Hello and welcome to another voyage into the minds and psyches of insecure writers everywhere!
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The first book that I completed was actually not the first that I published. (I also have another that was lost to time that never got past the three-quarter mark--we don't speak of it ;)).
My first completed book was the original version of Essence of Chaos. It was MASSIVE, weighing in at over 650 pages.
I loved writing it. I loved the characters, the story, everything. Once it had gone through some edits, I tried submitting to agents--this was in the dark days before self-publishing became a thing.
Got requests for the full a few times, good feedback, but always a pass (yeah, size did come up a few times--it was called a door-stopper.).
I finally put it aside, as I wasn't ready to re-write the entire thing, and started a few new 'first-in-series' books. (Including The Glass Gargoyle-- which just celebrated eight years out last month!)
After getting a few new books published, I started taking apart Essence of Chaos. It lost over 200 pages (to be fair, I had chopped out about 75 before the re-write) and was much stronger.
After a false start with a cover artist, I found new ones and LOVE my covers. Essence of Chaos came out in 2021, the second, Division of Chaos in 2022, and the final in the trilogy, Destruction of Chaos, comes out this summer.
This book means a lot to me, and will always have a very special place in my heart. I'd envisioned a traditional book career when I started it, but now am extremely happy with my indie career and getting my stories out my way (with a LOT of professional help ;)).
What was your first book?
Happy IWSG day!!
