On Inching Forwards

Some days, it feels like we leap forward towards our desired goals. Others the steps are SO tiny it is barely noticeable we’re making progress.

It’s always in looking back that it’s easier to see how big the leaps have really been.

If there was one thing I learned about publishing my first book, ‘Samuel and the Monster’, it is that in ensuring you’re taking 1-2 tiny actions towards the project daily, ultimately you will reach your goal.

A few days after I published the book, last year in April (right in the middle of the UK’s first Lockdown), I turned to my husband slightly flabbergasted, saying, ‘I can’t believe I’ve actually done it – so many times during the past year I really felt like it wasn’t going to ever happen!’. Interestingly, he said he had always known I would, because every day I had taken tiny steps towards the end result.

What is great, then, about this second book, is that I’m much more confident I’ll make it happen. And, now I’ve got the printing/publishing/sales/marketing side a little clearer (definitely still not 100%, of course, as I’ll learn more with each book).

Which is just as well as, at the minute, I’m only managing to inch the project forward in 30-45 minute stints every day, in between homeschooling!

Here are a few examples of some of my baby steps:

Yesterday: a tiny addition to one of the pictures, to complete the characters.

Today: a little jiggery pokery to the manuscript (and writing notes on b&w print ups of the story – it is challenging for a verbose person like me to tell a whole story in around 400 words!

The day before yesterday: painting out some animals to photoshop onto a larger scene.

I’m literally spending no more than 30 minutes on it a day, but even with the tiny baby steps I’m making, I’m noticing progress. In fact, I’m using some of the incantations from ‘Samuel and the Monster’ (I CAN DO THIS, and I AM AMAZING) to remind myself daily that I’ve got this!

This week, rather conveniently, the theme for my 5 year old’s class is ’South America’, perfectly on point for my book, as the characters head into the jungle on their adventure. (Homeschooling is very flexible in our household…)

Sending encouragement for the baby steps you are needing right now.
With much love,