It’s not just having an idea for a story…

And it’s not just outlining the details or writing the story. It’s not just editing the story…and then editing it again and again. And it’s not just letting other people read your story, and then incorporating all of their critiques/feedback. After all of that, now you have to prepare to submit.

Writing a book is tough, tiring, draining, sometimes depressing…but that is what it takes to tell a good story.

And eventually, you read a sentence, a paragraph, a page, a chapter, and the world seems perfect. You find the right words, a clever descriptive phrase, a funny joke, an emotional moment, and you realize why you do it.

And you hope that you get a chance to share it, and that someone else will want to read it.

Submitting is just another mountain to climb, one step at a time…hopefully, we just keep moving up and don’t slip back down, but the slope is steep - success is not guaranteed.

But you definitely cannot succeed if you don’t try. So I am sending out my submissions. Fingers crossed.