How do I self publish?

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Sorry, Joe, but the only publisher I have ever worked with (outside of tech writing) is  Aphelion  -- a webzine of science-fiction and fantasy.  The link takes you to their 'Submissions' page.

Good luck!

A famous writer, Jack Kerouac, wrote a 1,000-page novel on a teletype machine. He did it while he was high on "uppers."

He didn't even separate into paragraphs. The publisher, though, liked his work enough to edit it. It was a difficult job---trust me! They lopped the book down to maybe 300-400 pages. And they edited it in other ways, too.

Kerouac, at first, resisted the changes. However, he came to realize that he had to concede to the publisher on some points, so he accepted the changes. He still became famous for writing "On the Road," the book that was originally written on a teletype machine.

Type your stuff up on your Libreoffice program, then go to Amazon Kindle, on which you can self publish. That's what I've done for all four of my books.

Really good luck with this, but in the kindest possible way be prepared to face rejection from publishers and the general public. It's a very competitive market so publishers may not bite if you go down that route at some point. In terms of the general public, the risk with writing about oneself is that others may not find you as fascinating as you think you are! I'm saying this simply so you are prepared. I know a very talented writer that has so far only managed to get some limited success with being published in some low print volume magazines. I also have a friend form university who self published three novels (a trilogy) and it is still available from Amazon but the comments on the selling page are so harsh, criticising him and his writing ability, it must have really hurt him to read them. It's best to go in with 'eyes wide open' as they say.

I read an interview with a successful author once, and they gave the advice that aspiring authors should not share their manuscripts with friends or family because they will get biased feedback i.e. friends/family won't want to upset the aspiring author.

If I was going to self publish something I think I would try my hardest not to read comments about me or my writing. Like you I am sensitive to these things.

I've started typing my story up on my laptop but oh it's so boring to do! Fun to write, fun to read, but to type, it's too slow going and mentally tiring. I don't think I'll be able to do it. Why can't publishers just read from a book instead of from a screen all the time?

Because it’s more difficult to read someone’s handwriting than a typed manuscript.

I know it’s annoying….but continue doing it.

I might be your first customer!

On a device you could use speech to text.

You could use your phone to type the words into a plain text documents e.g. one per chapter then periodically plug your phone into your computer via the USB port and download the files. Copy and paste the chapters together into a book. Voila, job done.

I’m just the opposite!

I type well on a typewriter keyboard—but suck really bad on a phone keyboard.

Good luck with the book!

Oh wait, I don't have to tether the phone to the laptop, I can do it through WiFi. So I can even do it whilst in the bath.