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Being ready for winter, in our lives and relationships means open conversations about money, if we don’t want money to destroy our families.

Being ready for winter, means open conversations about money in our lives and relationships, if we don't want money to destroy our families.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Most stress is caused by three things: family, money, and family with no money.

Another beautiful week spreads before us. The leaves are turning. Nature in all her splendor is here to be enjoyed before the trees are bare. Unripe tomatoes are still on the vine. How much longer can I leave them there? The squirrels are busy getting ready for winter. There is always winter coming and we must prepare for it. Winter comes not just as a yearly season, but also comes in our lives, hearts, and relationships.

Will we be ready when winter comes should always be top of mind. Does anyone escape winter in their lives even if they escape it in their climate? When you grow up on a farm winter is a bigger thing than it is in the city. Winter in the city is annoying with icy roads but we go to the grocery store and almost the same array of vegetables and fruits are there for the buying. The farmer has to be ready for winter not just for the family, but for all the animals that live on the farm. An unprepared farmer will wreak havoc on the livestock and most might not make it to spring.

They say you can take the girl out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the girl. This is true, we are who we are and where we grew up plays a huge role in that. Some of us may hate that our origins follow us, some of us love it. We are who we are and we need to embrace it, all of it. Whatever trials and tribulations we endured have colored our lives. Some of us have had relatively few trials and tribulations but our life is what it is.  It is ours to make the best of, to grow into the best people we can be. Can we live our lives as a blessing to ourselves and others?

You never suffer from a money problem, you always suffer from an idea problem. Robert H. Schuller

We are all contributing to the tapestry of life and we have choices going forward, we can’t change what is behind us. If we are proud of our past or not, it cannot be changed. There is dignity in going forward a better person regardless of the mistakes we’ve made in the past. There is dignity in being innocent of things we’ve been accused of. There is dignity in addressing wrongs we’ve done, making amends, and going forward better. There is no dignity in being guilty of doing wrong even if we are thought innocent.

We hear stories of people who were power of attorney for someone whose money seems to have disappeared. Upon closer inspection, it may be shown that the power of attorney did not squander the money or use it in any nefarious ways. It might have been invested at a lower rate than it was being spent at and the money was spent on who it should be spent on. If the books are opened the power of attorney may be exonerated, or maybe not.

Money causes a lot of problems in families. Dishonesty causes more. We can be dishonest in many ways. We can be dishonest by not dealing with the finances realistically and expecting they will outlast the person whose finances they are. Many of us put on a good show but if we revealed our finances to each other we might not be as proud of the cold hard facts. As parents age, these cold hard facts have to be faced. If one sibling thinks there is lots of money and another knows there is not, fingers might be unfairly pointed.

It might be best when a power of attorney has to be appointed to look after a parent’s affairs that everyone knows exactly what the situation is at that time. If we are open about the situation there will be fewer problems in the future. Inheritance, the expectation of an inheritance, and being disinherited cause real problems in families. Open, honest discussions and disclosure about money before someone dies sounds like the best way forward. Since we never know when we or anyone else will die we should be open about our finances with those who will be impacted. We should look after what needs to be looked after. We should be, but are we ready for winter?

Money is a tool. Used properly it makes something beautiful; used wrong, it makes a mess. Bradley Vinson

The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence. Denis Waitley

A man can’t make a place for himself in the sun if he keeps taking refuge under the family tree. Helen Keller

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Cold Hard Truth on Family, Kids and Money by [Kevin O'Leary]

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Secrets and Silence: What if your biggest secret became public? by [Belynda Wilson Thomas]

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Choosing how we spend our days is choosing how we spend our lives.

Choosing how we spend our lives is choosing how we spend our days.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. Annie Dillard

We always have to make choices about how we spend our time. It seems to me something has to be left undone or never started. We can, we are told organize our lives in such a way that we can get it all done. If we get up early enough, are organized enough we can read the books we should read, exercise to be fit and healthy, cook healthy meals, keep our homes spotless, spend quality time with our spouse and children, stay on top of current events and make ourselves look like supermodels every day.

