So I'm the first to admit I've been a bit scattered lately. I was going to call this post "where I've been", as it's here I've spent much of my time lately. The rest has gone into various psychological/genealogical endeavors, but I don't got a map of those yet, so this is all I can dig up.
As the release date for my beloved book draws ever near (September 4th), I've been pushing myself to new limits. Charles Bukowski once famously said that if you go, you should go all the way. As a teenager, I'd listen to that, and wonder if and when push came to shove, I'd have that strength.
Recently, it hasn't been on my mind at all, until one day, exhausted and scatterbrained, I realized that's exactly what I've been doing. There's a wonderful theme in Stravinski's The Soldier's Tale (if you haven't heard Roger Waters narrating it yet, do yourself a favor.) of staking the lot, going all in. It's the only way the soldier has a chance of tricking the devil and buying back his freedom. It was always very resonant for me, that part of the story, and I'm grateful that when push came to shove, I didn't weaken under it.
It's by no means easy marketing a book. It requires insane amounts of research, trial and error, and worst of all to a profound introvert like myself, social interaction. Into that and so much more (including all the technical aspects of building an actual book) have my past several weeks gone, and I'm so excited. I can't wait to see September roll around. To see my book exist.
As I'm writing it's being read by some advance reviewers already. The other week, this lovely woman I approached on Instagram made a post about reading my book, and liking it so far and what not. I mean, I like it, obviously. But it's something else to have someone outside of yourself and outside of your immediate circle with eyes on it. And enjoying it, to boot.
I've learned to do things I never knew I could. I've tried and failed so much, but I've also won out too on some things. Some here may remember I put out a small short story collection (mostly freewrites I'd done on Steemit) some years ago. I was 18, and it was a fun experiment, though looking back, I gave it almost no marketing effort. I did what I could, at the time, and remember it fondly, though now I daresay I'm doing a much more thorough job of it all.
I accept some critique, for a start.
I don't know if it's gonna work. Publishing seems dicey in this scatterbrained world, particularly independent work. But I trust it. It's a tremendous learning experience for me, one that's helped me sharpen new skills, as well as existing ones. And I don't know that it matters if it works out. I just wanna know I gave it everything I could. I want, when I decide to publish my next book or series or whatever it may be that I can safely say, you know, publishing by yourself is crap. Not worth it. Or totally worth it. Whatever it is, I wanna know I threw everything I had at it.
This post was supposed to just be maps, but it turned into a bit of authorial journaling. Freewrite. Ramble. Back to the maps, then. I never knew I could make maps. It wasn't, to be fair, top on my list of priorities when considering publishing. But I stumbled upon it, and it helped me visualize so much.
Behold the First World, or as some will call it, the known world. Read into that what you will. To its denizens, the known world may seem as old as time itself, but it's not. Not really. There's a man in a castle who remembers when the world wasn't like this at all, who sees, through the gaping spectacles of his cosmos-self all that should yet be. His is one of the hands directing our story.
When our story begins, Amagiraea, this cradle-bound kingdom, is on the cusp of war. And it comes from the least likely source of all, their former Veshini brothers. Pressed by the invading fleet, a green prince must scramble together an army, and in doing so call for help across the Long Sea. Except Sea's Edge is a perilous ally to hold dear.
Some of these are provisional. All are made to aid me in the creative process, though the first two also appear at the beginning of the first book. Terry Pratchett used to say a book is always promising when it's got maps and legends at the beginning. I took that as a good omen.
One of the things I learned in this creative journey is, I can make the things inside my head real. Like, proper real. Maybe it sounds silly, but that was not evident to me.
Another was, if I don't believe in the shit in my head, then nobody will. So I better dig my heels in, you know?
I think that's enough rambling for one day, don't you? I'm off to the beach for a couple of days to soak in some sun, and take a break. My plans got derailed into a different trip than the one I imagined. But that's usually quite promising. After that, I look forward to coming back to my people. The ones in my head. I'm editing the first draft for book 2, and feel for them a love I can't describe. Life for now is pretty damn exciting.