7 Day Publishing Challenge

Back on the blog front. It took me a while to make myself heard again. There are several reasons for this ... first of all I participated in a 7-day Publishing Challenge with a few other people. And this kept me so busy that I have hardly been online. This challenge aimed to publish a book in 7 days via Amazon Kindle. You start from 0 by looking for an idea, then you make a cover, then start with the Outline for your book, and from there, you write your book in 7 days. Well, long story short, I did the challenge and my book of over 10K words is currently in the review process at Amazon. The review process also does not take the same amount of time for everyone, I noticed, that most people I know who did the challenge have now seen their book go LIVE. But unfortunately, that does not apply to my book yet. Presumably, the review process takes longer because I have added many photos, well ... that's what you get when you start writing about dog photography. If I had known how it would go before I started, I probably would have chosen a different topic, but it is what it is. We'll see how long the review process will take. It was a fun challenge to participate in. And honestly, the challenge came at the right time.

Waiting Is Not My Best Quality

Exactly in the week that I had to wait for the stuff I had ordered to arrive so I could take another step in learning how to work with oil paint. What I had ordered were several oil paint colors, but also an environmentally friendly, non-odorous, non-toxic thinner, glazing medium, and cleaner. Since the webshop already indicated that they were on vacation until August 25th, and therefore orders would not be picked up again until August 26th, I had to be patient. And patience, especially with these kinds of things, is not my strong point. On the contrary ... I can be impatient about it. Not a nice quality, but it is what it is. I learned to deal with it, and I could have ordered somewhere else, but the extra discount I got if I was patient convinced me to wait. So I waited for over a week, and that was exactly the week the 7-day Publishing Challenge came along. Coincidence?

Or Was It The Universe Telling Me Something?

No, I don't think so! Years ago I thought I would want to publish a book one day. And that thought has often been pushed to the background, I always thought I had other priorities. But the thought had never gone away. It was as if the universe was telling me that NOW was the time to prioritize this above all the other things I was doing. My attention had to be diverted from the idea that I had to wait for something anyway, so why not focus on something completely different? Something I had always wanted to do.

Future Ideas!

Well, the challenge is over, my book is in the review process. What else will come out? We'll see ... I enjoyed doing it anyway. And I learned a thing or two again. And I have ideas for more books. I've done the process once now, I can do it a second time ... and maybe even more. But that will not happen in 7 days. Firstly because I WANT to take more time for that, and secondly because my attention has to be divided between multiple projects.

Back To Painting Now

The order arrived yesterday, and that of course means that my attention is back to painting. Now that my order has arrived I can start painting the way I want. Yesterday I also started a new challenge for myself, a realistic portrait of Rowan. At the moment I can't show much because the only thing I have on the canvas now is the beginning of the background. Let's just say that I still have some work to do before I show you more of this. I first have to see how it will turn out for me. Lol.

More To Come Soon!

There are more things in preparation here ... and that will certainly ensure that I will get more inspiration to share what we are working on online more frequently. I will certainly tell you more about what that is in another blog soon.