Whew, I’m tired already. I gave up all that, a long time ago and settled for what I think is “Good enough.”  Perfection is the enemy of the good and we need to cut ourselves some slack. Some slack, but not too much slack, or our lives can fall into disarray. How do we walk the fine balance?

In the early years of raising kids, I had no time for reading except children’s books. Fortunately, some of the best books are children’s books. Who can forget “The Little Engine that Could?” How many of us when we hit a tough spot have found the words, “I think I can, I think I can” going through our mind? Who can read “I’ll Love You Forever” without tearing up? Didn’t we all relate to “The Velveteen Rabbit” as well-loved stuffed animals became embarrassingly threadbare and discolored?

We get through our children’s early years and then we are into dance lessons, hockey, soccer, basketball, cheerleading, karate, music lessons, and other activities that leave us with no time. Finally, our children grow up and we have a little breathing room for activities of our own. If we have something we want to do, now is the time to do it. We will still have to put things off to have time for things that seem more important. We will still have to choose how we spend our time. We will only make time to join a band, write a book, take a class, paint, go to the gym, or whatever we have dreamed of doing when we finally have time to do it if we carve out time for it. This is my time for…  and we stick to it.

Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about. W.H. Auden

Many people tell me they want to write a book. They have a story to tell but they don’t want to hurt any feelings. I wonder if any of us can tell the “True” story. The “True” story has many sides and ours is only one of them. I believe in “The Lie that Tells a Truth” fictionalize your story and tell the truth but combine many stories into one for two reasons. If we don’t have to worry about getting the facts straight but instead can get to the heart of the story so people will understand what went on and how it impacted others we can tell the story by getting into the minds of the characters and showing their feelings and reactions. As we do this we may come away understanding the motivations or think we understand the motivations of those who may have hurt us intentionally or unintentionally. Many people, who hurt others, are hurt people themselves. In a novel, we can explore what made people into who they are and what changed them. We can redeem unredeemable characters; we can do the thing we wish we’d done.

The trickiest book to write would be an autobiography, where we are writing about our own life, and the second trickiest would be a biography where we are writing about someone else’s. Can we ever know anyone completely? Do we even know ourselves completely? Do we know the motivations that led to success or failure? What we leave out and what we include will color a story? How can someone’s niece, even a trained psychologist understand all the events that impacted someone? Would it have been better to have written a work of fiction where more could be said to understand someone? Something like, “Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham or Ayn Rand books.

If we have a story to tell, when are we going to start telling it?

There are thirty-two ways to write a story, and I’ve used every one, but there is only one plot – things are not as they seem. Jim Thompson

I believe in not quite knowing. A writer needs to be doubtful, questioning. I write out of curiosity and bewilderment… I’ve learned a lot I could not have if I were not a writer. William Trevor

We want to know more about people who fail. We care about people who are scared, who act foolishly, who are tricked by their vanity and trapped by their desires…. Flawed characters are the unforgettable ones. Susan Shaughnessy

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Lie That Tells a Truth Paperback – Aug. 10 2004

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Secrets and Silence: What if your biggest secret became public? Paperback – Large Print, Aug. 29 2020

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Variety is the spice of life. Are we working, playing, living life abundantly, and having fun?

Are we working, playing, living life abundantly and having fun? Variety is the spice of life.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Variety’s the very spice of life that gives it all its flavor. William Cowper

On Friday I had the pleasure of getting a call from a friend who read my book and said she liked it. She made my day and weekend. Mom received her copy and will read it again. I’m not sure how many drafts I’ve sent her but at least two. Finally, she is holding the finished product in her hand. It is a long way from a concept of anything to a finished product but if we keep going, working toward our goal we eventually get there.

I am amazed when I see some author’s body of work. They’ve been busy. I wonder how quickly I can build up my body of work. Sometimes I berate myself thinking why did it take me so long to get something finished. It takes as long as it takes. Some things are as much a testament to perseverance as anything else.

Part of life is showing up and doing the one thing that is important to us. We may think if we had nothing else to do we could pound on the keyboard and pump out a novel a month. Maybe we could, but living life while creating something is not without its blessings. Writing is a solitary endeavor and might take us from family and friends. Other work may bring us closer to family and friends.

My husband and I work together and we have had people in our office say, “How do you do it. I could never work with my wife.” I grew up in a family that worked together. Farming is all about working together.

