How could I get that wrong?
- gilbertkathj
- Apr 1
- 2 min read
Once again, I googled the title of my soon to be published book, ‘Empty Roads, Empty Promises: The Forgotten Blockade of Razorback Mountain’. It was meant to be searchable three days ago, but not so far, not for me. So, this time I went through the NLA (National Library of Australia) Trove site, under books, and there it was – it came up! My book! I opened the page – OMG – excitement died, disbelief overwhelmed. I had submitted the author’s name, my name, incorrectly!! Perhaps an understandable mix up – Kathryn rather than Kath, but still, how could I have done that? The photo of the front cover hadn’t opened, and the publishing site’s formatting had left three sentences incorrectly punctuated – not a great look for a newbie author. Suddenly, I couldn’t see anything to celebrate. My head throbbed, my stomach dropped. I had planned to share the link straight away with family but now I didn’t want to tell anyone.
A thought flashed through my head - maybe I should have stayed a teacher. It quickly disappeared. Even in that moment, when excitement turned to disappointment, I knew I didn’t regret stepping away from my 30-year career as a primary school teacher. Four and a half years ago I had walked into the staffroom, still missing a close friend and colleague. Helen had died in her early 50s from breast cancer; no retirement for her, no fulfilling her ‘one day’ dreams. As I listened to the conversation, I realised 75% of the group, including myself, were taking melatonin in the hope of getting a good night’s sleep. The reason we weren’t sleeping; workplace stress from a job I had once jumped out of bed eager to do. I was in my early 50s, far too young to retire to a pension and far older than most trainees, but I knew in that moment I was done, it was time to quit.
I’m proud, that in my late 50s, I’m willing to try something totally new. While late 50s isn’t old, it is the age that super funds remind us that we must be conservative and save for our retirement. What if something happens and I don't make it to retirement? What if I wait for the right time and the right time never comes? Those thoughts, and thoughts of Helen, prompted me to take a leap of faith and leave my stable career and try something new. Turns out, something new was writing. So here I am, soon to be a first-time author, a first-time self-publisher, a first-time marketing strategist, so sure, I’m making mistakes, very public mistakes! I’ve been learning from my mistakes for as long as I can remember, and I pride myself on doing that, but today's mistakes is in the public domain, whether I like it or not! So, with that in mind, here’s the link to my very public, slightly incorrect, hopefully soon to be improved, page on the National Library of Australia site.
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