So today is the big day—after years of working on this story, walking with one foot in the real world and one foot in Aorea—it’s finally here. My book is officially published and available for the world to read! Part of me still feels like this is a dream; I can’t believe I actually finished writing it (let alone that I am already working on its sequel). Part of me also can’t believe it took me this friggin long, but then again I never was satisfied. Even now I am wondering if I should have read through it just one more time, or cut one more scene, or fleshed out one more description. What if there’s too much backstory? What if there’s not enough? What if no one gets my sense of humor? What if no one likes my characters!?
The self-conscious little girl inside me will likely always dwell on these types of questions, but the realist in me is painfully aware of the fact that, as of 20 September when I checked the box for “final manuscript” and clicked “submit,” it’s too late to second-guess. Hopefully the years—over a decade, in fact—of hard work, late nights, research, brainstorming, sketching, scribbling, word-vomiting, over-analyzing, and editing will pay off. Hopefully all of the struggle will be worth it, and at least one person will think to themselves as they scroll through the pages of my novel, “Well, that’s not so bad, I suppose,” and then read until the end.
I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed, at least.
In the mean time, please please PLEASE head over to Amazon, or click one of the many links and buttons posted on my many social media accounts, and download my book! You won’t regret it, I promise! And you would make one young author incredibly happy.