I must say, if I had known the amount of studying and learning that was ahead of me in order to self-publish a book, I would have hesitated more. No regrets, but can I just say, wow.

The book cover phase is complete (created by a brilliant professional designer), the contents of the book have been edited (by yet another professional), revised, and edited a second time, and I am very pleased with the results of everything so far. Next, the book interior will be sent to a graphic designer for formatting so the headlines and text are as visually appealing as possible.

My own learning curves about copyright, ISBN numbers, lead magnets, landing pages, email management, and technology in general have been, as a friend of mine would say, “character-building.” The old me would have said, without hesitation, “No way! I have no interest in learning about any of that; I’ll pay someone else to do all that stuff.” But something happened. I got curious.

I started thinking, “What if I took the time to learn how to do that myself? What else do I have to do with my time? Really, what else?”

When I am learning at my own pace, I am one happy camper. If I have to learn faster than I can take in information, I get overwhelmed and frustrated. I now know that for me, the struggle is rarely about what I am learning or how complicated it is. For me, the feeling of angst is much more about tempo.

A gift from YouTube: I was thrilled to discover that when I am studying complicated instructional videos about technology, I can actually slow down the audio to 75%. Who knew! I am so old I can’t even hear as fast as young people talk. Sad but true. But if they are on YouTube, I can make them talk slowly enough for me to learn.

So there’s my update. I am learning more than I ever dreamed I would need or want to learn. I have discovered that velocity is a bigger problem than trajectory. I can aim for the stars if I let myself stroll at my own intuitive pace.

Best of all, I’m still a human being (not just a tied-to-the-laptop writer), so occasionally I have errands to run. It is then that I get to practice what I preach.

Heading back from the store yesterday, I was walking along, minding my own business, and out of nowhere I felt that metaphorical tap on the shoulder, triggered by my peripheral vision. Suddenly I noticed something brand new. It was the same building, the same tree that I had seen a hundred times, but never with that moment’s light and shadow, that moment’s autumn chill in the air, and that smell of coffee drifting from a nearby cafe.

So without hesitation I stopped, the same way I would if I had spotted a dear friend. I stopped because I know enough to honor a “Look at That!” nudge from the universe. I took a seat on the granite wall, pulled out my very cheap notepad and beloved fountain pen, and began. I took a sacred five minutes to simply say thanks for the pause, to draw what drew me.

If this little vignette has sparked your interest and you would like to be part of my Launch Team, to help get the word out about my new book coming out in November, drop me a note through the Contact tab above, and tell me a bit about yourself and why you are interested in learning about a “Look at That!” approach to life. If it sounds like a good fit, in exchange for your help I will send you a free advance copy of the ebook. As they say, “We’ll talk.”