The Week in Review (September 9, 2023)

Happy birthday to my son Thomas today! Stefanie's birthday was yesterday, and Sophie's birthday is tomorrow. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may!

1. I self-published my systematic theology book in Spanish! It is the first book I have self-published in another language. It will be obvious that I used tools that are available. At first, I did copy and paste from a mix of Google Translate and ChatGPT. However, I soon realized that there was a much simpler way. After a couple months doing about 25% of the book with the tedious copy-paste method, the rest was translated in almost an instant. Duh.

Is it any good? Great question, and I plan to give a few free copies to individuals who would want to check it out anyway. My spot checks tell me it isn't bad, although native speakers always say that these automated tools don't produce good translations. I initially had the title wrong I realized so that would have been embarrassing. I am a little worried about the first part, since I ran it through a translator after it had been through a translator. I am so slow sometimes. It drives me crazy.

Now that I know the process, I will probably translate the ethics part of this series in the next couple weeks. I now could do this into many languages, so speak up if you have a wish.

2. I started taking a marketing course for independent publishers. They marketed to me over a period of time. I explored. I watched. Their marketing to me was effective. What they said resonated both with my own experience and limited knowledge. We'll see what happens. I'm keeping my day job for the time being.

3. I continue to add materials to the Romans course I created on Udemy. This week I added a 30+ minute video on Romans 1 and Homosexuality. I was thinking perhaps I would add a "faith of Jesus Christ" video next. The whole of Romans is already there. These are supplemental. 

Not a lot of takers for that course. I have well over 100 takers for my Hebrew course using Jonah. It's always fascinating what sticks and what doesn't. My YouTube videos on the Hebrew of Ruth have gained a strong audience too. Hebrew is clearly popular! Meanwhile, my Greek videos on Philippians do not attract much attention. You just never know, it seems most of the time.

Thanks for feedback on titles for a Romans book. I'm still leaning toward something like, "Hidden Surprises in Romans" or "Hidden Nuggets in Romans" or "Surprised by Romans." What do you think?

I have a vision for a numbered list. Two- to three-page entries on topics like, "It's a real letter, not a theology textbook" and "Jesus had faith too." Feedback welcome. 

4. My wife Angie has been sick this week and missed most of work. Although the test was negative, we've wondered if she has had COVID. I had it a couple months ago. She seems to have lost her sense of smell. It went into her chest, and she has coughed a lot. In general, it followed the same path mine did. Thankfully, she seems to be coming out of it, and her oxygen is good.

5. I finished the raw version of another online course this week. This one is an introduction to the Bible and none other than Jim Lo is the featured professor. The trailer is on this page if you scroll down.

One of my co-workers created some awesome images for one assignment in the algebra course using Midjourney. The tools are amazing. I may try to create a video today using Pictory. We'll see how it turns out.

That's probably enough for now. I realize these are somewhat narcissistic. Think of it as my journal.