Wednesday, March 21, 2018

It Is What It Is - The Book

It Is What It Is
An Inspired Guide to Transforming Your Life

A self-help memoir, It Is What It Is tells the story of how I saved myself from the despair of my out of control health issues after my husband Dennis' stage IV cancer diagnosis. His cancer diagnosis in 2002 was the beginning of a series of changes in our lives that ultimately led to downsizing the safe and secure life we had - to our uncertain nomadic wandering as full-time travelers living in other people's homes. Now, for the first time, I'm sharing how it all began.

I started the first draft of It Is What It Is in 2004 and finished it in 2006. During this initial writing, I did not read what I had written, because emotionally I wasn't ready to revisit what I had written about Dennis' cancer journey. I guess you could say that my emotions were still a bit tender. Over the years, I've continued to edit, edit, and edit my manuscript as life evolved and we moved forward to what has been a massive lifestyle change. Last year, I spent 3 months taking time out of our travels to seriously address the edits. Recently, I was able to tackle the final book layout, and tweaked this and that for self-publishing in CreateSpace, an Amazon.com company. At this writing, I have received the author's proof - as in the real book to review before the release in the next few months. It Is What It Is will be available to you on Amazon.com to order as a soft cover book, and you, my friend, will be the first to know when I announce a release date. I've considered a Kindle version, but have decided to wait on that as it requires different formatting and I didn't want to delay publication any longer!

Self-publishing It Is What It Is has been a complicated process. The writing was the fun stuff! I even enjoyed the editing process to some extent, but it's everything else that became a journey unto itself. Beyond the rules of language and sentence structure, there have been many things to consider such as formatting every single element on the page while working through the steps of the print on demand (POD) publishing world. Friends and family members helped review the manuscript, and I was fortunate to know a very talented graphic artist who helped bring my vision of the cover design to life.

For those who don't know me, I'm a resistant tech geek, of a sort. Dennis is the true tech geek and he makes sure we are up to date on all the latest devices and technologies. I considered traditional publishing, but even a resistant tech geek doesn't necessarily follow traditional ways. So, it seemed more to my way of thinking to do this on my own with the new, at the time, print on demand publishing. POD works this way, you order a book and they print it out just for you. There's not a stockpile of books held in a warehouse. It's your own personal copy! How cool is that? I've always pictured It Is What It Is as a soft cover format with a matte finish - my favorite style of book to hold in my hands. When I began this undertaking, matte finish was not available in the new POD publishing world. Maybe it's a good thing I took this long to publish because matte finish is now available.

This blog began in 2010 as my attempt to continue writing while striving to work through the publishing process. It has taken time away from the forward progress of the book at times, but it's helped me hone my voice and improve my manuscript. From its conception, It Is What It Is had a purpose and became my mission. That purpose was to share with others how I found a way to take control of the circumstances of my life, and see that life in an entirely different way. I knew my story could have a positive impact on anyone at any time they may read my words. I can't wait for you to read It Is What It Is!

Michelle

Photo courtesy of damclark's