One thing I enjoy immensely is formatting a book for a client. It right up there with coaching them through the entire publishing process. And the absolute best is celebrating the author when we reach the finish line. And that happened today! OMG. Please join me in celebrating @Lucie Haskins today! The final PDFs for her book, Married Widow, got uploaded to Amazon with a release date of March 12, 2026. As I wrap up this project with Lucie, I thought it might be fun to share my lessons along the way. I learn something new every time I lay out a book in InDesign, even though I've produced a dozen books for clients. 1. Metatron's Code: my first publication in 2019 ... so everything was a learning curve. Biggest challenges to overcome: chapter page layout with the dot leaders, tabs, running heads, and adding a graphic to the running footer. (It's the little things.) 2. Amy and the Angels: kerning and leading. 3. Beyond The Shift: orphans, widows, and runts. (My proofreader, Lucie Haskins, shared about orphans and widows, and I taught her about runts.) 4. Married Widow has 45 images, so it became important to learn how to anchor images to a page. But first, the handy resize tool in Canva made the resizing process super easy. Every book gets easier, but I love the challenge of learning something new that never came up in a previous book. I’m curious where you are in your book journey—idea, draft, editing, or publishing?

As you consider your publication date, choose it boldly and mark it on your calendar. A target date helps keep most of us motivated. If you've never written or self-published before, know that picking a date doesn’t lock you into an unrealistic timeline. Trust the Universe will lead you with perfection through the Law of Divine Timing. Pushing ahead while ignoring your intuition creates undue pressure, rigidity, and uncertainty about the quality of your book. It can be frustrating when you need to redo things, such as rewriting (after believing it was finished) or reformatting your manuscript. I have learned the power of Divine Timing, most specifically through my work with @Lucie Haskins. We met in 2019 in a semi-private spiritual mentoring group and found out that she was writing her book, Married Widow, and that I had just started SourceCode Publishing. Lucie came into my first writing course and joined my Sacred Writing Sessions. I don't remember when her first tentative pub date was, but it definitely wasn't March 12, 2026. Expect life to thwart your plans. Lucie faced several stops and restarts, especially with the essential time needed as the primary caregiver and advocate for her husband, who suffered from a traumatic brain injury in 2006. In 2023, she shifted her focus to writing a chapter for my anthology, Beyond The Shift, and became my proofreader for all future publications. Throughout our years together, we embraced Divine Timing to guide us. As we shift the pub date from January 26 to March 12, we know this is the most spacious choice we can make. There are all sorts of things that can cause you to say, "Not yet." Essentially, what you're allowing yourself to do is take the time to create a book you're proud of. With "Married Widow," I miscalculated the inside margins, and we reduced the font size, which substantially affected the layout. Now that I’ve re-formatted, I can review her book thoroughly, which wouldn’t have been possible if we kept our pub date scheduled for Monday.

The release date is March 12, 2026, and a special online launch party will be on Lucie's birthday, Saturday, March 14, 2026! Please join me in celebrating Lucie Haskins on the publication of her memoir, Married Widow. It is a tribute to her husband, Dean, as well as anyone who is navigating and caring for a loved one with a traumatic brain injury. A huge congratulations to Lucie. Sometimes it takes 15 years to walk the path, write, and live life. She did it, and I am so proud of her. It's been extraordinary to have walked with her these past seven years. Lucie is an extraordinary woman, and her heart, love, and grace are expressed in the most magnificent way. The love and care she gave to her husband, Dean, through his 14 years with a traumatic brain injury, while being an advocate for him, is remarkable. All while updating her family and friends through email and delving into her own spiritual healing and growth. Lucie is now a two-time published author! (And I'm proud to have worked with Lucie on both books.) Friends, this book is a wealth of information if you know anyone who is an advocate and caregiver for a loved one with TBI.

Your endurance builds resilience. When a thought comes through like this, I like to check the actual meaning of the words. Endurance means the ability to keep doing something difficult, unpleasant, or painful for a long time. Resilience is the ability to be happy, successful, etc. again after something difficult, challenging has happened. This completely describes my friend, client, and author, @Lucie Haskins. We're working on the final layout for her book, Married Widow. Throughout her memoir, aka dedication to her husband of 50 years, we learn of her devotion to the man she loved and then cared for after a horrible fall from a ladder. His brain trauma took them on a fourteen year journey of Lucie being his advocate and primary care partner. She endured the most challenging of times watching her life partner deteriorate and then come back. Lucie is one of the kindest, most compassionate people I have the immense pleasure to know. Funny how these seemingly random thoughts create profound stories about situations that we endure and that make us resilient. What is your story about endurance and resilience? I'm pretty sure we all have one.

I fought an urge to buy a big, red Sharpie and FIX this sign! Any takers? How would you correct this sign?