A Needed Break

I’ve started to write down all the many, many, many steps it takes from writing a rough draft through self-publishing. The list is a bit jumbled right now. However, even as I try to put together all the pieces so that others can maybe learn from my mistakes, I find myself in need of a break.

Unfortunately, I’m the sort of person who doesn’t like to stop until a project is finished. With this in mind, I’ve come up with new ways to take breaks that still work with the overall goal. This comes in the form of social media breaks (following fellow corgi owners is a must for sanity). However, the break I find to be the best is in cover design.

Consider me late to the class, but I absolutely LOVE using Canva to create new covers. When I was first starting out on the self-publishing journey seven years ago, I just went with the cover creator that Amazon offers. Boy was I missing out.

Add in a professional subscription to Canva and a subscription to Pixaby, and it’s a recipe for success. I can often sit back and laugh at myself when it’s all done. Once a perfectionist, always a perfectionist. I will sit on a screen and adjust, adjust, adjust until I get the alignment just where I want it. Even with all these perfectionist tendencies, though, I still find the finished product to be both productive and a release from the stress of everything else self-publishing related.

Of course, one of the other fun things to do with a cover when it’s all said and done, is to offer it for a preview on social media. I did that before with The Other Side of the Looking Glass, but I’m going to sit and wait for Halloween for this one. What else for a vampire?

Until next time (I should have some more ironed out ideas for fellow would-be writers looking to self-publish. I was getting very frustrated today, so had to take this much needed break)

L.E.