Journey’s end is just the beginning …

As I stop to reflect upon this journey that we are taking, I can’t help but smile. It has been an amazing experience. Have you ever walked down a road, not knowing where it would lead, but somehow felt assured that it was taking you in the absolute right direction? Well, this is nothing like that. I’m kidding. Yet, a lot of truth is said in jest. Let me explain. In starting off on our journey to write this adventure that we had buzzing around just below our conscious thoughts, we assumed that we could have this bad boy wrapped up in a couple of months … five tops. Yes indeed, the road seemed pretty straight back then. For awhile there we were actually pretty close to that timeline. We had a workable first draft in three months. Then we started looking for holes in the story. Thus was born draft two. That was the first bend in the road. Then we found more holes. Welcome to draft three. And just nine short drafts later, we had a book. Then we learned about copyediting and proofreading (but that is a blog for another day). Our road had more twists in it than an intestinal tract.

I would like to say that in every step we knew we were headed in the right direction. We felt like we were headed there. We hoped that we were headed there, but ‘knew’ is a strong word. In my humble opinion (well … not that humble), that is the greatest part of the journey, the uncertainty of it all. You see, in those moments of concern are born the seeds of success. Fortitude. Commitment. Desire. Along with those, a good dose of humility also helps. Anyone who has gotten notes on their work from beta readers and editors knows what I mean (again, a topic for another day). The only thing we knew for certain was that we were going to complete the journey and make it to the road’s end.

Now we find ourselves here, nearing the release date of the novel, and it turns out the road is just beginning. Who knew? If we had known what traveling down this road would actually entail, we might never have taken that first step. As fun as it has been, it has also been equally trying, and at times, downright frustrating. It is not easy when you know you are right all the time and nobody around you is smart enough to agree with you. Still, I suppose D.W. did occasionally make some salient points. See, there’s that humility that I was talking about.

Like I said, if we had known about the road, we might not have started down it. That having been said, if you ask either one of us if we would do it again, our answer would be a resounding, “DAMN RIGHT WE WOULD!” We wouldn’t trade this journey for anything in the world.

It’s ok to not know where you are going. You’ll find your destination along the way. Some of the best decisions I have made have been when I didn’t know what I was doing (were you to ask my wife, she would say that is how I make most of my decisions). The most important thing to remember is that there is nothing to see, nothing to learn, if you don’t take that first step.

What journeys have you taken when you were uncertain? What lessons did you learn?

This is your community, we want to hear from you.

“What manner of magics is this?” She asked.  “Is this how trust is rewarded in your lands?”

“Take your ease, child,” the old one spoke in a comforting tone.  “It was not I who brought the magics to you, but rather, you who brought your magic to us.”  

~Necromancers’ Pride (deleted excerpt)