I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching. Viewers seemed to like my first ever completed project, Taking Back the Kingdom. I’ve recently been encouraged that I should submit it for publication as a book.

It’s a dream of mine to publish a book. I worry less over if it becomes a best-seller, though that would be amazing. I just want to be a published author. So now, I research the process.

I’ve been on the fence about publishing Taking Back the Kingdom. I never really meant it to be published. I never really meant it to get popular on the blog. It was just a writing exercise, when it started, and then… I was driven to finish it.

Now, that’s changing a bit. It’s a completed manuscript. It’s a rough draft, sure, but I can polish it up before I find an agent for it. I don’t plan to self-publish. If I’m going to be a published author, I’d prefer it to be through a publishing company. It doesn’t feel like it’s as real if I just self-publish.

I still have other projects I’m working on. One, The Rose Queen, will be coming to the blog. I plan to do it just as I did Taking Back the Kingdom, posting a chapter at a time. It will likely be just as rough draft when posted as Taking Back the Kingdom was. The main difference is that I am writing The Rose Queen with the intention that it will, one day, be submitted for publishing.

Now, where do I go from here? Right now, the next step is to edit the original manuscript, add details where needed and clarify any bits that need it. Once I’ve done that, I’ll try to get an agent. From my research, I’ll do far better with an agent than trying to do anything on my own, and the biggest publishing companies won’t even touch manuscripts without agents.

Do I think my book will be a best seller? Probably not. There can only be so many of those. Do I think it might get a nice fan base? Here’s hoping!

I still struggle a lot with “imposter syndrome” and feeling like I’m not as good at this as some people seem to think I am. There will probably always be some of that. My books could become as popular as The Lord of the Rings and I would still think I wasn’t that good. It’s just going to be something I struggle with.

But I thank those who read Taking Back the Kingdom, and who helped me realize people actually would enjoy my writing. Without likes on those posts, I probably would’ve given up on that project ages ago and never completed that story. I definitely never would have considered having it published.

Let’s see what the future holds as I take one step forward towards my dream.