Is it WORK or work?

Have you ever noticed how people confuse the word "work" with employment? All my life I have "worked" however many times I have been self employed and not employed by someone else. I still had revenue however I have found so many folks judgmental about working and employment.

They just don't get it because they have toiled all their lives to have what they have and often at jobs they do NOT like, so if you do something you love on your own terms and it isn't where you have an employer telling you what to do, I hate to say it,  but there is resentment. Know what I mean?

At the moment I am trying on this new venture. As one book I read says, "Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow". I am writing and illustrating and self-publishing books. I haven't started my last portrait, I will get to it. I decided while I have this little window of time where I don't need to go out and make money big time to pay huge rental fees and all that, that I would take advantage and get at least one children's book into a new proof stage with a new print company who hopefully uses better quality paper.

So every morning I get up, make a cup of tea and get down to it almost immediately. I had my book proofed and ISBN number already so I thought it would be simple trying it with this new printing service called "Blurb".

Boy, was I wrong. Part of it is reformatting the pages and images since the new site doesn't offer the same size books! Oh joy! This means, not only am I re-learning how to use Affinity Publisher again, I have had to figure out where my old images are and then figure out new margins and all that. It means every single image has had to be imputed and resized and keep in mind, if it isn't done correctly, there will be pre-flight errors all over the place! I know!

Then after all that, I decide I don't want the text box under the images. I have had to edit my drawings so they are either dark enough or light enough to show the text without any sort of box underneath. Oh joy! Back to working on each drawing AGAIN.

After this, the text had to be checked once imported to each new page. There are these base lines to help align the text so I thought I could just copy from my old book however when put in place, because the margins are different, each text and sometimes characters have had to be edited to align properly.

So then the cover needs to be edited again and re-sized. Thank god I still had my layered copy from Affinity Photo. I did it but it all didn't happen with a snap of the fingers that is for sure!

Finally, after using my checklist to look over every page to proof it all, I made it into a PDF and it was ready for upload.

I do this new upload with the new printing site and guess what! you got it, more good news!

Besides a few preflights that were just text boxes a little too small and no big deal, it informed me I was five pages too short!

They don't count pages, they could SPREADS which means I have yet more pages to make to the story! OMG!

Then someone comes along just at that moment and asks me how is my search for work going! SERIOUSLY!

I put in a solid 8 hours every day! I may not be bringing in a paycheck at this moment, however who knows, a few of my books may sell down the road however even if they don't, it doesn't mean I am not working!

Even when you are doing something you love, it doesn't mean it isn't work! I spent YEARS developing my skills as a fine artist. Folks say, oh you make it look so easy and of course, then they feel justified in taking advantage. How many times has someone nickeled and dimed me on a commission dickering over the price? They go to Walmart, see a painting, they don't go to checkout and try to get a deal but with a commission they certainly will try. I learned that at a very young age and the faster you are and the better you are at it, the more there are those who think, oh that is a god-given gift, why pay so much?!?!? It may be a god-given gift but it doesn't mean I didn't put the time, expense and sacrifice into it. Even with this writing, I have been reading and working on learning it on every minute I have to spare since 2018. It hasn't come over-night or without hard work!

As a teenager I wasn't out getting into trouble, I was home drawing and learning more skills. In my case it was because I saw what I could do as a means to get off that little point of land I was trapped on and get out and get a life. I made sacrifices to get ahead and I am doing it again since now I have to use up my merger savings to have this time to write.

I was highly motivated to leave and I knew if it was to happen, it would be because of what I was doing, not what was going to be done for me. and it worked. It took a few attempts however I got out and I didn't look back. No regrets there, only gratitude to actually be free of it all.

And now I am house-sitting for cheap and have the use of a car which is wonderful since I have not been able to own a car in years. Not because I couldn't afford one, just because I couldn't afford a decent one. I had so many things go wrong with old cars that I just can't bring myself to own one. I have been ripped off by one too many mechanics and been stranded on the side of the highway once too often. One of my favorite memories is dragging a month old child and puppy in a sled up the highway in northern BC on a beautiful night with Northern Lights in the sky. I was miles from the cabin I was living in alone and had no one I could really call. A nice trucker picked us up and dropped us off! That is a typical example of my life and vehicles! No thanks! If I cannot afford a good one, I don't want any. I want to get a camper van however if it isn't decent and road-worthy and not a head ache, then I don't want it. Hell, my son has been stranded so many times, he is 23 and hasn't got his license yet! He says vehicles are money traps and he isn't interested. Where I come from the first thing a young man wants is a car! Not him or not me! Funny, we were talking the other day about this neat Mini Cooper I am driving and he brought up about the one decent car I ever owned, I had it less than a month and some ding a ling rear-ended me and wrote it off and my replacement had to be crap again. My karma with cars and mechanics has not been good! Now motorcycles on the other hand, I just bought a great one of those and it is lovely and was cheap enough that I could afford it.

I digress, my point is, if you want to write, or do something else from home, don't let anyone tell you what you are doing doesn't count. I had to bite the bullet and put up with the judgements every time I worked for myself with that sort of mentality. It is the same sort of snobbery that says if a book isn't published by a publisher and is self-published then it isn't REALLY a book!

Ignore all of it. It is a free world and you have as much right to do what you want as anyone else. Set your priorities and stick to them and leave all the folks out there who want to put you down, off your friendship or even acquaintance list! You deserve folks who want to support what you do, not under mine you. I have noticed most times these critics are folks who have suffered and want you to do so also. Instead of being happy for you, they want you to be as miserable as they are. These sort of people in my book are as dangerous as cancer. You can live without that sort of nonsense! Do what you do, and remember it IS work and don't allow anyone to tell you otherwise. There are plenty of folks out there who put in their 8 hours, come home and then do NOTHING. I cannot image living this way unless I am completely depressed. Do what you love, you are as worthy as anyone else.