I guess I really didn’t give this much thought when writing the first book in my series, THE CRYSTAL CRUX.  I had been laboring over it for so long, that finally publishing the material felt natural and easy, effortless.  It was work but a good work.

Now that I’m shoring up the final manuscript for the second book, I realize how much work has truly gone into this.  It is one thing to read a book, a book that is 80,000 – 90,000 – 100,000 words long.  It is another thing when you realize that during the writing process, the author has read this book countless times.

When I first assembled the second book in the series, BLUE GROTTO, it was around 70,000 words at most.  I’ve probably been over it a dozen more times since than and it has now grown to 90,000.  I’m confident that by the time I complete this project, it will be over 100,00o words.

Realizing how many times I have re-read this same book over and over is kind of surreal.  I have books I really love but I can’t say I have read any of them more than three times.  I’ve already read my own no less than forty, some chapters, the problem children as I call them, far more.

It truly is a labor of love for the majority of us will never see the fiscal return compatible to the hours and research, the lost of sleep and forsaking of our families.  To be an author, we have to leave reality and dive into an imaginary place that exists only in our heads.  Painstakingly, we labor to put that vision on paper, never sure if we are being clear enough for others to see what we see, appreciate what we have come to love and know intimately.  It is our hearts, our blood, our dreams on these pages.

In a small way, we expose ourselves, the good and the bad, the hopeless and the hopeful, the saint and the sinner.

Remember to grab a copy of the first book in the series BETRAYAL, everywhere books are sold.