By Vicki Scott
This Fourth of July did not bring me independence from the agony of finishing the publication process of my book.
The George Wallace Senior Center in Glencoe was closed the 4th and 5th of July for the celebration of our country’s independence. My husband Alan had to work on Friday, the 5th. That left me free to finish up the book I’ve been working over the past eight and one-half years.
My mother wanted the family to get together at her house for July 4th, so my brothers and their significant others gathered at the lake for food and fellowship. My mom seemed to enjoy herself, and it thrilled me to see her happy. The icing on the cake was when we sat down to play dominoes with her. It still amazes me how she can beat us so badly at dominoes! She kept the score sheet and took it with her to show her friends at The Veranda. We were told it was a good idea to let her win to keep her happy. I promise you, I was not letting her win! My mom always taught us to treat others as you would like to be treated, and I would not want someone to let me win at a game. It was nice to see my mom on a good day. I praise God for these moments.
We took my mom with us because The Veranda was on our way back to Glencoe. It gave us another chance to say “I love you” and exchange hugs as we until my brother Jay arrived. My mom looked forward to the weekend with Jay. He is her baby.
My forthcoming book is a tribute to my mother and how she struggled to be normal after a nearly fatal accident. Last Thursday, my daughter Eva called and discussed visiting us with Saylor Rhea and Tyler Kate. I decided to get up early and try to hurry and format my manuscript and possibly download it onto Kindle Direct Publishing. It was free, and I figured it was worth a shot. I opened the account and thought I followed the directions correctly, but I keep getting errors. Every time I changed one thing, I had to re-adjust the whole manuscript.
After much deliberation and repetition, the manuscript was downloaded to KDP! The problem was that KDP kept finding errors in the format and I had to fix those errors. After I finish, I once more must re-adjust the manuscript. I praise God and continue to pray for His blessing on the book. Without God’s blessing, this book and all the struggles putting it together are for nothing. I pray for His blessing and His glory. KDP is very time-consuming but has tutorials to guide you every step of the way. I love it so far, even with the obstacles! At the writer’s conference, everyone I discussed KDP with sung its praises. I now can see why. At the moment at least, I want to use the program from now on.
God knew that I needed to get this project done. I wanted to see my baby girl and my grandbabies, but they were unable to visit. Ten-month-old Tyler Kate now says “Nana,” and she and Saylor fight over the phone when I call. My heart swells at the thought of my grandbabies. But their not being able to visit gave me time to continue work on the manuscript. Even though I already had written my book, it took two solid days of nonstop work to get it to my satisfaction on KDP. What a learning process! I praise God!
Another spark of encouragement came when mom called yesterday. She called me Lynell, which is the name of her sister. I told her that I was Vicki. She said she knew that but was trying to call the weather. She then asked if my number was 334-749-6311. This was the number for the weather. I once again felt a sense of urgency to finish the book. I worked hard to get it finished before Eva and her crew came to visit. When Eva called saying that they were not coming, it confirmed the urgency I was feeling to complete the book.
Going to church on Sunday was a nice break from the anxiety of trying to finish this never-ending task of publishing this burden on my heart. After a nice nap, I jumped back on it. My dear husband encouraged me to give it a rest for now, so I am still striving for independence from this book!
I cannot get this tribute to my mom off my mind! I pray that it blesses her beyond all of the obstacles I’ve had to overcome. I praise God for this opportunity and pray that I don’t let Him down.
I also praise God for all those who fought for our independence from England back then as well as those who fought for our country at any point. Thinking of the struggles that they and their families withstood, I will opt for my kind of struggles any day.
Thanks, y’all! I hope that y’all had a great time celebrating our independence!