Posts by Julia Schmeelk

When we first priced formatting services, they seemed outrageous, until I started doing it myself. Even after purchasing a program to make it easier with a template, it took hours and hours. My hat is off to anyone and everyone who does formatting as a career choice.

A very nice man from selfpubbookcovers.com called me back, on a Sunday. He was happy to help and gave me a refund as well as future help when I am releasing some of my other work. What a grand company.

Mistakes are inevitable, especially with a new project. It is the reason pencils have erasers and there is a multi-million dollar industry in white-out products. However, like most people I work hard to avoid them. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work and I have become an expert and going back and fixing things. I have found…

Some people have parents that manage not to stand in their way, but I lucked out in the parent raffle. My parents will blast a road for one of their kids, even when that road takes them far away. To Bill and Alice, who have been cheering my creativity since I ground up a box…

JoSelle Vanderhooft, my editor hero who managed to get Gordon’s Pride done and in my hands despite hurricanes and travel, colds and migraines. It is no small thing to edit a book. You have to be able to put your thinking cap all the way on. Distractions and disasters are very disruptive not only do…

I was lucky to win a free book cover from at drawing at RWA (Romance Writers of America) from selfpubbookcovers.com and I was able to do a lot of the designing myself. That meant I needed to change some ideas and be flexible, but who turns down a free cover, right? Then I found out…

I know a lot of people and through my life I think I have had many close friends, but we all move around the globe and it is hard to stay in touch. I find that messaging and email are nice, but we also use FaceTime and Skype so we can share things. We also…

Gordon’s Pride is my first book in a lot of ways. It is certainly the first book I have shared and taken all these steps with, so it is a learning adventure. Depending on when you ask me it is thrilling, exciting, terrifying and confusing, but it is also frustrating.  As with anything new I keep…

Unlike many couples, Shawn and I enjoy doing the shopping together. It almost doesn’t matter what it is for, as long as it isn’t on a time schedule. There were times when we have five dollars and needed to plan two or more meals, that was fun. We have had enough to buy anything we…

So, this is probably not exclusive to writers, but that’s what I have always blamed it on. I loose things, sometimes important things. I forget to turn off the oven, sometimes even the stove top. I get distracted in the middle of laundry and I have been known to forget the dog outside for a…