My Brain

My brain has reached capacity. Seriously. 

What has put me over the edge has not been what you may think!  I have worked tirelessly on publishing my children’s book over the past year and there has been no shortage of learning. It has been a year full of trial and errors.  There have been webinars, author coaching, and hours and hours of research. I have learned about illustrations, website development, trim sizes, printing (so many options), sell sheets, launch teams, reviews, and all things Amazon (complicated!)  and the list goes on an on. I have learned what I am good at and what I like, and what I don’t. For the record, I don’t like anything that has to do with money, profit margins, taxes, or budgeting. Luckily, I share a bed with my main investor 😊 

All in all, learning how to publish a book has been fun! 

But ya’ll… what has stopped me in my tracks as been SPORTS TEAM BUTTONS. Yes, you heard me right. I am the newly appointed school button lady for our booster club. Now this is kind of out of my wheelhouse, as I am normally on an event team trying to raise money. But I needed a break and needed to do something “easy”. I have been SO EXCITED that I am at the stage in parenting life where my kids are old enough to play school sports and I get a BUTTON to wear proudly and embarrass them! Everything about buttons screams,” I have arrived!”  So yes, I signed up for buttons. 

As Julia Roberts exclaims in Pretty Woman, “Big mistake. Huge!” 

I do like to be in charge, so I signed up to be the LEAD button lady. (In my next life, I’m keeping my hand DOWN). I handle the orders, the team parents and getting all the pictures into a button file ready for printing. Sounded doable. I was excited. I’m not a graphic designer but have done enough design on the computer that I figured I could do this. WRONG!  

Setting up the button file was nothing short of the pain I had laboring with my first child. (It wasn’t fun). And like my labor, it took hours and hours. There was no template that could be shared with me and so I had to start from scratch. The words from the previous button ladies rang in my ears… “You signed up for the wrong thing, girl!”, “I hate flipping buttons!”, “This will take you hours.”, “This will keep you VERY busy!”, and the best of all, “I don’t really know how to show you how to do it”. I know these wonderful ladies and they really all had extreme SYMPATHY for me. 

What did I get myself into? After about 10 hours of trying to make it work, downloading like 4 different photo shop programs, I was about to quit. Never have I quit something I volunteered to do. But here I was, I had reached my brain capacity. It was like it stopped working and I couldn’t move another inch.  I was CRYING! Like real tears. I cry when I get really overwhelmed and I could not believe it was freaking BUTTONS that had put me over the edge. 

Ends up… I took a walk to work out exactly how I was going to quit my new job. I came back in, sat back at my computer, went to the one graphic program I really know how to use, and figured it out literally five minutes later. I had my first file of 24 buttons complete 15 minutes later. Not only did I figure this out for myself, but I also created a new format that will save future button ladies tons of time and energy. (And I really feel bad for all the hard work my predecessors went through, now knowing how easy this program is) Anyways, I cried again. Thankful that buttons were not going to take me down. 

Really, my book publishing journey and my button journey are similar. The overall THEME I have discovered in both processes is what my book “Chipper Makes Merry” really is about.  Determination is important, but it’s the kindness we give to one another that is most important. I could not have published a book without my family and friends encouraging me along the way. Or without the support of authors, illustrators, publishers, and editors who selflessly guided me each step of the way to show me the ropes, to ward off the pitfalls they had already learned. I would not have figured out the buttons without the help of my committee and previous button ladies encouraging me as well. “How can I help?”, “Let me ask someone for you”, “I know you can do it”, “I will swing by to help you”, “I bet you can figure it out”, and the best of all, “If anyone can do this, you can”. Wow. 

We really are all doing life together. Kindness helps. Be a Merry Maker always. 

Books and Buttons. I’ve got this!

If you need a button template, I’m your girl. 

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Benjamin Franklin