfect in every way. And some day—after daily washings—we will be so clean and perfect just like Him. No worries then. All will be right. Perfect.

Update: Time off, Reading, Writing, Publishing

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It’s that time of year when I see muskrats on the lakes.

Time Off

I’m getting over a month off from my painting work. I’m loving it! I feel I deserve some days off after forty years in the business. Painting is hard work, especially those ceilings. Today I’m getting my hair cut and meeting with my son at Olive Garden to celebrate his birthday and just to see him.

Reading Beyond Biden

This book, by Newt Gingrich is quite good and well documented. He is so smart and really on top of things—for his age. It’s nice to have a book like this to get accurate information about what’s happening in America and what we need to do about it. I’m learning so much about wokeism and related subjects. Newt also Has a lot to say about getting people back to work and off of welfare. And you know, he did that when he was the Speaker.

My New Book:  The Tribulation

As is always the case, I learn so much by writing. I am really enjoying writing this book. I work on it every day—about forty-fiver minutes a day. In this book on the Tribulation, I am concentrating only on what I know to be true from the bible, and will focus on the Tribulation itself—that is, all the suffering of the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls. I am not going to worry about the order of things or to spend much time on things I don’t understand. I am just going to emphasize strongly those things that are clearly laid out in Scripture; and that the Tribulation is definitely coming soon for whose who are not saved!

Publishing

I’m a self-publisher and I suppose that’s the way it will stay. But I’ve been thinking lately that I need to make some changes. I love writing, but I hate all aspects of publishing; selling, marketing, all of it. So, I have been praying hard on it and looking over all my options. There are so many self-publishing companies I could use, or to do it myself. I’m feeling quite upset over it all and need to calm down and trust the Lord. He reminded me two days ago of a verse, Romans 8:32: “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things.” A wonderful verse. God gave His Son to die for me. How will He not also give me all things. That is, God will certainly give me everything that He wants me to have, everything that is good—good for His purposes and also good for me. So, if I keep trusting Him and follow His will, He will set me up with whatever He wants me to do as far as all this publishing nonsense. Oh, I still have a bad attitude about it. Hopefully, He will change that too. 

My Update (10/3/2020): Cleaning, Publishing, Prayer, Work

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Its been a couple of weeks since I’ve given you an update. I’m not a diary person; I find that this personal blog kind of fulfills that purpose—and more. Anyway, I will start with my apartment…

Cleaning the apartment. I have been in my apartment for just over 20 years and now we have a new management company; and they are stricter. They recently came in—while I was gone—and did an inspection. They said I needed to clean my fridge and bathtub and bathroom floor; and they are coming back in a month to check it.  Well, I’m feeling kind of upset over it, but now that I’m getting busy cleaning, I think it’s a good thing for me—God’s will.

Publishing my book. I’m a self-publisher and I’m now in that process with my last book. Editing is easy, just reading it through and checking things. But yesterday I spent about three hours trying to delete the header info from a blank page! I finely figured it out. It helps to click on “help” on my MS word. They gave me a five-point answer, and it worked! Next, I will check it over one last time and then put it in a pdf form and send it to Lulu (a printing co.) to be printed and bound. Oh, and I also have to send them my designed cover page. Lulu does a good job at making the books, but they don’t do much to sell it for you. I’m gonna half to think of ways to sell my books myself. I just have to do it—even though it really isn’t my gift.

Trump and Country. I have a blog with that name, but I quit on it a few months ago. It was too stressful for me. But though I don’t blog on politics much anymore, I do keep up with watching the Fox videos and also some reading. More and more these days I have been feeling a strong burden to pray for President Trump and this country—in that order. Every morning when I pray, he is the first item on my list: for his health, strength, and wisdom. I also pray that just judgment would be done on all those evil forces (evil people) coming against him and this country. Please pray with me. Christians, please pray. It is your most important duty. Nothing but prayer will work to come against the darkness; only God is strong enough to come against it. And He chooses to work mostly through our prayers.

My healthy and work. I want to keep working in my painting business, but I am retired and I’m slowing down. In some respects, my work is good to give me exercise. But if I overdo it, which I always tend to do, my arthritis flares up and my muscles get really sore for a few days. The key is to find the right balance between work and rest. It’s kind of nice to not be bothered by work for a few days, because I like to just sit and read and do my writing. I hope and pray that my writing will be a benefit to others, that it won’t be a meaningless or just a self-fulfilling exercise.  I’ll be praying about it, and then commit it to Him—and wait for His peace.

God bless you my fellow bloggers and followers. Keep up your good work and encouraging words. Prayer to you always.

Stephen

My Writing: Smaller Books, Self-Publishing

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These books can be seen on my Lulu website.

Even before I had completed writing Prayer A to Z, I was contemplating also putting the entire work together as six smaller books. I had gotten some comments about how large the book was and so I began to think that people might be more willing to purchase it as a series of smaller books. So, I began the process.

First, I started brainstorming on possible book titles. I needed six titles that would take in all of the topics I had in Prayer A to Z—forty-three topics, plus the five chapters on all the prayers of the bible. It didn’t take too long. After only a few hours I came up with six book titles: Basics of Prayer, Purpose of Prayer, Principles of Prayer, Joy of Prayer, Service of Prayer, and Zenith of Prayer. The next step was to fit all 43 topics, plus the prayers of the bible, under one of those six titles. And since the titles were quite general, it was an easy process. I just went through each topic and picked the book title that fit best. It was like a puzzle, and I love puzzles.

Somewhere along the line I met Preacherwin. That was (is) his blog name (he is a preacher in a church in Pennsylvania). His name is Win. At least that’s what he calls himself. I can’t remember how it all happened. I think it was when I was impressed with some of his blogging. Well, anyway, he found out that I was interested in getting my prayer books published and he recommended Lulu, a publishing company that would assist me in publishing my own work; and they would print and bind it for me at a very low cost. So, essentially, I would be a self-publisher with Lulu’s help. And they would also give me my own book website.

Well, I was kind of interested; but I became much more interested when I saw all of Win’s books that he had published through Lulu. From then on, we began emailing each other—mostly, I was emailing him with my questions. And he was so willing to help.

My first book project was Basics of Prayer. Win kept telling me that all I had to do was to go on to Lulu’s web site and they would walk me through the entire publishing process. So, one day I mustered up the nerve to do it. It was kind of scary but also adventurous. Let’s see, first I had to choose what size of book I wanted (I chose 6 by 9), then what kind of a cover I wanted: hard cover or paperback, then what would be the title.  After that I had to download a pdf version of the book to them. I found out that that was the hardest part, because they had certain requirement—a list of them. On my first try my download was rejected. What a downer. I emailed Win. Help! Eventually, with Win’s encouragement and after a few adjustments, my download was accepted.

Next, they gave me an ISBN number and a bar graph. And the last step was to do a book cover. I could either let Lulu do it for me—I just had to send them a picture of myself and a picture to go on the cover; or, I could design it myself. Win encouraged me to do it all myself, and he helped me. I’m glad I did it that way. It was harder, but it looked so much better.

After I published Basics of Prayer, I went on to the next book, Purpose of Prayer, and then the next one, and the next, until they were all published, all six books. They were all published in 2011. After that I began working on Prayer A to Z. That took me a little longer, but finally got it published in 2013.