STUCK on Publishing a Book!

November 19, 2015 by Shira Gura 6 Comments

I’m stuck on excited!

Bet you never thought that could happen before, eh?

That is, get stuck on something positive, right?

Well, you can.

And, I just went through it.

*********

A little over a month ago, I was put in touch with a book publisher who showed interest in turning my blog into a book.

A book!

And, while I always considered one day turning all of these posts into some sort of something to pass on to my kids, I never really ever considered that this blog would be turned into an actual book.

That people (other than my children twenty years from now) would read.

Wow!

And for me, that was like the most exciting piece of news I think I’ve heard in a long, long time.

Anyway, long story short, I got stuck on excited.

As was I being coached along by this incredible book coach/publisher (anyone need one?), I came to realize that what I created from this blog (the method of S.T.U.C.K.) was something I should be bringing out to the world.

That is, that S.T.U.C.K. should not only take the form of a book, but of lectures, workshops, and coaching.

Talk about opening my eyes to something I never considered before!

And so, in the short amount of time since this revelation was made, I have:

Offered three S.T.U.C.K. workshops,

Coached five S.T.U.C.K. sessions,

Wrote the first half of the book,

and more.

It’s filling me with such excitement that, for the first few weeks, while I had so many thoughts running through my mind, I:

Woke up nearly every day for a week at 3 A.M. to go to the computer and type out my thoughts,

Took naps in the middle of the day because I was exhausted,

Stayed up late because I had napped during the day,

Skipped exercising,

Forgot about eating healthfully,

And woke up the following days at 3 A.M. to go back to the computer to write more.

I wore myself out.

From excitement!

I knew I was stuck on it, but kind of didn’t feel like processing through it.

Because I had this need, this desire, to get everything done as soon as possible.

And new thoughts just kept coming to my head.

A S.T.U.C.K. Workbook companion to go along with the upcoming book,

S.T.U.C.K. Bumper stickers,

S.T.U.C.K. Place mats,

S.T.U.C.K. Board games!

S.T.U.C.K. Kitchen signs.

S.T.U.C.K. Key chains!

S.T.U.C.K. Doormats!

Brilliant!

The ideas kept coming and coming.

Yet, as the first half of the book started to congeal and everything started falling into place, I found myself settling down.

Not consciously.

And certainly not because I was practicing S.T.U.C.K., God forbid!

But, because most of what I “had” to get done, was getting done.

Until, I thought about a website.

A S.T.U.C.K. website!

How did I not think of that yet!?!

If I’m going to try to market myself to the world, I need a website, not just a blog site!

So, I went to the website called, “Wix” which empowers people to create websites in an easy fashion.

I spent about two days creating, if I may say so myself, a beautiful website.

Until I got to the page called, “Blog”.

And then I got stumped.

Because the blog that I’ve been writing for the past three years has been hosted by another company,called WordPress.

And, I couldn’t quite figure out how I could get the blog page to move over to the new website page.

I spent a couple of hours trying to figure it out.

Because I was back on being stuck on excited about this gorgeous website I just created.

Assuming I’d figured it out soon (I mean, how difficult can it be?), I went ahead and made the purchase on Wix (a relatively hefty price) so that I could proceed with publishing my new website. (Did I mention it was gorgeous?)

Then, I went back to transfering all kinds of letters and numbers and gadgets and who knows what, just to be able to tell cyberspace that http://www.stuckinthemuck365.com now has another home, thank you very much.  So, just redirect yourself over there, will you?

But, the blog!

What about the blog?!

Oy vey!

I forgot about the blog!

The blog is still sitting in WordPress, while the rest of S.T.U.C.K. is now over on Wix.

And S.T.U.C.K. is not S.T.U.C.K. without the blog!

And as I searched on the support pages of Wix and WordPress, and watched Youtube videos, and sweated over trying to figure this out, I came to the realization that showing my WordPress blog on my new Wix website in the same format of my WordPress blog is well, impossible.

Shit.

How many hours have I worked lost on this today?

Five?

So, in my state of panic, I went back to Youtube and typed in “WordPress vs. Wix” and after watching three videos learned there was no comparison between the two.

WordPress won by far.

Yet, because I had no experience with the website side of WordPress (only the blog site of it), I never knew its capabilities.

Rush back to square 1!

Because I realized I had to build a new website on WordPress!!

But, how?

I couldn’t find the themed templates I was looking for and were recommended for the kind of blog I was trying to make.

Stumped and dazed, I went back to Wix in the meantime and canceled the subscription that I purchased just the night before knowing I was moving forward with WordPress.

And, during these hours of futility, I completely neglected to be in touch with those people from the Sunday night “taste of S.T.U.C.K.” workshop in Carmiel who showed interest in a 10-week series and were looking for the details of the upcoming program.

And in my haste in trying to figure all of this out, I almost nearly lost the entire blog.

Or, at least I thought I did.

Because on the home page of http://www.stuckinthemuck365.com, the menu showed only one page, “Home”.

Shit.

Home?

Home?

Where’s the freakin’ blog?????

Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

*******

All right.

It took me nearly a month to come and process this, but here I go.

 STOP. STOP. STOP. STOP. STOP. BREATHE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 TELL. I AM STUCK ON EXCITEMENT!

UNCOVER.

I believe that:

S.T.U.C.K. (lecturing, workshops, and coaching) is what I’ve been waiting to do all my life.

I’m 42 and don’t have my time left. Time’s a tickin’.

The quicker I do things, the sooner I’ll witness things happening.

Time is of the essence.

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

S.T.U.C.K. will make me feel worthwhile and with purpose in this world.

S.T.U.C.K. will finally, finally, finally be the thing that will enable me to bring in a decent income to my family.

I’m sure there are many more beliefs hiding underneath my emotion of excitement, but as I start to reflect on them, I can witness that most of them are not entirely true. And, by admitting to that, I can realize that the reality that I’ve been painting for myself for the past month has been a bit clouded.

 CONSIDER.

I can consider that:

Whether this website is done today or next week, won’t really matter in the scheme of things.

I’ve got plenty of time (please, God!) to bring this work to the world.

I need to practice what I preach.

I am with purpose and worth in this world, no matter if I have S.T.U.C.K. or not.

I need to take care of myself, first and foremost.

I have no idea if S.T.U.C.K. is going to be lucrative or not.

So, I am consciously choosing all of the above.

I closed the WordPress window on creating a new website.

I will send a request out to the world if anyone has more familiarity with WordPress websites than I do instead of trying to do this on my own.

And I will take my time and watch the process of S.T.U.C.K. unfold before my eyes, instead of forcing anything too soon.

Everything in its own time.

So, I remind myself that it’s OK that I got stuck on excitement.

It’s certainly natural, even though difficult to recognize initially.

Yet, I am grateful that I did get stuck, because it just brought me back home.

To the incredible importance and value of S.T.U.C.K. once again.