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Being a Self Published Author
By Robert Elias Ballard on August 09, 2011 |
Total Viewed: 51 |
| Post by : Robert Ballard |
| Category: Writing & Speaking |
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| If anyone had ask me 10 years ago if I would ever write or publish a book my answer would have been, absolutely not. I had never written more than a few papers for the English classes I took at our community college when I was a student struggling to earn a two year business degree. The program that I was enrolled found me going to evening classes while working a full time job and to be honest it was hard work. I rushed from my job as a cost analyst for a cloth printing company getting off work at 5 pm and had only enough time grab a sandwich and gulp down a cup of coffee before classes which began at 6 pm and ended at 10 pm. Needless to say by the time I got home from school and did homework, it was always approaching the midnight hour before I could lay down to sleep.
I had a young family and struggled to earn a living to feed, cloth and make mortgage payments with the salary of a clerk. Had it not been for my GI Veterans education benefits which supplemented my income, we more than likely would have had to apply for food stamps or some other governmental assistance program to survive those early years. I know my family missed me while I was in classes for of those two years often arriving home after our babies had gone to sleep.
In 1976 I graduated and earned an associates degree in Business Administration but my diploma and 25 cents in those days would only buy me a cup of coffee. I was fortunate to find a job with General Electric as a blue collar worker where I spent the next 29 years retiring in 2003. Following my retirement and joint replacements on both knees and my right shoulder, I began to volunteer at our branch library. Soon I became a member of a committee that was working on a small book of history. We completed the book which we sold to raise funds for our library but I noticed no personal interest stories were included in the volume. This sparked an interest for me to sit down at my new computer and began to write my memories of the mill village where I grew up.editstatsdeletesuggest links
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By Fiddleman
Being a Self Published Author
If anyone had ask me 10 years ago if I would ever write or publish a book my answer would have been, absolutely not. I had never written more than a few papers for the English classes I took at our community college when I was a student struggling to earn a two year business degree. The program that I was enrolled found me going to evening classes while working a full time job and to be honest it was hard work. I rushed from my job as a cost analyst for a cloth printing company getting off work at 5 pm and had only enough time grab a sandwich and gulp down a cup of coffee before classes which began at 6 pm and ended at 10 pm. Needless to say by the time I got home from school and did homework, it was always approaching the midnight hour before I could lay down to sleep.
I had a young family and struggled to earn a living to feed, cloth and make mortgage payments with the salary of a clerk. Had it not been for my GI Veterans education benefits which supplemented my income, we more than likely would have had to apply for food stamps or some other governmental assistance program to survive those early years. I know my family missed me while I was in classes for of those two years often arriving home after our babies had gone to sleep.
In 1976 I graduated and earned an associates degree in Business Administration but my diploma and 25 cents in those days would only buy me a cup of coffee. I was fortunate to find a job with General Electric as a blue collar worker where I spent the next 29 years retiring in 2003. Following my retirement and joint replacements on both knees and my right shoulder, I began to volunteer at our branch library. Soon I became a member of a committee that was working on a small book of history. We completed the book which we sold to raise funds for our library but I noticed no personal interest stories were included in the volume. This sparked an interest for me to sit down at my new computer and began to write my memories of the mill village where I grew up.
I completed the book and self published it at Lulu Publishing. The book My Tuxedo No Longer Fits-Memories of a Mill Village Brat was well received and many in the community bought the copies I ordered and sold at the local mom and pop store. One evening about a year after I written this book my telephone rang and the person calling was an elderly woman from Merit Island, Florida. She told me she had read some of my book on line and that she had grown up in the mill village during the late 1920's. We talked for almost an hour and today, almost 2 years later, I had the privilege to meet her in person and drive her around this area. She is a young 88 years old now and our visit (almost 3 hours) was very pleasant. I drove her to where she lived as a little girl and immediately she recognized two tall evergreens which were in front of the home she had lived so many years ago although the old home place has long since been torn down. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she told me "This is so wonderful, I can't believe how after all these years I can close my eyes and see once again where I enjoyed the swings on those two trees."
Later in the afternoon we visited a relative she hadn't seen in over 50 years and we talked and reminisced about those bygone days. We were able to play some music and sing some old songs she knew as a young girl. For me, as a self published author, this lady sure made me feel my efforts were not in vain. Had I not written and published my first book, we would have never made acquaintance.
Since my first book, I have written and self published several others. I still don't consider myself a good writer but writing has been therapy and brings a lot of joy to me. I have used some of my hubs as chapters in my books and am planning at least one more book of stories and tales and will largely consist of genealogy and history of my family. I may never make it as a "real author" but the journey has been fun.
My books can be found at Lulu.com, Amazon and Amazon Kindle, and Good Book Partner my real name,Robert Elias Ballard and Putz Ballard. |
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