The Ebook Adventure

I once attended a workshop led by our exceptional students' teacher where we teachers were given a taste of what being learning disabled really meant. This super-exceptional teacher passed out worksheets for us to do, simple worksheets similar to a typical classroom assignment of read and answer questions. Only in this case a few of us (including me) were set up to fail, without our knowledge. She had jumbled the words, misplaced some, twisted spellings, and done everything possible to make reading/comprehension difficult, if not impossible.

The control group hurried through theirs. I became frustrated. They were all clicking along like A-team students. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I click right along, too?

I finally gave up in frustration and waited for the others to finish the lesson so I could hear what was going on and then copy them.

Lesson learned, and it was a lesson that brought a new clarity to me. I have no memory of the content of the assignment, but to this day I know what exactly the real lesson was - the emotions brought about in daily challenges and struggles of children with alternate learning styles. I was no less intelligent or worthy than anyone else in the room, but I began to doubt myself, even in that short period of time. I had never experienced struggle, since all things academic came so naturally to me. I enjoyed the thrill of learning - until that moment.

All this background to say I had one of those struggling moments this week when I doubted my intelligence and had no joy in the thrill of learning. I uploaded my latest book to Kindle, not that I haven't done it before, successfully, I might add. This one was different. I needed to get a square picture book into a rectangular ebook.

At issue: How to convert this 8.5X8.5 square into a 9X6 rectangle

No easy task. Frustration. Self-doubt. The same emotions from that workshop wound their way to the surface. Thank heaven for kindle create and YouTube. I'm a visual learner. No problem, once I realized what I was doing. I chose the comic/graphic novel option, and whoop, there it was! (After three days)

I also had to redesign the cover, so I went totally in a different direction.

From this:

To this: 

Now it's a done deal, available on line, and I've learned the lesson, no, I re-learned the lesson from this ebook adventure. I am no less intelligent or worthy. I struggled, but I DID IT!!!

Catch of the day,

Gretchen