My wife and I had discussed a plan, for the future of my writing and getting things out there. However, life, as it always does, keeps tossing up roadblocks. The way forward was less and less likely, and then my friends (and family) showed up in a big way.
Early September I thought I had gotten all of the business license paperwork in place. We were just waiting for the state to return the paperwork with a “congrats, here’s your business name”. However, I messed up the application, delaying it by several weeks. I figured, welp, that’s it, not going to sell books in person come October’s Desert Foothills Book Festival. Then other things came up, that like everything else, were unavoidable. These later issues depleted the earmarked funds I’d need to buy inventory for selling books in person. As well as other stuff, like a credit card reader. While I was sad I wouldn’t get to sell anything in person during this event, it was more or less my fault that delayed the paperwork, so I had no one to be mad at. Further, since we wouldn’t have had the money after life got in the way, it didn’t matter.
But then I got the paperwork back from the state, and TigerEye Press was born. From there, it took me all of a week to get all the rest of the paperwork I’d need: state tax license, IRS registration, etc. There was red tape and more red tape. So, when I was sitting here with all this completed paperwork, I was back to being frustrated because now, with life rearing its ugly head into our business, the funds were not available.
I debated for a while, on what to do. If you know me, you know I hate asking for help or even worse, money. There is a very deep reason I don’t do this, one that I won’t get to here. However, that said, I swallowed my pride and asked for help, hat in hand. I figured, $150 wasn’t much to ask for. It would get the books I needed, and the credit card reader I’d need to take payments while at the event. The credit Card reader was taken care of by my wonderful stepdaughter, she’s been SUPER helpful. She was even printing off all the stickers and bookmarks for the event. She’s been amazing.
My friends came through in spades. And really, I got emotional. Just ask my wonderful wife.
This dream to sell books, and write great stories that, I at least HOPE, people will enjoy… Has been around since I was ten. While in my opinion I don’t believe I’m where I’d like to be (I still have at least one, if not more novels to get to the world), I’m getting closer. One of those things is finding an audience, and to do that, I feel the best option is to get out there in front of everyone and tell them about my books. My friends gave me the ability to do that. They’ve even straight up said, they believe in me. And to hear that has done more than anything else. I can do this.
Thank you all for the love and support. Every bit of support helps me move forward and helps me reach the next goal.