Things I have learned

Blog Post Number 11 Written 05-25-2021 Uploaded: 04-01-2022

I have learned a bunch, lots of self-taught skills since the book publishing process started. I came from a small town, living under a rock. I liked it that way, maybe I still prefer it that way in some regards.  As I was writing, I learned how to use the Microsoft word review tab, and then Grammarly. After the publishing deal got signed and I was obligated to have social media I picked up twitter, facebook, Instagram, tumbler and goodreads and more. I’ve been worming my way into as many Discord servers as possible too. I never had any social media before, so that’s all new to me. The careful balance of making jokes, posting memes, being funny, advertising for the books, and not saying anything that gets you banned or canceled. Because for me, social media is just an advertising platform. I discuss only books and book-related stuff there as best I can. On occasion, I forget to control my inner dialogue and something slips out, but I’m getting better at realising that it’s something that doesn’t need to be said because it doesn’t have anything to do with The Descendant. This editing has taught me the difference between American and English spelling too.

Let’s see what else have I learned… I didn’t have regular internet access before 2015 and I didn’t have any internet at all before 2008 ish, so this whole thing is still kinda wild in my opinion. I learned how to use OBS and have done some very basic video editing and then I’ve been doing youtube stuff and posting the videos there. I have Audacity and I recorded my own entire audiobook and edited that. Was a big learning curve there too. I learned how to build my own computer, or at least put the parts together when they arrived in the mail. I learned that you don’t need to use the whole tube of thermal paste on one CPU cooler. I’ve learned some about the fine print in contracts and that kind of stuff. I bought a couple of domains and built my own websites. That was wild for me. In 2015 I went from not having internet, to 2019 making my own websites and marketing my own book.

I think that’s my problem and needs to be the next thing I try and squeeze under my belt. Marketing. I’ve made all this stuff, doing all these things, I’ve laid the groundwork, I have the skeleton. Now I need to market all of it and get people to come look, generate the traffic I need to get the meat onto those bones. I mean, look I’m even blogging now. I’m learning all kinds of stuff, my brain is probably getting fat. Even the quality of my writing itself has improved as my literary voice gets honed and sharpened. I guess most significantly I’ve learned that I need more time, I’m learning to balance time working with personal time, to control stress and anxiety and manage mental health and keep myself happy. I have gotten married and now I have a wife to share my life with too.

There’s so much more I have learned, so much history and science and cold war era news I can’t even articulate it here, I’d have to write a whole other book for that.