It's hard to believe it has already been two years. I originally started writing my stories as a way to get back something important to me, my belief in myself.
Fast forward a year and fifteen stories later. I was encouraged by many of my readers to publish them and I thought "How hard can it be, I have already written so many, getting them to print shouldn't be too much trouble."
Today I can tell you there wasn't a single part of it that was easy. I loved every hair pulling minute of it, but it wasn't easy. Writing an online story is closer to a rough draft than many will admit, and all of those meme's about how much time is spent editing versus rough draft are true.
I managed to spend this last year peppering what hair I had left with gray, and planning every other detail. The good thing is having a good team in place now and much of the work I did for the first book will carry over to the next several in the series. I hired a new editor to handle Sprite Fall so I can have it ready around February and I have several standalone novels that will be making an appearance in between each Sprite novel. I wanted to take a moment to admit I didn't do it alone. Author's who have been down the road of first releases have helped me, My wife has helped me more than I could ever pay back, My kids have helped me, and my parents have helped me. With so much support it made the bumpy road a little less treacherous. It also adds a bit of pressure. Books in a series rarely fly out of the gate but a little voice wants to show all of these amazing supportive people that it was all worth it. So with tempered excitement and unbridled nerves I say bring on July 21st and the release of my first foray into the "serious" writing world. I am sure I will be tearing apart all of the things I did wrong as I improve and produce more books, but for now I am going to let myself enjoy the completion of a long held dream. Here is to the next twenty novels.
CC Ryburn