It is nice to be able to get up from my writing desk and move to the office and do something completely different. It is good to have variety in our lives. When we have variety in our lives we see things from different angles. We put on a different hat and we have a new perspective. We are told variety is the spice of life, change is as good as a rest, and we know it is true. It may still be work when we go out to the garden but it refreshes us just the same.

Play energized us and enlivens us. It eases our burdens. It renews our natural sense of optimism and opens us up to new possibilities. Stuart Brown

We can have more than one project on the go and especially if they are different we love moving from one to the other. Some of the things we do seem more like play than work. This is how I think of painting and drawing. I love playing with color, shapes, light, and shadows.

We may think we don’t have time to play. Playing is childish but we give up playing at our peril. Do the happiest people have a playful quality about them?

Do we spend enough time playing, laughing, and having fun?

Playing allows us to develop alternatives to violence and despair; it helps us learn perseverance and gain optimism. Stuart Brown

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. Plato

In every real man, a child is hidden that wants to play. Friedrich Nietzsche

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Secrets and Silence: What if your biggest secret became public? Paperback – Large Print, Aug. 29 2020

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Books change us. They change us when we read them and they change us when we write them.

They change us when we read them and they change us when we write them. Books help us grow.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read. Groucho Marx

Yesterday when I got in from lunch I listened to my messages and there was one from Mom saying she got my book. When I called her she said, “You forgot to sign it.” I thought about that but I had to have it delivered to me and then ship it to her so opted instead to ship directly to her. We cannot get the author’s copies right now in Canada. Normally we would buy the author’s copies, sign them, and then send them to people. Any copies we buy right now in Canada are full price from Amazon but with Amazon prime, it’s a good deal and we can have them shipped directly to who we want to receive them.

I am very grateful to be able to publish on Amazon. I am holding my book in my hand and Mom is holding it in her hand. It has been great getting feedback from Mom, she was my first reader, and as she looks at the book now thinks she wouldn’t recognize it.  Part of that is because I had five or so scenes per chapter but a famous author, James Patterson, uses very short chapters and I decided to try it myself. I like the result. My oldest brother read an early version and I can’t wait for feedback when he reads this one.

I’ve spent the last couple of days reading “Of Human Bondage” by W. Somerset Maugham and it is definitely worth the read. It was supposed to be completed by Tuesday which was our book club meeting held in a member’s back yard. We kept our distance in the fresh night air and had a lovely meeting but only one member completed the book. We discussed it anyway as the themes are universal and we gave ourselves an extra month to get through it. Two of us had watched a video of a review on YouTube and the impact it had on the reviewer’s life.

We’re all in the end-of-our-life book club, whether we acknowledge it or not; each book we read may well be the last, each conversation the final one. Will Schwalbe

One of the big themes is money and the importance it plays in our lives, not being rich but about how poverty crushes the spirit, and being a poor artist is not likely to seem worth it in the end. In the book, a nurse mentions that suicide is more often because of the reversal of fortune than anything else.

I laughed with Mom as I told her a bit about “Of Human Bondage” and how I am happy to be publishing my book now. I can write and if it makes money great, but if it doesn’t oh well, it’s not the end of the world. We’ve built a life, we’ve raised our kids and we will be okay if writing is a pastime and hobby instead of a gainful enterprise. It is freeing to know I can write what I want and people can read it or not, instead of trying to write for a market. Most writers probably can’t and shouldn’t give up their day job. Even authors we think are quite well known might not make enough to live off from year to year.

I’m with W. Somerset Maugham on the importance of money in our lives. It was never attractive to me to be a starving artist. This book stands the test of time and seems just as relevant now. This is the testament to a great book. He addresses themes that are part of the human condition for all time. It seems he wrote about his struggle to understand the meaning of life, how to make a living and building a life, love, relationships, passion and purpose, God, and living a moral life.

In the video “Of Human Bondage”, Larry Elder tells us that W. Somerset Maugham said he wasn’t that creative because he took from real life more than his imagination. He said we should never make little of our achievements because this was later used against him in reviews.

