The Next Step Has Begun

The next step into Moonsland has begun.

 

Last week, something happened that I’ve been working toward for years.

 

I sent the Scarred World Saga to its first readers.

 

Earlier this month I sent out my call for beta readers, meaning books 1-3 plus the prequel are ready for others to get their paws all over them.

 

A major milestone that I’ve been working towards for over a year now.

 

And what a surreal one to reach.

 

It only seemed like yesterday I was sitting in front of a blank piece of paper, pen in hand (as I often like to do when it comes down to planning and getting my thoughts out there), and wondering where Elsewhere would take me next..

 

Like many writers, I had far too many roads I wanted to follow.

 

It was time to finish what I’d started.

 

Complete the Scarred World Saga

 

I remember how daunting it felt knowing I had three books to write, how much of it I had yet to figure out, and how long it would take to cross that finish line. 

 

But I also remember another feeling: excitement.

 

Yes, behind that wall of nerves and fear there were glimpses of what it would be like to finally tell this tale that had been percolating in my head for too long.  

 

So I decided to push that terror to the back of the room where it had little say and just get to work. 

 

I wish I could say that the words came pouring out of me next and I ran through the books without problem, but it wasn’t so smooth.

 

Some days the pages hummed.

 

Others, I had to white-knuckle my way to the daily word count and simply show up, just as Steven Pressfield has always preached.

There were days where my day job was too stressful to even think of opening my manuscript, and others where having a young family meant there were only five spare minutes between baseball games and school plays

 

But whenever I found the time, I tried to use it well.

 

Little by little those word counts started to add up, until bigger milestones started to accumulate. 

 

Day after day. Week after week. Month after month as it was. 

 

Until finally, at last, I reached the end of editing book 3 and achieved the next-step that seemed like it may never happen when I first sat down in front of my journal those many months ago.

 

I was ready for the Scarred World Saga to no longer be my own.

 

Now we’re here, in the beta phase, where as of writing this 13 brave individuals have volunteered to take a first pass on the books.

 

It’s a surreal, strange feeling to know that as I walk Casco or messing about in book 4 that others are entering Moonsland for the first time, meeting Requiem and Dash, learning about Geomagery, and trying to make sense of the greater mysteries at play.

 

Will they be well-received? Will they be tossed aside like bones in a feast, too scant and unappetizing to even go near?

 

Those are the questions that run through my mind as I wait the next few weeks for feedback.

 

But whether or not folks like it, I know this is the most important next step to handing these stories over to you, my Fellow Creatures, and giving you something new to sink your teeth into after so many years.

 

After that? It’s more fine-tuning courtesy of the beta’s feedback, and then away they go, off into the greater world.

 

How will I feel then? What will be next after that?

 

Whatever happens next, these stories are no longer mine alone.

 

That’s equal parts terrifying…and wonderful.

 

For now, I am still simmering in the surrealness of it, feeling incredibly fortunate to have such fine readers like yourself as part of this journey, and hoping I can keep giving you more and more reasons to stay in Elsewhere with me.

 

More to come in the following weeks.

 

Until then,

 

See you in Elsewhere!

 

-Jeff