We have gifts to give, that only we can give. It doesn’t matter if is a gift we give only to one, a few, or many as long as we give it. The best lives are generous lives.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Only by giving are you able to receive more than you already have. Unknown

I received my shipment of author’s copies from Amazon yesterday. It’s a thrill to see our name on something. I remember the first time my name was on a business card, but holding a book you’ve written in your own hand is special. Part of what makes it special is it lived in our minds for so long and finally we see it finished out in the world.

“Why did you buy so many?” my son asks. “You should have a plan, how many people will be there, what percentage will buy books?” I have a plan, my plan is to make this event during March break at the Mississauga Art Gallery the best it can be. A win for me is I get to read my book to children who I hope will enjoy it, and pass out bookmarks to everyone that attends. Parents and grandparents have a fun, free event to take their children to. I hope to get a video out of it I can put on YouTube. I hope it is a successful event for the Art Gallery of Mississauga that they want me back. Getting to sell a few books and sign them will be a lovely bonus. Thirty children’s books and five of each of my novels don’t seem like a lot to me to make a nice display at an event.

I pay the shipping on the author’s copies (as I should) I’m getting the copies at cost. What a blessing to be able to order my books in quantities that I can use, whenever I want, up to 999 copies at a time.

With things opening up here groups I go to will start meeting in person again. At my Horticultural Group, we have raffles and I will donate a book to the raffle each month. I’m speaking in May at the Mississauga Writers Group and I’ll take a few books to put on display.

I read a cautionary tale about an author that got a chance to have their books in a bookstore and the author was present selling and signing books. The bookstore purchased more books than the author sold and returned them with the author getting a bill for the returns which cost them $700.00. We have to realize as self-published authors the buck stops with us. With traditionally published books the publisher absorbs the returns. As self-published authors, we absorb the returns.

In any enterprise, there is the up-side and the down-side and no one only gets the upside.

Make the most of yourself for that is all there is of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson

We can’t have the best upside of one way of doing things, and the best downside of another way of doing things. As self-published authors, we are our own marketing department, publicity department, and quality control department. We are authorpreneurs, it’s our baby, our enterprise, and one of the good things about this is who cares more about our books than we do? If we don’t have to make a living from our books they can be a side-line we put as much energy in as we can and grow it to see if it becomes something. Even if all it becomes is a fun hobby that keeps us interested in meeting people as we enter retirement – how great is that?

Finding and pursuing things that feed our soul especially as the years of earning a living and raising children are coming to a close is a great thing. One of the joys of getting older is we don’t have to only look at things as how much money will this pay me? We can do things for the love of it. Struggling to live off our art, writing, music, etc, is tough for many, some make an abundance of money off of their art, music, writing, and other artistic pursuits.

The more joy we find in life with small pleasures, accomplishments, and interactions with people the more joy we will have in life. If we get too jaded, and if only big things count our life will be poorer. Yesterday I met a friend for tea, we split a chocolate croissant and some Tim bits, and we enjoyed ourselves as much as if we went for a big expensive lunch. She asked me to sign my children’s book which made my whole day.

Some of the best dinners are impromptu ones, we don’t have big expectations, and we enjoy the moment. I think this is why some people struggle with their creative expression. Writers call it writer’s block but it probably happens in all creative pursuits. We put too big of expectations on ourselves, expectations we worry we can’t meet, so instead of creating something that doesn’t meet our expectations we don’t create anything at all. Seth Godin tells us we must ship our work. In order to ship it, we must first create it.

Every novel will not be better than the last, nor every painting, quilt, song, blog post, or whatever we create, but we don’t know when something great will happen. When something we do will resonate with someone. If we don’t ship our work as Seth Godin says, someone can’t find it, enjoy it, or share it.

Give the gift that is yours to give, that only you can give.

The greatest gift anyone can give is love. The most unselfish act to share is forgiveness. The strongest kind of compassion is kindness. Unknown

Generosity is the only legitimate selfishness. Mario Benedetti

Don’t be impressed by money, followers, degrees, and titles. Do be impressed by kindness, integrity, humility, and generosity. Unknown

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Thank you to everyone that reads my books. A special thank you to those that leave a review on Goodreads, and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.