31 Days / day 6 - my BIG announcement

This post has been one of my most difficult to write to date. I've started this 100 times over the last few months but never had the nerve to pull through with it. Well, it's time to brave up and make one of my dreams happen thanks to the 31 Day series. Here goes... gulp!

Back in February I nearly landed a book deal of the real kind. A book editor came knocking on my door asking me if I'd like to write a book about my junk decorating. That was quite the day! I proceeded to  create a proof that took a solid week to pull off. 

I put EVERYTHING I had into that proof because I wanted the book deal. Badly.

I even surprised the editor and designed the book from start to finish when all they expected was text.  And proceeded to knock their socks off. They LOVED it.

It was gonna be cool. And scrappy. And fun! Loaded with tips, tricks, a gazillion awesome photos and self helps galore.

But then the phone stopped ringing. And the book deal went dead. The company went through a change of ownership and everything fell through.

And sure, I felt let down, but that little voice kept saying, "It isn't your time.... yet."

I let it go but I swear, I've thought of that book deal daily since. The voice never ever went away for even one whole day. I felt I was suppose to possibly write an ebook instead so I could better work the time frame into our lives, claiming my own deadlines.

But I pushed it aside. "I don't have time!!!" 

But then again, who does?

There are books and ebooks being published right this minute so obviously someone found some time around their day job to write a book that would possibly promise them a different future, yes?

Well, I've run out of excuses. I love to write, take photos, do tutorials, teach, layouts, design, I love it all. So... 

I'm doing it.

I'm going to write my first ebook.

Starting tonight.

Part of the reason I joined the 31 Day series was to force myself to make a brave move to strike out on my own doing... something. It takes guts to trust you can teach something important to the masses. But if I didn't do this, not only would I be disappointed in myself, I wouldn't be teaching you everything I wanted to within these 31 days. 

You see, I want to also teach you NO FEAR as well.  So I NEED to do this. For everyone.

And here's why I want to write on one particular topic.

I get soooo frustrated when you need help with photography. I always wish I could crawl into my monitor to hold your camera and show you what I would do, then help you do it.

Well, I'm finally prepared to do something about that. I'm going to teach everything I know thus far about photography that will improve your blog photos within 10 minutes and eventually have the potential for you to land in a magazine feature if you so desire. 

What shall we call it? Hmmm...

"Great Blog Photos with a Point and Shoot."

... wait, that's too limiting....

"Awesome Blog Photos with or without an SLR."

too long...

"Great photos anyone can pull off."

... meh

" Shoot with watcha got."

... hmmm... may BE!  Ideas??

Did you catch my main drift? All the photos you'll see in this post are done with a point and shoot.

This is so overdue. I've watched forever how so many of you are asking for help with those yellow rooms, blurry photos and don't have the funds for a big fancy dancy SLR.

I was there. I stuck by my trusty little point and shoot. In fact, I had no desire to replace it because I wanted the world to see that great photos could happen without a fancy camera.

So I proceeded to win the grand prize in a photo contest with the above photo using the p/s against a bunch of SLRs. I proved my point.

Once my blog earned enough funds, I eventually replaced my p/s only because it started to fail. But I have a secret to tell you about a p/s vs. an SLR.

I still use my cheapo one for certain shots because it just does a better job in certain situations. And I plan to replace it when it completely dies on me. Really.

Both cameras have their place, but this isn't a camera vs. camera debate. This is primarily learning how to use the camera that you have and knowing you don't have to have a really expensive one to get wonderful results.

Most of you know my style of writing by now. Trust me when I say, this info will have a bazillion screen shots of ABC steps that will be a breeze to follow. I hope to incorporate small snippets of video too so you can see how I move the camera, etc. FUN!!

I have never taken a photo class. And I may yet! But what's more important than camera and settings is what your eye learns to see. And I'll teach you how I do that too.

But what about my junk book?!?

This isn't going to be the only ebook/book I plan to write. There'll be more. But I still have pretty high hopes that 'the junk book' will eventually be in print. Dear editors, someone will eventually get my book ya know. :)

Wait... I don't have the time!

 I wanted to do 100 other things first before I started writing, like updating my blog, finishing my photo studio, and organizing my staging stuff. BUT... I won't have time in a week or 2 either.  Or 5 or 6 for that matter. There IS no time.

So how will I do it?

A wise friend told me it was absolute poppy cock that I had no time to write (whatev!) because everyone has 10 minutes a day they can put towards something important. 10 minutes... 

Here's the plan. Rather than net browsing for 10 min, I'll open up my publisher and write for 10 min instead. And it's my bet I'll be writing for  LONGER than that once I click into the zone. And that's how this will ultimately get done.

A big reason for me doing this 31 Day series is to smarten up and start writing. While there are many ways to earn income while blogging, it's my belief that if you actually offer something yourself, you'll be further ahead one day. And writing/teaching/designing happens to be something I personally wish to do.

There will never be a right time so I may as well start now.

all photos in this post were by an ancient Canon A650 point and shoot

'believe' by The Rusted Chain

I'm writing a book.
10 minutes a day.
believe.

What's something you've been wanting to do forever and just... haven't?

Join me! I'll race ya... :)

All 31 Day posts to date can be found HERE.

Day 1 - intro

Day 2 - money isn't first

Day 3 - take time to RESET

Day 4 - submitting work for magazines and websites

Day 5 - my top 5 photo tips

Day 6 - my big announcement