Perseverance

Writing by Bocca (DeviantArt)

All words have been said. Writing is not magical anymore. If it ever was. And maybe I'm just in that phase where the work just needs to be done. I can blog about it until the number of words here exceed that of the book. I can talk about it with friends until they can recite my intentions by heart, but no longer have faith in it. I can replot, redraft and reedit until my fingers bleed and my eyes dry up. But in the end, it's just time and work.

Shipping it. 

It's the most important factor in any endeavor and writing a young adult novel is not exempt. How many would-be writers lay beside the road as reminders of too much good intention and not enough follow-through? How many more shine from the shelves of Barnes & Noble as examples of the possible, but also slowly filling up the white space of our consciousness so that no one can claim to be the next J.K.Rowling anymore? I just need to ship it and that means crunching the hours and doing the work.

I have a son. I am married. I have a job. I enjoy my hobbies. But all of these are also chipping away at what few reserves I have left in time and energy. Eight years ago I plotted this book (and four more). Eight long years that have taken me through five countries, endless projects and many more hours of beach, books and movies. I've painted my series in the meantime. I've seen snippets of my ideas echoed back at me from writers who got their ass in gear, while I was redrafting and remodeling, or simply NOT WRITING. My kid is eight years and he's seen me angry, laconic, passionate, bemused and depressed about this book. This one book, which is the beginning of everything.

No one has covered my topic yet.

It is still a virgin exploration of values both real in the world and fantastic. It ties so many things we find endearing and exciting in storytelling together. And, of course  it's not the Great American Novel, it's not even the best thing since sliced toast. But in my opinion it IS on par with Tolkien and Rowling. If only readers don't have to wait the same length in years between those two for me to get this novel published. And then there's still the other four books in the series. I am confident however that it will not take me eight years to write the next one. After all, if anything, I'm much better and confident now in writing than ever before. I'm bolder and I know what I want. And what I want is to share this with the world.

This dragon is getting slayed.