Publication Day

It’s finally here.

This has been a three year journey I didn’t even know I was embarking upon when it started. I wrote, here and there, until a story presented itself. There was no plan, no outline, no direction. I just wrote.

It was very opportunistic, catch-as-catch-can, minutes here and there. On my lunch. Waiting for meetings. Between meetings. That was the writing. The ideas came whenever they came. I have no real “process”, but they came and they ended up on the screen in front of me.

It was an outlet, a form of therapy, an escape. That’s what spurred it all. Something to keep my brain engaged like the Army had for all those years. That’s where it all came from.

I shared it with just a few people. Then it sat. It sat for over a year before I got a push to “do something with it”. I submitted it and it was accepted. That was ten months ago. Ten months of processing, editing, cover design, interior layouts. Lots and lots of waiting.

Finally, today it is here. My book is officially published. I can’t take it back. It is out there forever. It is nerve wracking. You have no idea how much anxiety goes along with this. I didn’t either, but I do now.

There has been so much support along the way. Family. Old friends. New friends. Acquaintances. It really has been an amazing journey to get here. But here isn’t the last stop. This isn’t where it ends. There is so much more to do.

Now, the book is REAL. As you can imagine, I want it to be successful. It has nothing to do with money, really. I want people to enjoy it. Not everyone will, of course. I want people to enjoy it enough that they share it like I’ve shared it. I want people to say “you should read this” or “have you heard of this?”

Really, what I want is to write more. To share more. There is more in me. More stories. More of this.

But today, is about publication day. Just today. Just this book, today. Eventually, it will move forward and so will I, but just today it is about this book.

Tomorrow there will be the next step. The next thing. The next book.

Tomorrow, I will Keep Moving, Keep Shooting.