If you exercise, you are going to injure yourself. This is not to say that you shouldn’t exercise, but inevitably you are going to hurt yourself in one way or another. You can be as careful as you want, stretching and avoiding overexertion, but yes, you will get injured at some point.
 
I like to think that I am relatively healthy and fit. I try to eat well (don’t ask about the chips and dip) and exercise regularly. Lately, however, I seem to get a few more aches and pains that derail my regime. I’ll chalk some of it up to getting older, but that’s not the only reason. Once, I was sitting on the floor, and as I stood up, I felt a sharp pain in my foot. For the next week, I had a noticeable limp. Someone asked me, “How did you hurt yourself?” To which I replied, “I got up.”
 
Some injuries are unavoidable—they just happen. Others can be minimized by staying relatively active and limber. At the very least, you should walk and stretch. Here are some of my sports injury highlights:

• Sprained wrist: Falling off the school swing
• Broken collarbone: A jerk ran over me at home plate. It’s a softball game, dude, not Game 7 of the World Series!
• Fractured rib or sternum (self-diagnosis, did not see a doctor): Playing hockey
• Adam’s Apple: Racquetball to the throat
• Knee, ankle, hip, shins, back, toe, etc.: You guessed it—Running. One of the mistakes runners make is continuing to run when injured. “Oh, it will go away. I don’t want to lose my stamina and gains,” we will say to ourselves. The best way to recover from a running injury? Stop running.
• Elbow/wrist: Falling off my bike

 
The one activity I have never injured myself doing is yoga. I’ve been sore and achy, but it is the good kind of sore and achy.
 
What is the takeaway? Some exercise is better than no exercise, and you can overdo it. One easy way to get some movement in each day is to get up during commercials when you are watching T.V. and doing some stretches, yoga, sit-ups, push-ups, or just walk around (Got stairs? Even better.)
 
As Hal and Joanne say, “Keep fit and have fun.” (Google them or “Participaction” if you are puzzled).

​

After accidentally publishing my paperback on Amazon before it was ready (don't get me started), which I am now calling the unofficial “Soft launch”, I was able to correctly upload the paperback and the Kindle version. Now, pending review, the paperback will be available immediately, and the Kindle available for pre-sale before the November 1 launch date. Why is the paperback not on pre-sale? Don’t get me started…
 
This is not going to be a bitch session about Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. As much as it could be, there is a learning curve in any new endeavor. It would be nice, however, if there were a few more checks and balances throughout the process.
 
First things first: Why did I decide to go with Amazon? A few reasons: It doesn’t cost anything to publish with them. Since you do all the work formatting and publishing, they just take a percentage of the sales, and Amazon is HUGE, but you knew that. I also could not advertise my first book there, since it wasn't exclusive.
 
I paid to publish my first book, and I don’t regret it. The company that I used, Friesen Press, did a great job with my cover and interior, and they make my book available across all major online sellers. They also provided me with marketing advice and learning modules. Was it money well spent? Not yet…I am still hoping to recoup my costs, but I did learn a lot.
 
KDP provides templates to use to format your manuscript. Great, but wait! I used the 5x8 paperback template, uploaded it, and found that the margins were off. So I did it again. And again. Then readjusted the margins.  And again, and so on until it looked right. It should be easier than that. I lost count how many times I uploaded mt MS.
 
Then I realized it did not have page numbers. Ever try to insert page numbers into a word doc? OMG. You have to create headers/footers, then if you want the numbering to start anywhere other than the first page, you bang your head against the wall for a while, because it feels better than the headache you get trying to follow the instructions.
 
The cover program in KDP allows you to use their templates or separately upload your own. This should be combined since the templates are limited in structure.
 
How long did it take? Too long. And my head hurts, but it’s done. Book #2. Yeah!
 
The Knot at the End of the Rope now available for pre-sale on Kindle:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KP9RSYG
or now, in paperback: 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KGHH4HH