In the Box

By John W. Vander Velden

 

A bit more than a week ago the first box of With the Sun’s Rising, arrived at my doorway. Twelve copies. Those that have not been keeping close watch would not have noticed that nearly four years of my writing life had gone into this project.

Four years.

Four years of creating the story, recreating the story, revising the story, going through repeated editorial reviews of the story, going through a very diligent proofread of the story. The first editorial revision alone took eight long months.

The project required...four years.

Times I would have abandoned this project, had I not believed so strongly in the story. But for better or worse, the proof is in the box.

I can talk about the emotions that filled me at the sight of that first box of twelve books. I can talk of how it felt to hold the first one I retrieved from that carton. But nothing I say can fully express what passed through me at that moment.

Nothing!

The closest emotion non writers might understand is the birth of their child. No, I do not equate the arrival of neatly bound pages, to the birth of Nicholas. I do not want to even imply that to be the case. But after all the thousands of hours of work, the days of stressing about each scene, the hundreds of moments of self-doubt, the work, the worry, has at last, come to something I can hold.

The story was little more than imaginary stuff roaming around within the computer, but when the first box arrived...With the Sun’s Rising became real!   

But even as I hefted that first box, twenty-five pounds of books, I did not forget those that helped me reach this point. My editor and dear friend, Kristina, the Beta readers for this project, MaryAnn, Vonda, Bonnie, Nancy, and Michelle. They were the first people that I bounced this story off of. My Friend and editor Mark, who did the final proofread through supplied skills I lacked necessary to polish the story to its luster. Also the team of experts at Palmetto Publishing that made the book a beautiful work that anyone would be proud to call theirs. Each of these people were a vital in turning the story into the 658 pages of print.

Then there is the support staff, that carried me through these four years. Jackie, my beloved, lifted me when the burden of the story would have crushed, and she endured the hundreds of scenes read to her. In the end I must recognize the source my feeble writing talent and the One that gave me the story in the first place...God the giver of all good things.

All these things and so much more went through my mind when I opened up and looked into that first box.

(472 Words) 12-2-2022