Trip down memory lane

Has it really been two years since I started this rigamarole? According to WordPress, it has. After my latest post, I was checking my stats when a little message sent me down memory lane. Gosh, what a journey.

I published my feeble attempt at a website on April 1st, 2020. Since February of that year, I worked from home and needed something to do with all the free time that came from losing my commute. I didn’t know then that I would still be mostly working from home two years later, but back then, it seemed like a golden opportunity to get back into writing. Perhaps it started as an April Fool joke that never ended. It certainly felt like a joke at times, but to laugh is better than to cry.

My first blog post went out on April 3rd, and it’s below. I thought it would be interesting to publish a bit of me from two years ago before I began to tussle with the publishing world (and become a bit jaded). This exertion into blogging coincided with unveiling my first independently published Amazon book, the Island of Stone. I just released my fourth (The Mourning Son), and I’m 35,000 words into my fifth (Noonday in the North), so, if anything, I’ve stayed productive. I’m now completely immersed in my series, Absolution of the Morning Star, and stepping into that world of my creation every day brings me joy. And, although I’m not selling thousands of books a day, I am selling some, which is as special now as it was when I sold my first copy of Island of Stone.

Below is where it all began (with some edits). I didn’t have any delusions of grandeur then, which is good because clearly, the road to greatness is slow and meandering. But, I have grown and learned- and I hope I have become better than I was.

Cheers!

And so it begins… (originally published April 3, 2020)

So after ten years, the Island of Stone, my first Amazon-published book, is out there in the world. It is raw, pink, and delicate like a newborn baby. As the creator of this thing, it is an exciting albeit terrifying time. Will I succeed? Statistics say probably not, but I am hopeful!

This journey has been a long one. I think I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I remember being a little boy playing with my G.I. Joes and thinking, imagine being able to use my imagination to make a living. I remember looking at a collection of Stephen King’s Short Stories in wonder. Like most of his books, it was a weighty tome. At the time, the extent of my writing was probably just a few pages at best. The idea of writing such a volume was intimidating.

It wasn’t until I found myself in China (a journey I will discuss sometime later, as it could be a book in its own right) that I found I had the time and energy to begin my quest. In just a few months, I wrote my first book, Vril, and saw such things were possible. It was daunting, but I loved every minute of it. This was about 2005. It was a thrilling experience, and I learned much. I always thought I was a pretty good writer. I got high marks in college, and most of my professors made positive comments on my writing skills, but Vril introduced me to the craft. I found that I probably wasn’t as good as I thought I was and that the path to becoming an author was not going to be one of overnight success. They were, at times, challenging lessons but essential.

Skip ahead 15 years later, and I finally felt confident to release my sixth book, Island of Stone. I’ve tried publishing Island of Stone the traditional route back when it had its old ending. This was about eight years ago now. There was some interest in the traditional publishing world, and I came very close. Ultimately, it was the ending. It felt rushed and a bit hokey. In the impatience to get the book done, I wasn’t giving it the end it deserved. So it sat. In time, life continued, and the story drifted from the mind. I returned to it a few years ago, determined to start afresh. Moving up the ladder of my career in higher education administration, I didn’t have the time to work on it as I had before, but I did what I could and trucked along. But the ending… good god, the ending.

Then, one night, I woke with the answer. It just appeared from the ether. After ten years, I finally had the ending! Everything just fell into place after that, and within a month, it was finished. Writing is strange like that. The more you try to guide it, to control it, the harder it is. After many years of writing, I’ve found that you just need to let it live and breathe on its own. Thus the bastard child of Island of Stone was born. I hope you enjoy it.

As this is my first post, it is a long post. Future posts will likely be shorter. There is more to this journey, but that I will share at a later time.