As someone who has, over the past three decades, been responsible for making quite a few things, I wasn’t quite prepared for how much time and process there is in making a physical record, pressed into plastic.
Yes, there are people out there who can do the process, end-to-end, but like any one-stop-shop you lose something by not considering how to get the best quality for the best price at as many stages as possible.
When you’re doing something on your own, even with some lovely cheerleaders in the background, it’s tough going when challenges you didn’t foresee and knowledge you don’t have come together to make things harder than they should be. Add in the final stretch of an MSc, and I think I may have overstretched myself.
However, there are glimpses of what it could be, and pledges of support from lots of people is helping.
I know there’s some famous quote about not doing something if you knew how difficult it would be, and I think it’s applicable here. There’s more satisfaction from learning than there is from pressing a button and having it magically appear.
The mistakes are what makes it worthwhile. And, ultimately, I think it’ll cost less in the longer term.