Today I hope to be able to go on Good reads and mark this book as read. Soon I will get an email telling me what our next book club pick is. Each book is a new experience and meeting with the Bookclub to discuss it is the icing on the cake.

If you’ve ever wondered if you should join a book club, I highly recommend it. Over the last twenty years of being in this book club it has added to my life in ways I can’t even count. We have discussed the importance of the book club in our lives. We all agree we get something from the book club we get nowhere else.

Are you ready to join a book club or start your own with a few people?

Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary. Jim Rohn

In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you. Mortimer J. Adler

Of course, anyone who truly loves books buys more of them than he or she can hope to read in one fleeting lifetime. A good book, resting unopened in its slot on a shelf, full of majestic potentiality, is the most comforting sort of intellectual wallpaper. David Quammen

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Of Human Bondage Paperback – March 2 1999

by W. Somerset Maugham (Author), Gore Vidal (Introduction)4.3 out of 5 stars 539 ratings

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Secrets and Silence: What if your biggest secret became public? Paperback – Large Print, Aug. 29 2020

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Groups lift us up and we lift up others. There is power in being part of a group.

There is power in being part of a group. Groups lift us up and we lift up others.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. Booker T. Washington

Today is the day that school starts in earnest. I am happy this September to have new projects to work on, new things to learn, and new goals to accomplish. One of the things I haven’t done in my life enough is set goals. Not setting a goal when I started Secrets and silence in 2012 was probably the way to go then. I had so much to learn and my first novel sits behind me in a binder, too convoluted to do anything with, or so I tell myself.

We don’t have to put our first halting work out into the world. We can keep it safely stowed away and build on what we learned. It was fun to join our zoom Writers Group and be able to hold a copy of my published novel up to the camera.

Yesterday out for a walk I ran into a neighbor I’ve known her since she was four and she is the same age as my son. She finally got her bridal party together for the wedding she’s planning for next May. At the end of our conversation, I finally said, “I have some news, I published a book.” She said, “You should have led with that.”

It isn’t easy being our own publicity department. I’m glad I mentioned it or instead I would be thinking why didn’t I tell her what was new with me. We don’t want to be a braggart, but we also don’t want to hide our light under a bushel. Finding a balance between bragging and being humble may be hard. If we’ve accomplished something we have a right to be proud of it. Of course, this doesn’t mean someone wants us to go on endlessly about our accomplishments and act like no one else accomplishes anything.

Can we own our accomplishments humbly and give praise and recognition where it is due? This is one of the things I love about the Writers Group we have members who have published quite a few books, and members who have published none. We have spoken word artists who are very accomplished. It is a great group and encourages each of us to do our best work and take the next step.

If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself. Henry Ford

This is where some of the power comes from in groups. We are encouraged to do things we wouldn’t do if we weren’t in a group. In our book club we read books we wouldn’t choose on our own and we discuss them. As we see people a little farther down the path than us we realize we can do it too, if we just keep taking that next step. Some people are finding it hard to write at this time and being encouraged by the group and especially by our leader who has gone through many challenges and continues to encourage us to do our best is helpful. We can all use an encouraging word and a pat on the back.

Finding a group that supports us in our growth is powerful. Being part of a group where we can support others is good for us too. We can share our knowledge with people who are interested in how we did something, how they can adapt it to their situation, and how they can take the next step. Sometimes we are the ones getting encouragement and sometimes we are the ones giving it. One of the best mutual support groups is a good marriage. We encourage and are encouraged by our spouse to reach our goals and make our dreams come true.

If we aren’t part of a group can we find one that encourages our growth as we encourage others to grow?

It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed. Napolean Hill

Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life. Amy Poehler

You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins. Jim Stovall

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Secrets and Silence: What if your biggest secret became public? Paperback – Large Print, Aug. 29 2020

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Living the good life. Advice to my daughter.

Advice to my daughter. Living the good life.

All of life is peaks and valleys. Don’t let the peaks get too high and the valleys too low. John Wooden

Living the “good life” isn’t that what we all want? Twenty-nine years ago today my wonderful daughter was born and our family was complete. When we bring children into the world we have to be optimistic about the future. We want them to have a great life, opportunity, and experiences. What happens in the world matters more because it matters to our children, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren.

