Thulsa's Gate will always be the first
Sometimes you can get forward vision blinders as you work to crank out your next great literary work. This generally isn't by choice as each one of these masterpieces become our special baby that can do no wrong. Come on guys, admit it. You know this is how you feel about your novels. You remember all the yelling and screaming at Beta readers and editors, (not in person of course), about how could they have missed such simple concepts that were amazingly developed right in front of them, or how the way you wrote it is the way you meant it? I know some people who have been editing their own work for years. The same work!! First of all, they've broken the first unbreakable law of writing: No one can edit their own work. Wait, let me rephrase that: No one can 'final' edit their own work. You have to edit some of it or else the final editor will think you're some kind of illiterate fool who has no business wearing out a keyboard. But I digress...
As I sit here working on my next great adventure, I can hear a call from the past and suddenly realized that the voice has always been calling to me. Thulsa's Gate was released for POD through Ingram/Spark in the fall of 2014. As a first time published author, I couldn't have been more proud. I could actually call myself an author without lying to someone about it. Sure, I had been writing for some time, but never published. It's sort of like training for an Ironman. You put in the long hours of training and tell everyone this is what you're going to do, but until you actually go the distance and cross the finish line at the end and they give you that glorious medal, you can't actually be called, an Ironman. Wandering again...
The voice of Thulsa's Gate calls to me. Calls me back to that grand adventure that brought me so much emotional intensity and realism to my imagination. As the attention of Thulsa's Gate began to wear off and I moved over to the Starbird project, I made a promise to the characters of Thulsa's Gate. I promised that I would return to them and we'd go on another grand adventure together. It's difficult to call back to them. Sort of like when your children are trying to get your attention from another room and you're focused, busy. "I'll be there in a second." Even if you don't write, you know what I'm talking about. Today, Thulsa's Gate called again, only louder this time; in the form of a reader review.
"Just finished reading this book by Robert Schultz. Very nicely done. If anyone is looking for an enjoyable story with great character development, I definitely recommend picking this up. Lots of local references as well as the story is set in eastern Idaho and western Wyoming.
How I love reading a post like this. Not because I think I'm so great, but because the story is! You always worry about what your kids will do when they're out on their own. I worry less and less about Thulsa's Gate all the time. I just wished that it could get out there a little more. Perhaps someday... For now, Thulsa's Gate, I will fulfill my promise to you. I am coming back as I promised. Just be a little more patient.
