The sun had begun its descent for the day, and if I’m being unashamedly honest with myself, I had absolutely zero willpower to cook anything beyond cheese on toast.
But there was just one problem.
A round and waddling one at that:
LADY LAURA.
Such meagre meals don’t cut it for her like they used to, and I knew without a moment’s hesitation that she’d demand something with true sustenance given how she’s eating “for two people” these days.
So what do I make?
That was my dilemma I faced whilst out playing extrovert to handle some errands.
It was also the moment a waft of deep-fried, rough-cut chips, followed by an acidic punch of vinegar, struck me and turned my nose firmly towards our local fish and chip shop.
“Yes,” I uttered. “Perfect.”
My mind was already unravelling the greasy, paper-wrapped meal and visualising the delight on Laura’s face when I returned, so I shunned MyFitnessPal to the far reaches of my smartphone and entered the chippy.
There, I was greeted by two youthful faces I hadn’t seen before.
A boy and a girl no older than 15-16.
(Yes, I did just assume their genders. Shoot me.)
The young lady — bless her — was a bag of nerves and clearly, it was her first shift at the place.
I gave her my order and she promptly got to work fetching the saveloy; two of which ended up on the floor as she wrestled with the tongs. The woman overseeing the new recruits quickly intervened and salvaged what saveloy remained on the heated counter, which only frayed the girl’s nerves further.
By this time, her cheeks had turned rosy red, her eyes unable to stay on one thing. You could tell just by her demeanour that if a sinkhole suddenly yawned open beneath her, she’d welcome it.
So, I did what any honourable person in that situation would do.
I gave her some unsolicited advice:
“Don’t worry about it. We’ve all got to start somewhere,” I said with a smile.
The elderly lady next to me nodded in agreement and immediately the girl’s shoulders lost some of the tension weighing them down. I concede my stone of a heart is softening with age, but I also know if that were me behind the counter at her age, those were the words I’d desperately have wanted to hear.
The first day of anything is rarely fun.
We’ve all been there, stumbling and fumbling around like geese who cannot discern their arse from their beak.
The same thing happened to me with writing.
It’s funny because whenever I take a gander at my earlier stuff, a part of me always dies. It’s one of the reasons I refuse to reveal my saucy pen name from way back when I wrote new adult romances, and it’s also why I was within a hair's breadth of unpublishing my supernatural horror duology, Curse of Abbey Ruins.
Admittedly, they aren’t nearly as bad.
And I try to make a point of not lamenting my old work.
If anything, it’s some of my most important prose I’ve ever written, as it served as the stepping stones to where I am today as a writer. The same will be true in ten years’ time.
And while The Divided Region might not be Day One for me in terms of writing, it was my first ever foray into fantasy, and what a foray it has been.
I slayed countless sacred cows to bring this story to market, and battled waves upon waves of crippling doubt as I fought against the blank page quietly in my writing corner.
What I would have paid for a stranger to speak through the screen and say:
“Don’t worry about it. We’ve all got to start somewhere.”
But hey, this isn’t a woe-is-me tale.
I’m grateful for the experience and the endless toiling.
It has not only made me a better writer and given me an ego the size of Saturn, but most importantly, it has moulded me into a far more capable storyteller than I was when I penned my first novella.
That only means one thing:
Better stories for you, my dear Legionnaire.
Now, I am acutely aware this email is in grave danger of turning into a philosophical piece, so how about we lighten the mood with a shameless pitch?
(*proceeds to unbutton my collar*)
Warm and fuzzies aside, if you love fantasy that infuses the epic nature of Lord of the Rings, the grittiness of Game of Thrones, and the tighter perspectives of sword and sorcery, then I’d wager there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy The Divided Region.
I’m not saying this will be the best work of mine you’ll ever read, but it will certainly be some of the more fast-paced ones — a stark contrast to a genre plagued with tomes.
And for the first time since publishing Exiled some 4-5 years ago, you can now get the series in paperback here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/TDR-Bundle
DJJW