This website has greatly evolved since its debut in September 1999. And so have I. Of course I'm older, but I like to think I'm a little bit wiser as well; I have come a long way in the last decade. This site started out as a venue for me to express myself in all the ways I loved to create. I had so many pages in this site, when my server upgraded in 2008, and the images didn't appear, I just could not bring myself to the tedium of repairing the code and then reuploading all that old stuff. I decided to wait for the right inspiration and even though it took months I am glad I did because I think this incarnation of Makinghome.com is the perfect culmination, putting what I have learned to good purpose.Time, wind, sand, water - these things will either wear you down or polish you, depending on how you perceive it.
I used to think that I would shrivel up and die if I couldn't do all the things I was compelled to do. I had a workshop filled with power tools, a large, waist-high workbench and supplies to create just about anything I might wake up with an impulse to make, be it furniture, clothing, home decor, or full wall murals. I built things, sewed things, glued, stitched, cut, painted, screwed and wrestled all manner of mediums, both small and large, hard and soft. And then, to replenish the creative well, I'd give myself a break from the physical stuff and sit at the computer for some time and build websites. And that led to writing, which then led to publishing. Writing and publishing is what I have ended up with then. Mostly because I am losing physical stamina. Time does that to you. Regardless how young and vigorous you are in your head, your body declines without your consent. That's not to say that writing isn't hard, sweat producing, and exhausting, because it most certainly is, especially if you want to do it well. But it's a different kind of difficult than straining muscles.
But there is one thing even more difficult than writing. Publishing. When I began I had no idea that the learning curve was not only steep it required a certain defiance of gravity to even hold on.
Nowadays anyone can publish a book, using the new digital printing technology (POD). That doesn't mean the books are good, but then it can be argued that many books published the tradtional way are not good either, so the key is trying to save a few trees while finding ways to fulfill the great siren call to BE PUBLISHED.
I've been publishing for nearly five years now, and I can attest that I have never met anyone who does not believe he/she has at least one book inside, just waiting for the right time or opportunity to burst forth. It is possibly the next strongest desire of humankind - to be published. The strongest desire, of course, is to be loved and perhaps this goes hand in hand with the desire to be published because of the misconception of what really happens to an author when a book finally comes to be. The mean truth is it's rarely fame and fortune producing. In many cases it is a grand disappointment. Sad to say, there's not much love out there. Lot's of opinion, which has now surely usurped respect for basic truth in social value, but not much love.
But still...some things we must learn for ourselves. What I have learned is that making a book is much more than just having a stellar idea and then writing/editing/formatting. It is a type of making home. Within the pages of a book, all the physical elements, the font type, the leading, and overall design, are tools that the builder uses to create the structure that will house the stellar idea. In that vein, my desire to create and construct continues to be satisfied. I am a builder of books now.
In the quest to consolidate all my strays under this roof, I have incorporated my POD titles from Faithful Publishing and ebooks from Pixelated Publishing. It's a strange mismash, not unlike all the other creative endeavors of my past.
I invite you to come in, explore the rooms here and perhaps find some outstandingly good books that simply needed a home to launch from.
April S Fields
Publisher
Please note: Makinghome (including its imprints, Faithful Publishing and Pixelated Publishing), is not a vanity POD publisher. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts or queries. |