We may not agree on what better looks like in the short term, what political stripe gets into office, and what laws get passed. In the long term. however, I think we all agree we want our children, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren to live in peace, prosperity, and a natural world alive with wildlife, fish, trees, and wild places.

When we look at our children and grandchildren (still waiting for that joyous, momentous event) we want so much for them. We want so much for them but we are afraid to watch them go out and take their place in the world. It seems so much less safe than when we went out there. We worry about them getting into the wrong crowd, getting involved with drugs, and depression.

When did we start thinking life should be easy? When I listen to Mom talk about the early days, life was hard. She said she and her first husband had their budget down to the penny. To get her a Christmas present when they agreed not to give each other Christmas presents, he quit smoking for a week to afford the gift.

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. Sir Winston Churchill

Housing is a big deal and we are all wringing our hands over how our kids will be able to afford a house. Has it really been that easy for most people to prosper over the decades and centuries? There is a lot of talk about money in the bible. Shakespeare said neither a lender nor a borrower be, and Charles Dickens gave the recipe for a happy life. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.

What advice do I have for my daughter on this birthday? Love and live fully, don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Be grateful for what you have and you’ll get more. Live beneath your means and be kind to those you meet along the way. When you have children they completely take over your life, and will be the biggest blessing, and raising happy healthy kids is your biggest job, and where much of your joy will come from. Make time for your husband amid the chaos and enjoy together what you build together. Walk into the sunset of life arm in arm and enjoy your golden years. Time is the secret of a long marriage, there will be ups and downs, and you have to get through the downs to enjoy the ups. Don’t throw away good trying to get perfect – there is no perfect in relationships. Love is a verb, and happiness is an inside job.

A good life is when you assume nothing, do more, need less, smile often, dream big, laugh a lot, and realize how blessed you are for what you have. Unknown

Create a life that feels good on the inside, not one that just looks good on the outside. Unknown

Life is like a camera… Focus on what’s important, capture the good times, develop from the negatives, and if things don’t work out, take another shot. Unknown

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Secrets and Silence: What if your biggest secret became public? by [Belynda Wilson Thomas]

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The power of focus, perseverance, and practice. We overestimate what we can do in a year, and underestimate what we can do in ten.

We overestimate what we can do in a year, and underestimate what we can do in ten.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Your mastery depends on focus, patience, and practice. Not on luck. Robin Sharma

We are told again and again of the power of focus and perseverance. The other night I was watching Utube videos and one caught my eye. It was about the most important thing a Utuber learned. It was the power of focus. He was told by someone he respected he was too scattered in his interests. The advice he was given about his art was to draw the same thing every day. He chose to draw the Australian White Ibis every day and he says it changed the way he looked at things.

I think I understand where he might be coming from. By choosing to write a blog post every day until I got to five hundred blog posts and then cutting down to two posts per week it also changed the way I look at things. When we have to come up with something to say tomorrow, we look at what is going around us in a new way. We are more cognizant of our lives, interactions with others, funny things that happen, and incongruencies in the world. It made me think of questions that don’t have answers, problems that don’t have solutions, and the unintended consequences of what we intended for good.

How much we wish we could change others, but having it come home again that we can only change ourselves. The power of love, kindness, gratitude, and what works in people’s lives. Why are some people always happy? Can we choose to be one of the happy, grateful, optimistic, and encouraging people? Pondering the lives of successful people and how focus, perseverance, and hard work seems to play as much a part as talent and luck. Questioning what makes long, happy, successful marriages. How creativity adds to our lives in big and small ways. The power of books to give us the answers we are seeking.

Success comes from curiosity, concentration, perseverance and self-criticism. Albert Einstein

One of the reasons I was afraid to start a blog was what would I have to say? It surprised me that wasn’t a problem at all. I now have to accept that the reason I hadn’t gotten to writing all those years when I said I wanted to but didn’t, was because I didn’t, not because I couldn’t.

