Balboa Press publishes articles written by our authors in which they share some aspect of their self-publishing journeys. These are the words of Elizabeth Romig, author of Leaving Lucifer. Download the Balboa Press free publishing guide to receive more information on self-publishing your book with Balboa Press. 

Not everyone starts at the beginning and ends at the end. My self-publishing experience helped me to remember the things I had come to know about myself through my many years of self-discovery. I am always amazed when I discover that the tools we learn to use when working on self-growth encompass absolutely every part of ourselves in absolutely every aspect of our daily activity. Daily, I am a hypocrite and daily I am the model of “Peace, Love, and Light”.

I always equate things in threes. We have a beginning, a middle and an end-that goes without saying but what I discovered or learned to place over this threefold dynamic was the knowledge I had of how things worked for me in my ever expanding universe or life as it is usually called.

My struggle was at the beginning; I labored for years and thank heavens for Tina Colbert at Balboa Press and her long suffering association with me and my yes/no/maybe routine. This caused me to self-reflect and ultimately take the first step. Contracts signed and off we go-again more self-reflection and absolute anxiety in working with the stellar reps at Balboa Press.

In step two, I had to reflect on my attitude and come to the conclusion that acceptance was required. I accepted that I was panicking and self-sabotaging all the years I had put into my self-growth and awareness. I won’t go into detail but I had some real “In your face” self-retrospective realignment stuff going on.

Step three-I get the call. My book is published! That was the easiest part of this whole process! I didn’t expect to be amazed at how much peace I had when it was finally out there. No more jitters or anxiety-gone. I realized my struggles were not part of the process of self-publishing but part of the frightened “me” that was fearing to continue to uphold the values of self-awareness and the write that book tugging of the heart.  In other words, my humanity-after all these years of “work” I was still struggling with that overpowering dynamic of being laughed at.

You might find your struggles at the beginning, middle or end. I encourage you to recognize any struggle as an opportunity to go further down a path that is has your name on it. In publishing I got rid of the self-doubt and all that junk that wanted to stay comfortable in dreaming about the day rather than making this moment “The Day!”

I believe in every one of you and I promise not to laugh.

Balboa Press authors who’d like to share a 350-600 word experience related to the self-publishing of their books, are invited to do so by sending a message through our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BalboaPress, by tweeting us @BalboaPress, or by emailing blog@ balboapress.com. We may not be able to use every story, but we will read and consider them. Balboa Press reserves the right to edit stories for content, grammar and punctuation accuracy; as well as for space.