Some of the best writers out there all give the same advice: Finish.

Your finished product may need work. It will need to be edited. It may end up looking different than you’d first imagined. A finished story can be improved, refined, perfected. But it has to be completed first.

So far, I’ve avoided sharing too much about the fantasy novel I’m writing, tentatively titled Crystals of Ulstra. Even among friends who know that I’m writing a book, I’ve kept the details scarce, wanting to have real progress under my belt before divulging about my work.

I think many new writers can probably relate to the anxiety I feel about putting my work out there for others to critique, dissect, or pan.

But if I don’t take that risk, I’ll never know if it could have connected with even one other person who appreciated the world I’ve created, the people who inhabit it, and the story I’ve crafted over several years.

This is the first book I’ve ever written, and I’m sure I’m making a lot of mistakes along the way. It’s far from perfect, and will require extensive editing. But as I am nearing completion of the first draft, I’ve been more and more excited about the potential of sharing this world I’ve created with readers. To that end, I’m working on a blog post that will introduce Ulstra and the story’s main characters for anyone interested.

In the meantime, I’m posting this purely for accountability. I’ve set a personal goal to finish my first draft by my birthday (June 23).

That means I have just about twenty days to get over the finish line. I only have about four chapters left to write, so it’s an attainable goal. I just need to focus and bring this book to an end. Then, I can work on editing and refining a second draft. I want to take the time to get it right, but I also want to move with a sense of urgency. I need to finish the first book because I’m already brimming with ideas for the sequel!

More to come soon. Thanks for reading and holding me accountable.