It would be too much of a cliché to say it has been a journey, or a challenge, or a challenging journey. But it was certainly more of an experience than I expected, and perhaps I am a step further on the road to becoming a wise old man. It is a tale of five parts.
Part 1: Writing – taking my many book ideas and novel openings and really getting stuck into my favourite , turning it into a full, 120,000 word novel. Redundancy helped, making some time available away from the rat race. I wrote the type of book I like to read – epic fantasy. So it was rather like reading but with direct control. I learnt a great deal in doing it, I am still learning – that’s good, that’s life.
Part 2: Editing, re-reading, re-writing, proofing, correcting, etc and etc. What a luxury it must be to have a publisher and an editor, this was hard work – worthwhile because I could see the improvements – but it felt like it would never end. Thankfully I had help from family and friends, they made a huge difference!
Part 3: Cover design and creation was almost as much fun as writing. 
Once the idea for the cover materialised it was a case of sourcing the pictures, editing them, merging, etc. I was being economical (or mean) and so wanted to do it all without any cost. Well, no financial cost, high time cost though. Eye-catching and relevant were the aims, others can judge if I met them.
Part 4: Self publishing brought two surprises. Firstly it was fairly easy with Amazon. Secondly it was more stressful than I expected. Is it vain and arrogant to take your own words and proclaim that others may want to pay to read them? It felt like it, but I just want to share the story and the characters, and I really want to know if others find enjoyment in the reading, as I did in the writing. This was the peak self-doubt moment in the whole process.
Part 5: Promotion. You know, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, this stuff right here. So many possibilities, so much to learn. For what outcome? Time will tell as ever. I have only just begun, as you may be able to discern, but as with most things one of the best ways to learn is to just start doing. It’s certainly fun so far.
So here I am and here it is. Wiser or just a little more experienced. I’d love to know what you think about any of this…
P.S.
The writing? I am back in stage 1, writing Mindmage – Wildmind Book 2. So it’s all circular, which sounds wiser than it is.
CLIVE ANTHONY 
I know what you mean, it’s the same reason I haven’t completed book two yet – writing becomes re-writing and sometimes the word count decreases rather than increases.
Perhaps it is a good thing – we both really care about the quality of our writing?
I keep a simple spreadsheet to monitor my word count – it motivates me to create rather than keep editing.
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Hi, Clive! Congrats on that first completion, and best wishes for all your future endeavors!
That said, for me, parts one and two are pretty much the same. I find that, when I go back to write some more, I end up editing, rewriting sometimes, before getting back to the new stuff. I know many have suggested to just blaze through the first draft, then go back and edit. For some reason, I have a hard time doing so. I cannot start where I left, it seems, and also cannot read without wanting to add, alter, or delete certain parts. This is probably why I have been spending so much time getting one completed, which I haven’t yet.
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