I've been uploading my entire 306 page book, one page at a time, for two days. I'm about halfway done as I'm writing this.
Believe it or not, this was the BEST solution that was found after other, failed attempts which took place days previous.
Now, I have no question in my mind that, at some point, I will learn how to do this process more efficiently, however, as it stands for the moment, I haven't.
I don't post this to bitch and moan (I've done plenty of that already). I'm posting this to make a point.
That one's WHY must be strong enough to create perseverance strong enough for the eventual bullshit one WILL have to wade through in order to achieve one's goal.
If there's no bullshit, your goal ain't big enough.
So, here's the thing. I can bitch and moan about it (which, to be fair, I did. A lot) or, I can choose to transmute frustration into the development of patience. I can choose the mind numbing boredom into the development of perseverance.
When you play Skyrim, you make dozens of hats. Why? So you can develop your crafting skill, gain XP and level up. Yeah? We grind.
So, as I upload page TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY SEVEN (holy shit I'm almost there) I could look at it a number of ways.
1) I could be grateful to have such a first world problem. I have internet, the free time necessary to even write a novel, and a person of interest (Tom Bilyeu) who is interested enough in my project to warrant me creating this sample for him.
But, the thing is, that still takes willpower. It's all true, but it still SUUUUUCKS to do what I'm doing. Yes, other things suck MORE, but that still isn't as empowering (to me) as I'd like.
2) I could watch my XP meter go up. For some reason, I hear the song "Heart of courage" go off in my head. I'm leveling up. Fuck yeah. It doesn't take willpower to level up, if anything, I start looking for more things to be proud of.
3) I imagine the funny future. EVERYTHING that is SHITTY in our lives... in 10 years? Those are most often our best stories. So, I CHOOSE to look "back" at this NOW, and laugh.
I choose to level up, I choose to laugh at the absurdity of it all. I choose to envision myself at Comic-con, talking to some young writer who is marveling at just having met me, and has asked the question "what was the hardest part of writing your amazing novel" and I get to pull this story out.
About how I had to choose between a properly formatted document, or a document with the fonts I'd chosen to reflect the personalities of the different characters... and I chose a third option that I made up.
Just export the files into 306 individual jpegs and upload them one at a time as a photo book instead of as a print novel. I chose to say fuck you to only having two options, neither of which I liked. I chose the path where the book was how I envisioned it.
I chose this. Times new roman can go fuck itself. Solis speaks in Bree Serif, and that's all there is to it.
I also FULLY RECOGNIZE that Tom Bilyeu might look at the book, love every minute of it, and suggest we use Times New Roman instead to reflect Solis' personality. I recognize that if that WERE to happen, it would make for the best punchline of all.
If life is a "funny story" you get to tell when you're older, about how you developed all these skills, then life is enjoyable, even when it isn't supposed to be.
So grind. Make those hats.
Believe it or not, this was the BEST solution that was found after other, failed attempts which took place days previous.
Now, I have no question in my mind that, at some point, I will learn how to do this process more efficiently, however, as it stands for the moment, I haven't.
I don't post this to bitch and moan (I've done plenty of that already). I'm posting this to make a point.
That one's WHY must be strong enough to create perseverance strong enough for the eventual bullshit one WILL have to wade through in order to achieve one's goal.
If there's no bullshit, your goal ain't big enough.
So, here's the thing. I can bitch and moan about it (which, to be fair, I did. A lot) or, I can choose to transmute frustration into the development of patience. I can choose the mind numbing boredom into the development of perseverance.
When you play Skyrim, you make dozens of hats. Why? So you can develop your crafting skill, gain XP and level up. Yeah? We grind.
So, as I upload page TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY SEVEN (holy shit I'm almost there) I could look at it a number of ways.
1) I could be grateful to have such a first world problem. I have internet, the free time necessary to even write a novel, and a person of interest (Tom Bilyeu) who is interested enough in my project to warrant me creating this sample for him.
But, the thing is, that still takes willpower. It's all true, but it still SUUUUUCKS to do what I'm doing. Yes, other things suck MORE, but that still isn't as empowering (to me) as I'd like.
2) I could watch my XP meter go up. For some reason, I hear the song "Heart of courage" go off in my head. I'm leveling up. Fuck yeah. It doesn't take willpower to level up, if anything, I start looking for more things to be proud of.
3) I imagine the funny future. EVERYTHING that is SHITTY in our lives... in 10 years? Those are most often our best stories. So, I CHOOSE to look "back" at this NOW, and laugh.
I choose to level up, I choose to laugh at the absurdity of it all. I choose to envision myself at Comic-con, talking to some young writer who is marveling at just having met me, and has asked the question "what was the hardest part of writing your amazing novel" and I get to pull this story out.
About how I had to choose between a properly formatted document, or a document with the fonts I'd chosen to reflect the personalities of the different characters... and I chose a third option that I made up.
Just export the files into 306 individual jpegs and upload them one at a time as a photo book instead of as a print novel. I chose to say fuck you to only having two options, neither of which I liked. I chose the path where the book was how I envisioned it.
I chose this. Times new roman can go fuck itself. Solis speaks in Bree Serif, and that's all there is to it.
I also FULLY RECOGNIZE that Tom Bilyeu might look at the book, love every minute of it, and suggest we use Times New Roman instead to reflect Solis' personality. I recognize that if that WERE to happen, it would make for the best punchline of all.
If life is a "funny story" you get to tell when you're older, about how you developed all these skills, then life is enjoyable, even when it isn't supposed to be.
So grind. Make those hats.
