Living the Life

The Subject of Bucket List came up today. My mother never got her trip to Florida and always mourned not going when she could. Taking an example from a really wonderful mom,  I am determined to do the things I wish to do/learn/experience.

In review of my short life (ha,ha,ha :)) I have done what I wanted to do, needed to do for fulfillment.

In review, this period of my life may be the most fulfilling. I'm learning a tremendous amount, all coming at me at once. Life stuff is moving along, the house renovating, choosing colors, fixing this/that and getting out for those long contemplative drives. I just took one yesterday, down to Eureka Springs, AR, which is a 1900 city built on steep hills and usually filled with tourists. The drive to Eureka Springs was perfect on a sunlit day. Lots of curves, gorgeous rolling hills and plenty of scenery. My new car hasn't had this drive, so quite the experience navigating narrow, curved hilly brick-lined streets with tourists walking everywhere. :)

During the drive, I settled plot points. Love open road for thinking about my books, and am planning a summer/fall trip now.

I have 2 Bucket Lists and they conflict. 1.) I'm a painter, or was until writing heavily, and take a lot of pictures to paint whenever. I'm stocked up and want to paint more. 2). I'm writing heavily and loving it. It seems all possibilities are open now.

As a writer, (Label me Hybrid as I have Traditionally published books and Indie published now) I'm deep into learning more about Indie publishing and in an intensive learning period. Right now, I'm using Scrivener more (a major piece of plotting/writing software). Scrivener helps with keeping details of series straight. But does a lot more. Then, I've just hand formatted The Basket Maker's Wife in paper for CreateSpace, trade size. Quite the learning experience, using different fonts and styles. Very happy with that project; turned out gorgeous with glyphs, etc.  Then just got into Vellum, an ebook formatting software, also gorgeous and available in Mac. I changed from PC a couple years ago and the pain of shifting was well worth it.

I love learning. That's me, the learner. :)

NOTE: Microsoft Word does an excellent job of formatting and is easy to use. The Smashwords guide for formatting is excellent. Once down, easy. There is no reason for an Indie writer to pay for this service and sometimes it is way overpriced.

Currently, I'm learning a lot from The Creative Penn's podcasts. Terrific amount of stuff to learn there, life and writing. Podcasts are super, aren't they? Easy listening while driving or doing whatever.


Finally: This "Hybrid" is thoroughly enjoying the ride. How about you?