The Worry Wart’s Guide to Hiking

My husband is an excellent hypochondriac. Even in his twenties, when he would have an odd headache or tingling somewhere, he would ask questions such as, “Do you think I’m having a stroke?” He always asked if he was going to die when he got a cold. I know that he appreciates my being a doctor so that I can give a definitive answer.

There’s no cure for hypochondriasis, though he is doing better, in general. However, since we’re growing older, he asks the same questions a little more seriously now.

During the pandemic, a great number of people took up hiking and camping. This is a wonderful trend, which seems to be continuing. But along with more hikers and campers, comes more injuries, many of which could be prevented.

I decided to write a little first aid book especially for hikers. I saw online that you can get published “easily” by using Amazon KDP. As so often happens when I get interested in something, I became hyper-enthusiastic and encouraged all my family members that this was a good time for us to think about projects we’d like to do, and that it would be simple to get a book published, so they should all considerate (all our sons and Daniel are excellent writers).

To show them how easy it was, I got started on the first aid book. I have a long-term love for hiking, and I thought this would combine two interests in one. Being a doctor and having a little OCD, I reviewed every point, and reviewed the Red Cross guidelines for first aid. It took a little longer than I expected to get it all organized. And while the instructions flowed out of me, just as if I were giving advice in the clinic, I had to rewrite the general sections several times. I shouldn’t have been surprised; I’ve written before. But it had been awhile.

Then I tried to upload the book. It looked like the process was eating up the original while it made changes, and I stopped. I hadn’t made an up-to-date backup yet, silly me. More writing.

I’m not sure what happened then, something interrupted my progress for awhile. But the interruptions were worth it, because each time I came back to the draft, I made some little changes to make it more readable. And to satisfy more obsessive-compulsiveness.

At some point, I tried uploading it again and something happened to the draft–the details have been blocked from my memory. Hmm, I didn’t really mean to make this a post about how many times more work publishing a little book turned out to be. Suffice it to say, after temporarily giving up in frustration a couple times, and reviewing the draft one more time, I’m going to try again. Suffice it to say, I didn’t convince my family they could make a nice side income by writing books about things they love.

Daniel copyedited with me this time, and after reading it he said, “If I’d known this many things could go wrong while hiking, I’d have never gone.” Too late, we’ve hiked and camped many times.

He did say that it’s given him some fresh things to worry about next time. Ticks, in particular. At any rate, he’s offered to hold my hand as I try to publish The Doctor’s Little First Aid and Safety Book for Hikers this week.

What could go wrong?