On Saturday I’ll be holding another one of my Publishing 101 Boot Camps. This one will be in Oakland, hosted by Mid-Maine Regional Adult Community Education.
The last time I held one of these intensive sessions was in 2013. The setting was also adult education, in Lewiston. I had a group of 10 to 11 students who wanted to learn from someone who actually knew how to take a book idea from start to finish. That would be me, author of four books, and someone with credits of books published on my own, as well as helping other authors bring their projects to market.
My world in 2013 was a different one than where I find myself in 2018. The biggest difference is that Mark is no longer around to confer with and share some of my thoughts with, as well as voice any frustration during preparation.
Publishing according to Jim Baumer
The guide I created in 2013 was one Mark laid out for me. Looking it over, it’s weathered the passage of time (at least the five years since I last handed it out) very well. There are a few things that need updating, but they are minimal.
This time, I can’t send changes to Mark in Providence via email. I’m going to have to figure out how to edit the PDF file on my own. I’m in the midst of completing that task this morning. This afternoon, I’ll be in front of seniors at another Medicare seminar. Tonight, I’ll be tutoring.
An email came across the transom this morning. A friend mentioned the loss of a mentor and the grief that accompanies that.
His note reminded me of my own grief in 2015 when a mentor of mine left this world. I think much of my own sense of being adrift during the months leading up to Mark’s death was actually a carryover from that event and things dating all the way back to 2012, when I was forced to move on from something I was really good at. Losing my son simply compounded what I was already experiencing, but exponentially.
Spending time the past few days reviewing my notes and reading through my original PowerPoint and other resources—all of them developed personally, from experience with trial and error as a publisher—has been oddly comforting. I might even say it’s offered something to tether to that’s been absent.
The past few weeks have offered something independent from the previous period of time dating back to January 21, 2017 when my life changed forever. I have been reminded of the reservoir of resilience that resides within. I knew it was there but drawing from it lately has felt different than when the pain of loss and the accompanying grief was so intense.