The only true failure can come if you quit.

When you opt for a career change, sometimes you go on a course or retrain.  But when one day you decide to take a rhyming story you’ve written, and self publish, all of a sudden you find yourself wearing many hats.

For the last month or so, Jacquie has been working away at the illustrations, bringing the book to life beautifully.  And I’ve been getting my head around everything else that goes into publishing a book and setting up a company.  From finding an accountant, to finding out about ISBN numbers and barcodes.  From working out a marketing plan, to working out how many books to print.  I’m not just a writer any more: I’m a supplier; a retailer; a small business owner; a decision maker.  And not that I hold too much sway with star signs, but as someone who is apparently classic Libra, decision making is not my strong suit.  What if there’s a better one / another way / a tastier dish (food envy is the worst!).

But each time I sit down, I work through my list, and I have to tell myself, you’ve got this, you can do this.  I don’t always tell myself this of course.  Sometimes I freak out! Sometimes the self doubt creeps in and I wonder what on earth I’m doing.  But just as when my daughter, recently turned four, struggles to do something, and I see her becoming frustrated or giving up, I tell her to keep trying.  To keep going.  Not to quit.  Just ask for help and try again.

Advice I really should keep applying to myself.  In life, you don’t know until you know. And if you don’t know something, if you don’t know how, there are always people who can help.  You just have to ask.  As the great Andrea Beaty says, through the words of Rosie Revere, Engineer, ‘the only true failure can come if you quit.’