This morning I read through the last few chapters of my latest book project. What at one time was a pipe dream, then a half-cocked dream, then a cobbled-together concept, then an ugly step-child is now almost ready to meet the world. Funny how that works. Sometimes it doesn’t, but boy, when it does, I find it sweet.
People who don’t write books have no concept of how difficult it is to write one. Actually, it’s not the writing that’s hard; I once wrote an entire book in 17 days. It’s writing a good book that’s the challenge. It’s not a matter of sitting down with a blank computer screen and just filling it up. I spend months planning and plotting before I write the first words on paper.
What I find amazing–and I am not taking credit for this, believe me–is that a concept that starts off as merely a sentence or two (or maybe you can’t even put it into words) can evolve over time into a document that takes an idea from one person’s head with multiple layers of meaning, transfer it into code (words) and send it into another person who decodes it and finds meaning themselves. And all of this not only is information, but can have passion, emotion, purpose, and vision, sometimes even ideas that the author may not even have intended.
The concept boggles my mind. I’ve told my writing students before, and I shared it with my wife just this morning, that beyond getting people to read my work, I find it a sincere honor to be able to do this. It is a blessing from God to be able to create characters, stories, even worlds that didn’t exist until I wrote about them and share them with my readers. And I will attempt to continue to share this act with the world for as long as I am able to do so.
Best wishes.
The Great Adventure 