I'm publishing a book??

I never quite realized how daunting the publishing process was.

Between Worlds, book I of the Legend of the Starbreather, took roughly 8 drafts to complete. Not a lot compared to many writers, but it also took nearly a decade! In that 10 year span, there were a lot of re-writes. Ideas changed. Characters grew, appeared, or disappeared all together. The entire book shifted focus multiple times. Each time I sat down to work on whatever draft I was in, I wanted to cry. There were so many chapters and so much story to sift through. At any point in time I had about three notebooks open around me with a stack of sticky notes in desperate attempt to keep things organized. I have two giant whiteboards in my office that I used as well. My office turned into crime investigation board, strings and reference pictures included. I can't count the number of nights I stayed up way too late piecing things together. Many times I stopped working on it all together. "It will never be finished," I'd tell myself. "It's going to live in the depths of my google drive forever." Somehow, it did get finished. I had a lot of help along the way, namely my mother, my best friend, and a very supportive beta-reader I am happy to now call a friend.

And you're telling me that was the easy part?

Yes, quite so. I began looking into publishing routes within the first week of the 8th draft's completion. I had attempted to traditionally publish once before somewhere around the 4-5th draft completion. After more than a dozen rejection letters from agents, and some very heartfelt advice, I went back into revision phase. Now with even more heartfelt advice and a lot of research, I've switched gears and I started looking into self-publishing. I thought it was going to be easier. With how versatile Amazon publishing is, I figured it would be a much shorter and simpler process.

I have never been so wrong in all my life.

The first thing that came to my attention was that I needed a book cover. After realizing that my art skills were seriously lacking, I looked into purchasing a book cover. Which led me down the rabbit hole that is self-publishing. Between book covers, editing services, beta-readers, building a website, attempting to build a social media platform... my head is spinning and it hasn't stopped.

I'm not going to quit! I wrote a book. A whole book. That feeling in itself is enough to push me to continue chasing this rabbit. And I will keep everyone updated on the process that is this self-publishing adventure! So stay tuned!