11/02/2023
Post #0003
Dissecting a "Crossroads Decision"
I internalized more than one important life lesson at this point in my author's journey: about avoidance while fretting over hard tasks, underestimating yourself, and a before unrealized state. I'm naming that state "pre-engagement overwhelm." I’ll tell you how it felt a bit later.
My author's journey is one segment of a four-pronged project. Prior to the infamous "February," I believed I could work through learning the differences in the publishing industry, since my last time in the space; practice writing children’s fiction while studying the craft of fiction-writing, and reading a great deal of children’s fiction. Then write my stories using intriguing settings from international travels, the ‘research prong’ of my two-decades-long “Quest Project”.
Why “February” was a Big Deal: the Poetry, Facts, and Magic
The first of the year, I looked forward to May, when I would return to the Scottish Highlands to work on Castle Dunans, the setting for the first book in children’s fiction series; working title, The Secret at Dunan’s Castle. It would be a grand treat, after the “annual drama” of my convoluted income tax preparation; it's the trip I didn’t get to take in May 2020, for obvious reasons.
Post 0003 Rabbit Hole Alert This post includes a brief trip down an off-topic rabbit hole. Why? It provides context to the magnitude of the obstacle I was facing. Sharing the context may help someone else work through their own overwhelming convergence of circumstances, whe