Many of us may say, I wish I’d kept up that interest, hobby, or skill. Why not pick it back up now? We may think we could have been a big-time author, singer, athlete, or whatever if we’d continued. What if being a big-time author, singer, or athlete is not what is important. What if doing something is what is important, not if we make a lot of money from it or not. The accomplishment of being able to play the instrument at family parties so everyone can have a sing-along is worthwhile. Writing down stories is worthwhile even if they never have a wide audience. Being athletic enough to be fit at every stage in life is worthy in itself. Singing in a church choir is a blessing to everyone that hears the choir, and may add a dimension to our life we didn’t know was missing. Drawing and painting add to our lives even if we never make money from our art. Using our creativity is a gift we give ourselves.

I’m going to try to take the same advice the Utuber got and make a drawing a day. I picked up a sketchbook and drawing pencils to keep in the den where I write so I don’t have to go down to my art room to do it. If we want to do things we can’t make them so big that we won’t do them. Going down to my art room seems like a commitment of hours and if I am going to fit drawing in every day it needs to be easy to do a quick little drawing.

Is there something we should bring back into our lives we enjoyed, or have always wanted to do? Is there a better time than now?

Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. Jack Canfield

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. Will Durant

Happy people plan actions, they don’t plan results. Denis Waitley

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Secrets and Silence: What if your biggest secret became public? by [Belynda Wilson Thomas]

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One step in front of another gets us to our goal. Then we need a new goal.

One step in front of another gets us to our goal. We need a new goal then.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

If it’s important you’ll find a way. If it’s not, you’ll find an excuse. Ryan Blair 

Yesterday I got an email from Amazon telling me that “Secrets and Silence” is now published in paperback. In Canada, we can’t get a proof before publishing. We have to wait until we have published and then purchase an author’s copy to see what it actually looks like in print. My husband purchased a copy and it should be arriving on September 5th-8th.  I can’t wait to hold a copy in my hand.

To be honest, I thought being published would feel different. There is a feeling of emptiness in releasing our work out into the world we might not expect. It is not ours anymore; we are not still crafting, editing, tweaking, and polishing. It is not still full of possibilities, it is what it is. It is done and all the time we spent tweaking, editing, and polishing we need to put into another project, our families, or something.

My two younger sisters and I have a pact that we will each publish a book next September. It is time to make things happen. Now that I realize how user-friendly publishing on Amazon is, and that an Indy author can be just that. We don’t have to pay other people to format it for Amazon Kindle Publishing, the tools provided are easy to work with.

There are many companies willing to work with authors to help them publish their work. If you have been wondering if you can publish your novel, children’s book, or cookbook, etc. without them you absolutely can. If we do it ourselves as Indy authors the quality control of our work falls squarely on our own shoulders. The point I’m making is it can be done and the publishing part on Amazon was not difficult. I was very intimidated by it, but in the end, it was very straight forward. I followed the formatting guidelines and used kindle create to produce the interior of my novel then uploaded it to Kindle. They even have a cover creator tool which I didn’t use.

A grateful heart is a beginning of greatness. It is an expression of humility. It is a foundation for the development of such virtues as prayer, faith, courage, contentment, happiness, love, and well-being. James E. Faust

In case you are like me, worried about this step in the process, don’t be. We need to write the best book we can and find people we respect to help us edit it. We can use Pro-writer as an editing tool, publish as an Indy author if we want, or look for a traditional publisher. Writing our book is the hard part, getting the words right, saying what we want to say eloquently, succinctly, and compellingly. Producing a good read is not about publishing.

Becoming a published author is just like any other accomplishment. We then must look around for our next project, challenge, or goal. I have already started on my next project and I am so happy to have the next project to start. If I didn’t know what my next project would be I think I would feel lost and adrift.

We may wonder how prolific authors write so many books. They finish one and start another and they keep doing that until their library of work is impressive. They say we often overestimate what we can do in one year, but we underestimate what we can do in ten years.

The life we are building is our own and we have more control over what we want that life to be than we often think we do. Twenty-four golden hours each day is what we have to work with, and what we do with it, is up to us. Is it true, we can if we think we can?

Make each day your masterpiece. John Wooden

Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future. Oscar Wilde

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily. Zig Zigler

Secrets and Silence: What if your biggest secret became public? by [Belynda Wilson Thomas]

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Secrets and Silence: What if your biggest secret became public? Kindle Edition

by Belynda Wilson Thomas (Author)  Format: Kindle Edition

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