How Much Independence is Too Much?

Last night I tossed and turned, worrying about my book layouts. I’ve been zipping along, learning the ins and outs of Adobe InDesign, and I’ve been pretty pleased with my results so far. And those who know me can attest that I am fussy about what my work looks like. So all along, I’ve had confidence in my ability to do a nice layout. And I like doing layouts. Learning new software appeals to my geeky self, and sometimes I even alter the text a bit to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

However, I have images to take care of, and this is new to me (as is Photoshop). Morever, these images are of my late mother-in-law’s art, and she was very particular about color. I want to represent her work in the best possible light. And last night I met someone who knows what he is doing, and I began to doubt myself. Hence the tossing and turning.

Here’s the problem: I am not visual. In order for me to know what I want, I have to set it up myself, so even if I hired someone, I would go through this entire exercise just so I could say, “See, this is what I had in mind.” I also know that my eye is pretty good–I have seen books put together by “professionals” and knew that I could do a better job.

I respect my independence, but I also know that it gets in the way sometimes, that I could get better at asking for help from time to time. I’m trying to find the balance, which of course, is the ongoing theme of my life! I’ve decided, then, to do the best I can, and then hire a designer to mop it up, and in particular, to help with the images. This feels good. I still get to play with all the toys, but then I get to share–and to make sure I haven’t done anything stupid.