Hello everyone,
Monday while driving home from Akron, my thoughts wandered into the strange zone. Several lessons learned the hard way came to mind. They happened over the years through mistakes and miscues. Remembering them as laughable today, they were bitter pills to swallow at the time. I would like to share a couple of instances because these insights are not found on Google.
In high school, some girls discussed a movie over lunch. The male lead met his girlfriend’s mother and said, “I see where she got her good looks.” I took notice of the girls thinking this was a romantic comment and kept it in the back of my mind. A while later, I actually find a date. Meeting the girl’s mother I said, “I see where she got her good looks.” However, not being a movie star with glamor and sophistication, it didn’t go over well. The comment failed to make the impression hoped for. In fact, it did just the opposite and the girl dumped after one quiet date. I also learned just because one girl liked something doesn’t mean they all will.
I started writing in my forties to improve my writing skills. Approaching sixty, I published my first book. Finding several heavily publicized publishers, I chose one. They charged me $2500 to publish and another $2000 for editing the book and make ready. They priced my first novella at $13.95 when most new authors with similar size books sold between seven and ten dollars. After publishing several people commented on many mistakes and problems both with the writing and the editing. I rewrote the book and published using KDP with a new title. There were many red flags upon this first journey into publishing which I ignored being new naïve as a seventeen-year-old dating for the first time. Don’t ever pay to have your book published.
Did I mention, my dog is a Karen? This past week, Ginger banged her bell to go out. I raised from watching a ball game then heard my FIL still cutting grass. I told her, “You know you can’t go out with the tractor running.” She gave me her patented, “I want your manager,” look. I went upstairs to see how much more needed to be done and saw he was done. The neighbor started cutting his grass. So I went back down to let her out. She gave me a “I’m getting you fired” look and ran upstairs to mom.
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God bless,
Danny Mac