“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.”
Booker T. Washington
It’s taken me almost 13 years, but I finally hit the publish button on The Palantir, the first book in my young adult fantasy series, The Maqlû.
To reach that milestone, I’ve rewritten the book many times (officially 46 revisions, but some chapters, especially chapter 1, have been rewritten over 100 times) to get a version I like. It’s not that I’m that particular; it’s that I had to learn a lot. Some examples are,
- I’ve written at least one draft of the other seven books in the series to discover my story. It’s quite different from the simple middle-grade adventure story I started with, but I like it a lot better.
- Set up my first website www.jcholmberg.com
- I’ve finally joined social media. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Just click on the links at the bottom of my home page.
- Read dozens of books to learn more about how other authors format their books. I can tell you that, at least for me, it’s very different than reading a book just for pleasure.
- I’ve traveled to seven countries so far with my youngest daughter, and international travel guide, to research my books. We’re heading to Greece and Italy in January 2022 for research on books five and six.
- I’ve traveled back and forth across the U.S. a couple of times to research key settings within the country.
- For the backstory of my books, I’ve had to:
o Start learning about Mesopotamian, Mayan, Norse, and Celtic history and mythology. This includes reading the Epic of Gilgamesh and understanding the differences between the Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian empires.
o Tried to comprehend a synopsis of human history over the last 12,000 years.
o Start reading works of the ancient Greek philosophers, which has gotten me to start researching famous quotes from all types of people through the ages.
o Read up on quantum physics and quantum mechanics.
o Learn about historical people and events ranging from the Salem Witch Trials, to William Wallace, the Pirate Round, and beyond.
o I’ve also dug into a couple of Medieval era documents for background information.
- I also decided to go independent, which has meant a huge learning curve on a totally different set of topics. This is not a complete list, but I’ve had to:
o Figure out all the things I have to do to publish a book. I’m currently on step 35 (and most are not tiny, simple steps
o Learn things like typefaces, fonts, and book formatting
o Get a lot more comfortable with Word. I always knew it could do more. I just didn’t know how much more.
o Learn about copyright law, libel law, Library of Congress numbers, etc.
o I’m not artistic, so creating a book cover concept and developing it was a stressful event.
- I’ve learned how to take reader feedback and use it. The hardest part was not getting the feedback (there was some tough love, though). It was hearing someone critique a section, but not articulate the issue, which meant I’d have to ask lots of questions (which frustrates the person providing the feedback) to understand. And yet, those were some of the best pieces of feedback.
I could go on with the list of things I’ve had to do and learn, but you get the point. And there’s so much more still to learn.
The attached picture is from Tikal, Guatemala. I took it a couple of days after my daughter and I visited Lamanai in Belize (which is the primary setting for The Palantir). I’m showing it to you because this was a key moment in inspiration for the books. I felt like I was in the opening scene of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was so surreal, I knew I had to try and capture that feel in my books.
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